animatronic rabbit puppet
animatronic rabbit puppet
I visited the rabbit that the puppet was based off. Her name is Princess Margaret and she is very sweet. I made sure to take reference images from all angles.
taxidermy base + building soft sculpture
I started by using a bandsaw to cut the head off the taxidermy base to allow for movement and a place to set the stepper motor. To create the maximum amount of realism, I hand-sewed each muscle onto the base and attached them with various adhesives. I then painted the entire base once it was finished in case any showed through the fur.
fur application
manual puppetry + animatronic components
I created this piece with the intent that it would be able to be traditionally puppeteered or pre-programmed using a stepper motor and an Arduino Uno. For the film, we stuck with manual puppetry to mitigate technical error, but for the end of semester open studios I displayed the animatronic capabilities.