Pop Up Part 3
Making Monster Hands
I have been making the hands for my new Pop up prop.
I am using a combination of techniques I "borrowed" (stole) from
some great sites on the Internet. The basic frame for my hands
is made of coat hangers.
I also need to make forearms because my prop's forearms will be
visible when the arms are extended. I used a "cylinder" of chicken wire
to build the base for my forearms.
At left is a close up of the method I used to attach the
coat hanger "fingers" to the chicken wire "forearm".
I tied each finger in two places with light gauge wire.
This made the whole arm strong. It's easy to bend
each finger into the desired position.
I lined the forearm (inside and out)
with duct tape. I also used this for the palm
of the hand. This will give me somewhere to
attach the "skin".
The photo at left shows the manner in which a cotton ball is "opened up" for use in the "skin"
making process that follows. First the cotton ball is unrolled,
then it is gently pulled. I stole this idea from Britt Griffith
via the Monster List (decayed arm how - to )
Cotton makes a great "decayed skin" texture.
I first apply cotton to the fingers. At this point, the fingers are only
bare pieces of wire. I pull a cotton ball from the tip of the
finger to the base, then wrap the finger with thread.
This will form the basic shape of the finger.
I also begin building up the palm area.
Here I simply use a hot glue gun to
attach whole cotton balls.
In the photo at left you see the "knuckles"
being formed, as well as "tendons"
on the back of the hand.
At this point, the hand should be formed
into the desired position, and cotton should be
added where necessary to fill everything in.
In the photo at right you see the same hand with one coat oflatex applied. I use Monster Makers mask latex, because that's what I have. Last year I built hands similar to this, but coated the
cotton with white glue. That process worked fine, but latex dries a little faster, and remains flexible. Latex also "builds" faster, requiring fewer coats.
This photo shows the second layer ofcotton applied to the hand and arm,
followed by a second coat of latex applied with a brush. As the latex
dries, it turns a darker shade
of yellow. This prop hand is
starting to look pretty good.
Add layers if needed, just be patient while the latex dries between layers.
(I've heard a heat gun will speed the drying process.)
I recommend buying several inexpensive paint brushes.
I used "acid brushes" because they cost about ten cents.
The first time I applied latex with a paint brush I learned it won't wash
out with soap and water. My favorite camel hair brush with all of the
tooth - marks on the handle was gone for good...
Fellow Haunter, Dave (Lothars Lair) sent along some advice:
The brush is pre-treated with a soap and water solution.
This should keep the liquid latex from adhering to the
bristles. Any partially dried latex can be scraped
off with a putty knife.
Thanks Dave.
I'd also like to point out that I have about three hours
of construction time in this project at this point. (building two hands)
The cost is almost nothing, since I had some latex left
over from a previous project.
Metal coat hangers are just about everywhere,
and no home haunter should ever be without chicken wire,
duct tape, or light gauge wire.
A few finished (long fingered) hands.
They look creepy enough, but they sure do take a long time to make.
In light of this, I plan to tackle the molding and casting arts soon.
Is there such a thing as small scale mass production?
