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Because who couldn't use an extra pair of hands?
Halloween is done up big in my house, normally by me! I've taken a lot of inspiration and instruction from the internet over the last few years and thought it was about time I gave back. So today we will be discussing the method I use for making the hands of the undead minions that find themselves meandering in my front yard come October.
I thought long and hard over the proper method for making the "bones" and "ligaments" for my hands. Some people use sticks, or modeling clay, wired together. I came up with the idea of using the shafts of disposable pens. Thought of or ripped off someone else, who can tell? That's all well and good, but how do you connect them? Scrounging around in the basement, wading through my children's discarded crafting materials, I happen upon... Pipe Cleaners! Brilliant!
Now that I had the way of making the fingers, how shall I put them together? Initially I used duct tape to construct the palm. It worked, but the palm wasn't all that rigid. What else to use. How about cardboard? Rigid enough to hold the correct shape, but flexible enough to do my evil bidding. Perfect!
Onto the show!
Halloween is done up big in my house, normally by me! I've taken a lot of inspiration and instruction from the internet over the last few years and thought it was about time I gave back. So today we will be discussing the method I use for making the hands of the undead minions that find themselves meandering in my front yard come October.
I thought long and hard over the proper method for making the "bones" and "ligaments" for my hands. Some people use sticks, or modeling clay, wired together. I came up with the idea of using the shafts of disposable pens. Thought of or ripped off someone else, who can tell? That's all well and good, but how do you connect them? Scrounging around in the basement, wading through my children's discarded crafting materials, I happen upon... Pipe Cleaners! Brilliant!
Now that I had the way of making the fingers, how shall I put them together? Initially I used duct tape to construct the palm. It worked, but the palm wasn't all that rigid. What else to use. How about cardboard? Rigid enough to hold the correct shape, but flexible enough to do my evil bidding. Perfect!
Onto the show!
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Signing UpStep 1In which we gather all our things together...
Here is the bill of goods you should assemble before actually doing anything useful:
• Pipe cleaners or "chenille stems" (30x)
• Disposable pens (lots)
• Ruler (with millimeters)
• Tape measure
• Masking Tape
• Scrap Cardboard
• Sharpie (optional)
• Cutting tool (Wire Cutters, XActo Knife, box knife, I used a band saw)
• Facial Tissue paper
• Wood for arm bones
• Cable (zip) Ties (optional)
• Flour
• Liquid Starch
• Liquid Bleach
• Water
• Newspaper
• Tissue Paper (like you would stuff in a gift bag when you feel too lazy to wrap something, you big jerk)
• Various colors of paint
First thing that needs to be done is to figure out how long the finger bones are going to need to be. I just so happen to have a Bucky skeleton on hand (if you don't know what a Bucky is, are you sure you are into Halloween? Just asking) so I measured each bone and made a grid. Since I like you and I see you have potential, I've provided my measurements already (each unit is in millimeters).
However, if you don't want to use Bucky's hand, because, say, you're making something disproportionally large (pervert), there is an online calculator you can use to get some useful numbers http://www.zombietronix.com/calculator_simplehand.php. Alternately, you can use the ruler I said you needed and measure your own fingers. You'll probably get something close enough. Make a simple grid, you should already have a pen (or 12) handy...
Note that there are four (4) bones for each finger except for the thumb. What it lacks in bones, it makes up for in usefulness. Don't believe me? Try doing this project without using yours.
• Pipe cleaners or "chenille stems" (30x)
• Disposable pens (lots)
• Ruler (with millimeters)
• Tape measure
• Masking Tape
• Scrap Cardboard
• Sharpie (optional)
• Cutting tool (Wire Cutters, XActo Knife, box knife, I used a band saw)
• Facial Tissue paper
• Wood for arm bones
• Cable (zip) Ties (optional)
• Flour
• Liquid Starch
• Liquid Bleach
• Water
• Newspaper
• Tissue Paper (like you would stuff in a gift bag when you feel too lazy to wrap something, you big jerk)
• Various colors of paint
First thing that needs to be done is to figure out how long the finger bones are going to need to be. I just so happen to have a Bucky skeleton on hand (if you don't know what a Bucky is, are you sure you are into Halloween? Just asking) so I measured each bone and made a grid. Since I like you and I see you have potential, I've provided my measurements already (each unit is in millimeters).
However, if you don't want to use Bucky's hand, because, say, you're making something disproportionally large (pervert), there is an online calculator you can use to get some useful numbers http://www.zombietronix.com/calculator_simplehand.php. Alternately, you can use the ruler I said you needed and measure your own fingers. You'll probably get something close enough. Make a simple grid, you should already have a pen (or 12) handy...
Note that there are four (4) bones for each finger except for the thumb. What it lacks in bones, it makes up for in usefulness. Don't believe me? Try doing this project without using yours.
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There are about a hundred different ways to make hands like these. This is just my interpretation.