The Living Severed Hand!

Step 4 Begin the stump

For the arm "stump," I used a shampoo bottle that was approximately the same shape as my forearm.

Cut off the top at an angle, such that the front of the bottle is slightly higher than the back, and the left of the bottle is about 1.5 cm taller than the right (this is for the "right hand" glove, reverse this if you are choosing to make a left handed glove).

Next, I put a thin layer of pillow fill around the bottle to change the shape of it slightly, to make it more like an arm.

I wrapped the bottle, encased in a thin layer of polyester fill, with a sheet of white paper that was cut to the correct width, and then wrapped around and taped into place.

Note how it is beginning to look a bit more like an arm's shape now. The white paper will also prevent the labeling of the bottle from showing through if your fabric that you use in the next step is too sheer. The fill will also give the arm a nice "give" when squeezed, making it that much more realistic.

Comments

[emellaich]

I'm trying to figure out the picture on this step (#4). You are doing this for your right hand, correct? But the picture shows the left hand? So is the slant on the bottle towards the thumb of your right hand or towards the outside of your right hand? Thanks for the clarification. BTW, its a great instructable. I just have this one question.

[a grain of alt.]

Great point! Yes, it's for your right hand- I was just using my left forearm to demonstrate the approximate size and shape the stump would be. The shape of the bottle (the way its cut out at the top, etc) is all correct in the pictures, however. Thanks for pointing that out!