Customizable Monster Hands

Hands are hard, right? You build this big, beautiful monster and its face is terrifyingly lifelike and its body is all bulky and three-dimensional and you've already scared yourself (repeatedly) by walking into the room and forgetting it was there. But the hands... oof. The hands let you down. They're lifeless. Floppy costume gloves hanging limp from your zombie's sleeves. Arthritic cardboard cutouts frozen flat and stiff, so your werewolf seems to be looking for a high-five rather than a victim to shred. Expanding foam overstuffed into latex gloves that now look like bloated sausages. This monster can't tie its own shoes, let alone snatch its unsuspecting prey! No one's running in terror from Count Corndog-Fingers.

If you want your frightful creation to look its most menacing, the hands are just as important as the face. The good news is it's actually really simple (not to mention quick and cheap!) to make monster hands that are dynamic and threatening -- hands that can be posed into whatever position you need and decorated to match your monster's size, style and personality.

Wire

Wire cutters (or scissors you can cut wire with)

Masking tape

Paper mache (newspaper/tissue paper, flour/glue)

Sandpaper

Paint and paint brushes

Hair, fake nails, accessories depending on your monster's look

Monster mud (optional) for weatherproofing

I'm working on bony hands for a 10-foot-tall skull-faced beast with big antlers, so these hands are huge: about 14 inches/35cm from wrist to index finger tip. The same method will work for whatever size you need, though -- within reason (I suspect you'd need quite a bit more support for hands that are five feet long).

I'd recommend having a rough idea of what size you want before you get started, especially if you want two hands that match. I'm going to explain the process for a humanoid hand with one thumb and four fingers, but obviously you can configure your hands however you want, so just adapt the number/alignment of digits as needed.

I used plastic-coated 2mm (1/16 inch) garden wire, but any similar wire would work. Make sure it's thin enough that you can shape it with your hands and easily wrap it around itself. It doesn't need to be super strong because the other layers will add support.

Start with a long piece of wire and bend the middle into an arch shape, or an upside-down U. This is the top of the palm. Now make a small loop for each finger (and thumb) that you're going to attach. The loop for the thumb should be directly below the index finger, or maybe a little to the outside. In my case I made the palms just a little bigger than my own hands, so the loops are about an inch apart.

Next, take the thumb wire and bend it 90 degrees to it's pointing over to the wire that extends below the pinky. Wrap it tightly around that wire and then back to the thumb. Wrap it around and through the thumb loop and then point it down again. The horizontal wires between the thumb and pinky wires form the middle of the palm and they give your hand support.

The thumb and pinky wires should stick down below this horizontal one at least 6 inches/15cm, because you'll need these to attach the hand to something (perhaps an arm). If the wires aren't long enough, you can add another by securing it to the horizontal palm wire. This part does not need to be pretty, so don't worry if it's a mess!

Now measure and cut your finger wires. Cut your wires about 3 times longer than you want the fingers to be.

For each finger, secure one end of the wire through its finger loop on the palm, leaving a few extra inches of wire sticking out the bottom. Wrap this short end through and around the loop, then bend it down to the horizontal palm wire, twisting it around and around to secure it there. Make sure at least one or two of the fingers are secured to this palm wire, but for a couple others you can bend the wire sideways and instead secure it to another finger loop. The important thing is that each finger is well-anchored to the palm.

Now take the long finger wire and decide where you want the first knuckle. Make a small loop there, with the loop on the top of the finger. Do that once more for the second knuckle joint. If you want realistic human proportions, each bone should be smaller than the last (roughly 5/3/2 proportions, so if the first is 5 inches, the second is 3, the smallest is 2). For the final bone, you'll bend the wire back on itself, flattening the two strands together.

Take that wire (now pointing back down) and wind it all the way around the first knuckle loop, and then, with the second wire parallel to the first, wind it around the second knuckle loop. Finally, secure it to the palm. Bend it through the loop at the base of the finger and twist it around a couple times to secure it. If there's extra wire you can always take it back down to the palm wire again for extra support.

Keep doing that for all the fingers, remembering that the middle finger is going to be longest, the first and third fingers will be roughly the same size and the pinky will be smallest -- but the proportions will remain the same.

The thumb (which is a little bigger than the pinky) attaches sideways to the thumb loop. It might look a little weird right now, but once it's got some meat on its bones it will make more sense.

Break out the masking tape. You're going to wrap these finger bones in layers of tape to bulk them up and make them more solid.

For skinny fingers, you can add just a layer or two of tape, like I did. Or you can bulk them up by scrunching the tape a little (or even adding some crumpled tissue paper), then covering the bumps with smoother layers of tape. Though you can add bulk in the paper mache phase, I'd recommend doing it here because it's a lot faster and easier.

You can also decide how much you want to emphasize the knuckles and build those up more if you want your hands to look gnarled or skeletal. Once you have a good layer of tape down and the fingers are nearly as big as you want them to be, go over the whole thing and press down all the seams. Getting rid of bumps at this stage will make things easier later.

Also, be sure to use masking tape or some other porous tape, at least for the top layer. If you use smooth plastic tape or duct tape it will make it much harder for the paper mache to stick.

While your hands are still very bendable, you can experiment with different poses and test what looks best. Remember to bend at the knuckles and hinge the thumb sideways (at a 45-90 degree angle to the other fingers). Look at it from every angle and make sure you're happy with the pose. And if you see any places that look bumpy or too skinny, now's your chance to add more tape.

Also, if you're making a pair of hands, make sure you have a right and a left! You can always flip one upside down at this point and re-bend the knuckles if you accidentally made a double-righty or double-lefty, but once you add the paper mache, there's no going back.

It's paper mache time! Mix up your preferred paper mache glue and get your strips of paper ready!

For my paper mache I start with a cup of plain flour and whisk in enough water to make it the consistency of yogurt, and then I add a big blob of PVC glue and a dash of wood glue. It dries more quickly than flour alone and the glue makes it feel very solid. I use strips of newspaper torn into small pieces so that I can work around awkward shapes easily.

Make sure you get at least 2-3 layers on every surface. More is fine: You can bulk up your hands more now if you need to, but it will just take a little longer to dry.

Be sure you don't saturate the paper too much, and press each piece into place carefully, smoothing the edges. Taking a little extra time to get everything smooth now will save you more work later.

Once the paper mache is dry (mine was ready the next day -- you can always leave your hands near a radiator or use a hair dryer if you need to speed things along) you'll need to sand out any bumps and rough edges. No matter how smooth your paper mache looked before it dried, there will be some corners that lift up or edges that are annoyingly visible.

This is the step that makes the difference between "cool paper mache hands, dude" and "whoa, how did you make those?" If you skip the sanding, those inevitable bumps and seams will keep your project from looking its very best.

I use a medium-grit sandpaper all over, trying to even out any visible seams as well as any lifted corners or bubbles. It's fine to sand through a layer or two of paper if you need to.

Once your hands are nice and smooth, you're ready for a base coat of paint.

This step is optional but will make your props last longer if you're using them outdoors. If you live anywhere where there's even a chance of rain, you're going to want to seal your paper mache... unless having your monster hands decomposing over the course of the Halloween season is part of the plan.

I use "monster mud" on my outdoor paper mache props. It dries to a hard shell and keeps water from seeping into the porous layers underneath. If you're not familiar with it, it's actually really easy to make and it lasts (in a tightly sealed container) for a couple years. It's just 4-5 parts joint compound (also known as drywall mud, sheetrock mud or jointing compound) mixed with one part latex paint. You can mix it in small quantities as needed, or mix up a big batch to save for later. One downside is that joint compound tends to come in huge quantities (like 5 gallons or 10kg), so you may not want to commit to that much for one project. I have also used something that was sold as "plaster repair" from a DIY store (leftover from actual home repairs) that worked exactly the same. I suspect it's the same stuff by another name -- but sold in smaller containers.

One other option for waterproofing if you don't want to commit to monster mud is good old-fashioned glue. A thick coat of PVC and/or wood glue will offer good protection. Clear spray-paint topcoat is another option, but in my experience it's not as waterproof as I'd like.

I usually start with a base coat of cheap latex wall paint, but you could go straight in with acrylics if that's what's handy. (Pun accidental but I'm not sorry.) You can spray paint later, but use a latex/acrylic base coat first if you didn't use monster mud. Paper mache will just suck up all the spray paint and leave you with an uneven finish. Latex/acrylic will also help even out any seams that didn't get sanded flat.

For my bony hands I started with cream wall paint. I mixed up separate pots of the same base paint, one with white added and one with burnt sienna added (black would make it too gray). I added some shading around the sides of the fingers, in between the knuckles, and on the palms -- basically anywhere a natural shadow would fall, I emphasized it. Likewise, I added some highlights to the parts that would naturally catch the light, like the knuckles and the edges of the fingertips.

Your best base color will depend on what look you're going for, but I like to start with a mid to light shade of the overall color so I have room to add highlights and shadows. Shading is the secret sauce to improving any prop (including store-bought ones). In bright sunlight -- or even on a reasonably bright overcast day -- the surface would look too uniform if it didn't have shading. (If you need tips on shading, see Step 9. If you're already a shading pro, go paint your hands and meet me back at Step 10.)

Shading is magical. Seriously. It's the difference between a prop that looks fake and almost two-dimensional and one that looks lifelike. It's absolutely worth putting in a little extra work. You might think that because an object is three-dimensional, all shadows will be provided naturally -- and you're kind of right. But you're also trying to trick the viewer into thinking that this object is something other than what it really is (monster hands, not wire and paper mache) so use every tool available to fool them.

There are two main methods of shading with a brush: dry brushing and wet blending. A little more on each of those:

Dry brushing (the picture on the left) uses a very small amount of paint on a -- you guessed it -- dry brush. Use a really cheap coarse brush for this, because you're going to mistreat it. You want to pick up just a little bit of paint and then blot your brush on a piece of cardboard or something to remove most of the paint, because again, you want this brush pretty dry. Starting with a very light touch, you'll scrub the brush around the area you want to shade. You want a light cover at first, blending out around the edges by decreasing the pressure so there are no hard edge lines. You can always go over it again with a little more paint if you need it darker. This technique is especially good for picking up textures, which can be great if you're painting something to look like fake stone -- but it can also pick up unwelcome things like lumps and seams. Alternately, you can stipple by holding the bristles perpendicular to the surface and tapping the brush gently so only little dots of paint are transferred.

Wet blending (the picture on the right) involves mixing paint on the object while the paint is still wet. Work in a small area, because if you try to do too much at one time, the paint will start to dry. Cover the whole area with your base color, then use the darker paint on the part you want to shade. Slowly spread the darker paint out from the darkest part of the shading toward the lighter paint. As the colors combine, try to blend them into a smooth gradient so there's no obvious line between light and dark. It can be tricky to avoid visible brushstrokes. I find this harder and more annoying, so I tend to do dry brushing.

As for what colors to use, I recommend mixing your base paint with white (or light yellow, if the base color is a warm shade of brown or orange) for the highlights. For the shadows I'd go black if your base is cooler (like blues and greens) or very dark (like dark purple or brown), and I'd recommend burnt sienna (or another very dark brown) if your base color is warmer (reds or oranges), especially if it's very pale. I used burnt sienna for my bony hands because adding black to cream colored paint would have ended up gray and ashy.

My skeletal hands didn't need any nails or hair or accessories, so that's the last step for me -- until the rest of the monster is ready. I'll update this post with pics once the hands are attached!

Many monsters will need a bit more of a manicure, though. If you're working on hands for a werewolf you may want to add some fur, and plenty of monsters will need nails or claws. The easiest nails would probably be cheap fake nails stuck on with hot glue, wood glue or PVA. You could make longer claws out of recycled plastic (like yogurt pots or meat trays) cut into claw shapes and spray painted. You could glue on some string for stitches, some bunched up tissue paper for gory injuries, or some wisps of shredded cotton balls (spray painted, perhaps) for hair. Or maybe some nice jewelry? Go on -- your monster deserves it! :-)