Cheap hands WIP

[Digfoot]

This is my WIP on a modification of some super cheap monster gloves from Hong Kong. http://cgi.ebay.com/Ghost-Demon-Monster-La...p-/350451087937
They claim that they're latex, but I think they're vinyl and they literally smell like fish. ANYWAYS.

The nails on the original gloves didn't please me so I decided to cut them out and replace them with claws. With these gloves, the nails are hollow so you can't just cut them into claw shapes. So cheap.

I made claws from black Sculpey III and cut inch-long pieces of backer rod to stuff the fingertips of the gloves and support the claws. The gloves have very long fingers.

I trimmed the backer rod edges to be a bit more rounded. The claw would fit onto the backer rod like this, once the backer rod is inside of the finger.

For the fingers, I had to roll the backer rod slices between my palms so they become malleable. I twisted/pushed them into the holes on the fingertips because they're literally impossible to force through the fingers from inside the glove. If you're using these gloves, don't be too forceful with them because they can rip.

For the thumbs, the backer rod can be pushed against the fingertip from within the glove, no problem.

I stuffed 'em claws in there with a bit of gorilla glue. I didn't worry about small crevices beneath the claws, because they can be repaired with latex.

I intend to put globs of latex on the fingers and push BB's against them to create indentations before painting. Painting will be a hassle too, since the Monster Makers latex doesn't seem to stick to these. Gotta use Pros-aide first. But yeah! I like what I've got going so far with these cheap-o's.

 

[torredator]

dude, really good start...
the claws look real good and very Predatorish!
andall for the low, low price of 99 cents plus whatever for shipping....
very cool indeed!

 

[Digfoot]

I appreciate the compliment, torredator!

Here are the hands, painted with latex mixed with different acrylic paints and then covered in MEANGENE83's homemade 'perma-wet' that I mixed from pros-aide and minwax polycrylic.
(I had learned about the perma-wet idea from MEANGENE83's post on this thread: http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...t=0&start=0 )

Before applying the perma-wet mixture, I had painted them about the same way Macguyver painted his Mr. I suit. ( http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?showtopic=4477 )

I had two major problems with painting, and I don't want to see anyone else making these mistakes!

1.
To whoever's learning about this stuff (like me ;D ), remember that the viscosity of your paint mix can really make or break whatever you're painting. When mixing latex with your acrylic paint or pros-aide with your acrylic paint, make sure to thin it out with some distilled water or you're going to get a lumpy skin! I have some ugly pores on the skin from where I had to cut ugly bumps with small scissors.

2.
Homemade perma-wet can make ugly white spots and bubbles if you don't thin it with alcohol and you're using foam to dab it on. Alcohol doesn't really bubble, so it's great for thinning stuff. I had made the mistake of not thinning my perma-wet mixture enough, and I got white spots and bubbles. I decided to use a finger to rub massive amounts of rubbing alcohol all over the gloves in hopes that it would eliminate most of those ugly spots, and it worked quite well. The hands are still a lot uglier than I wanted them to be, and not the monstrous kind of ugly that one would want their pred hands to be.


I have some slightly oversized weightlifting gloves that I'm painting black, which will go over the predator hands. I will also be adding cone studs for the spikes on the glove's upper fingers. I plan on using a lot of those cone studs on various parts of my costume armor. Cone studs are sort of like the pyramid studs you see on belts and punk clothing, but they're rounder and sometimes taller.

 

[Digfoot]

Well they're complete!

I had painted an oversized weightlifting glove with black latex (Well... mask latex with black acrylic xD ), then put cone-studs on 'em. I used a sharpie maker to paint the cone studs black. I also cut upward into the palm of the hand from the inner wrist, since that area would be covered by the weightlifting glove and my hands needed more room to fit inside.

I applied some black paint/latex to the tops of the gloves and over the cone studs, and now I'm finished! I've learned a lot of things while I made these hands, and have noticed many mistakes I plan on avoiding next time I work with these materials.

 

[panik33]

they look great man love the idea to use real gloves

 

[torredator]

Nice..

 

[TokyoRose]

Nice work man, they turned out great!