Newbie needs some info/advice on making creature hands

[firerabbit]

I am new at the process I am attempting so any help will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to make a creature hand like the one from the film District 9 and I am stuck on the process.

I have done a life cast of just my face before, but making an application that will cover the hand completely so you can wear it like a glove is throwing me off. I understand that in order to fit perfectly to my hand, I need to make a cast of my hand and then build up the design I want on the mold and make another cast of that. My questions are: when designing a hand that only has 3 digits, should you position your fingers a certain way to help get the look you want when making your first mold? Or do you leave your fingers relaxed and spaced and then build up the design with clay afterwards to make 3 digits? After you finished the application with either rubber or whatever, how do you safely remove it from your mold in order to wear it?

If I am going about this the hard way, please feel free to share any other techniques because I would love to learn them!

 

[Looch]

Well, if these are the only questions you have, then you're doing very well! Anyway, if you want a three-fingered glove, then you'll want to mold your own hand that way, unless of course, you want the fingers to be really thick. Next, when you have made your mold and you use a technique such as a slush mold, a thin brushing of vaseline will do. Of course, the chalky proprieties in the plaster will create a release agent, but to be sure, vaseline will do great.

 

[guyver921]

Looch is right if you want to have that 3 finger look than cast your hand in that position,and if you plan on doing many more hand/glove pieces i would make a silicone master mold of your in a standard position also just incase you want to run up any extra sets of your hands. LOL i do this with mine because sometimes i will be working on one project and get a idea for another and i start baseing out the new idea before the other one is done...I'm bad for that but i do it while its fresh in my head...Good luck and always remember don't rush it...

 

[camerafx24]

You will also have to cut the thumb and forefinger section and pin them so they can be removed or you will rip the glove trying to remove it.

 

[firerabbit]

You will also have to cut the thumb and forefinger section and pin them so they can be removed or you will rip the glove trying to remove it.

First off: thank you everyone for the advice It's all very helpful. I'm currently looking into materials, but I was thinking of using alginate or silicone to cast then plaster to mold (since it's cheap and every store seems to carry it), then build up and design with clay. I was thinking of using latex for the skin, but I am still looking into other options for that part.

Camerafx24: when you say cut the thumb and forefinger to remove, do you mean I need to cut a seam vertically up from the side of the wrist or middle of the palm? To hide these seams, do you just add Spirit Gum to the inside of the "glove" when wearing it?

 

[Looch]

What some folks do is cut the slit up to the hand, then add a zipper

 

[echo5633]

I haven't ventured into glove making yet but to me it seems like making the the thumb and forefinger removable from your plaster hand caste then after you mold the glove you can take your plaster hand out in two piece you wont need to add any zippers or spirit gum to hide any seams cause you wont have one.

the red line being where the two parts are split then removing part A then B. Makes sense to me but then again i've never done it so............:confused
If your going for the three finger scenario then you probably only need to thumb to come off

 

[Marvelfan]

actually there is a tutorial online for one, go over to youtube and type in BFX
district 9 alien hand