"Help me!" "Help meee!!" (Fly claw)

OK, for Halloween this year I'm going to tackle the original Fly. I already bought this mask:



...but will be adding hair and ostrich feather feelers. The same company sells a pair of bug hands, but I want to try making my own. However, I need some advice.

Rather than starting from scratch, I'm thinking of taking an oven mitt and covering it in latex. I then want to extend the thumb and fingers area into more of a point. Basically, I want to go from this:



To this:



Any suggestions on how to form the pointy parts of the claw? I haven't sculpted anything since college but due to the simplicity of the shape, I'm not too concerned with screwing it up.

Thanks in advance.

I would probably use upholstry foam, and make a pattern like a puppet, so you can grab comely wenches and such.
Can be painted with a coat of latex to dress it up, add a piece of fur, paint, etc.
See rough sketch for idea.

Carving styrofoam or pink insulation foam is another option, with a resin coat would be pretty tough, and work better as a display item.

C.

Thanks for the tips, Coz -- and for taking the time to do a sketch. Much appreciated!

I would personally fill the oven mitt with expanding ridgid foam to give it a solid shape as your armature. Then start sculpting (for something like this i'd use water based clay). once you have your sculpt finished, seal it with kryalon crystal clear and then release it with a release agent (i like ease release 200). Then do a 2 part plaster mold of it. Once you have your plaster mold you can pour mask latex such as monster makers rd 407 latex into it and either slush it around to make the "skin" or pour enough to fill the mold and let it dwell for an hour and pour out the excess. Once you have your skin, you can fill the mold with a soft expanding foam such as flex foam it from smooth on. When the foam is still fresh you can insert a hand form to create a cavity for you to put your hand in for the final product or you could even insert your oven mit to be the core. Hope this helps

Thanks for the advice, Scuba Bob! I have a couple of months to work on this, and due to my lazy work habits I'll need them.

I'll post progress pictures once I start. I have to mull over which method I can pull off best.

I think I'm going to go with the foam method, adding it to the oven mitt then coating it in latex. Monster Makers sells quarts. Will one be enough? It won't have to be that thick as I'll be coating an oven mitt, not making a casting.

http://www.monstermakers.com/files/cache/c7823b0c8ac0c94e64acdf76bb86b43c.jpg

Also, does anyone know of any good sources for hair?

Thanks

If you're going to buy the quart, might as well buy a gallon. I've found with latex since it shrinks i always use more than i thought. When i buy the rd407 latex i buy the 5 gallon buckets. For hair, it all depends on budget. I LOVE NFT for hairCustom Fur & Fibers for Film, Stage, Taxidermy, and Theme Parks

Thanks for the tips, Scuba! I ended up ordering 2 quarts from them. I found an art supply place in town that sells white latex, but even with shipping, Monster Makers' was cheaper. Also, theirs comes in black so I don't have to worry about coloring it.

They also carry hair, but I think I want to shop for that in person so I can try out various textures.

I also got a nice lab coat at a thrift shop last weekend for $8, but in the movie it was more of a tan or khaki color. I picked up some dyes so I can test a T-shirt before committing to the coat.

good stuff. arnold (the owner of monster makers) is awesome. He makes some amazing products. sounds like you're all set up.

Progress!

I started with what should have been a slam dunk: coloring the lab coat a khaki color (the film version is definitely NOT white). However, it took about 8 tests for me to get the right color. There's a dye color called ecru that looks like the perfect shade, but the first brand I tried came out a sickly olive drab, even when I watered it down. After some additional tests, I found a brand that did the job. Here are my original materials:



After dying coat (I was going to switch out the buttons but they look white in the movie):



Onto the claw! The first oven mitt I bought had a thumb that I thought would be easy enough to shove into a foam claw... but wasn't, even after cutting it down a bit.



...so I bought another. Much better fit.





I wasn't happy with the curve of the claw, so cut out some foam from the inside bend, glued it to itself with latex, and shoved it into a small box to dry. The smallness held the edges of the foam in place -- plus some safety pins.

After some additional carving and adding a thumb, I coated the foam in a thin layer of Monster Maker latex (great stuff, but the odor is very strong):



It looks more Dr. Zoidberg than fly right now, but I'll be adding a LOT more latex -- and hair. My original plan was to match the Don Post version and only put it on the backside. But because I want to hide where the foam ends and the mitt begins, I'm going to follow the movie version much more closely and cover the whole thing in hair.

I've never haired anything before, so here's hoping I don't screw it up!