I wanted some skeleton hands for a couple of this year’s props. This is the technique that I came up with, and hopefully you will find it useful.
Materials required
Sheet plain paper
Pencil or marker
Wire
Air drying clay (DAS or similar)
28 Wood or plastic beads (I used ½ inch for the knuckles and 1/4 inch for the joints)
Masking tape
Step 1. Place your hand on the sheet of paper and draw around it.
Mark either side of the finger joints. Remove hand and draw lines across each mark on each finger where joints will be.
Step 2. Using the drawn hand as a template, make a wire frame for the fingers. Start by leaving an extra 3” to 6” from the wrist (to allow you to join the hand to the arm). Make sure the tips of the wire fingers are pinched together tight. Finish off by leaving another 3” to 6” past the wrist.
Step 3. Thread 3 beads on each finger and two on the thumbs. The red beads in the picture are ½ inch, the green beads ¼ inch.Place the beads where the knuckles and joints will be and wrap masking tape either side of the bead to keep in place.
Wrap masking tape around exposed wire as shown.
Bend the fingers into the desired positions.
Part two to follow...