I follow a few stop motion practitioners online and came across a really interesting way of making some movable hands that hold a lot of detail and won't be damaged from adjusting between frames.
The process is to make a pair of hands out of hard clay.
Then make a mould of said hands with plaster.
Make a durable wire hand and place that inside the mould.
Fill the mould with silicone.
Leave to set for 24 hours.
The results I saw online were incredible, the detail from the clay hands really transferred into the silicone and they were completely flexible.
Decided to have a go my self, thinking if it works it could be a good option for my main characters hands.
Made a hand out of modelling clay:
Unfortunately after leaving it 24 hours to dry the fingers snapped:
Glued them back together but they came apart again in the mould.
I had no plaster powder so I made a mixture out of flour and water which i made the mould with, the mould with the hand inside then went into the oven.
It came out looking like a cake with a broken hand inside.
Failed attempt.
Decided to buy the right materials and give it another shot.
Ordered some polymer clay and plaster powder online.
2nd attempt:
Popped it in the oven for 15 mins:
Came out nice and solid:
made a structure for the mould out of card and used vaseline as a releasing agent for the walls:
Used cooking oil as a releasing agent for the hand and placed it on top of a layer of plaster (thought vaseline might get stuck in the details):
Pored plaster over the top and in 20 mins it had set, cracked it open and it worked (unfortunately the oil created an air bubble on the palm but this is just a test so now I know to use less oil for the real thing):
Cut the fluff off a pipe cleaner as I heard the wire is good for hands:
Made a little hand out of it to fit perfectly in the mould:
Filled the mould with fast drying silicone:
Sealed the mould for 24 hours:
Results:
One movable hand!
Pretty happy with the results.
Need a bit more detail in the hand for the final one, exaggerate knuckles and creases.
Don't use too much releasing agent.
Be gentle with the mould (this one cracked causing a line down the hand)
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