make a living severed arm!

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-living-severed-arm!/ Home Sign Up! Browse Community Submit All Art Craft Food Games Green Home Kids Life Music Offbeat Outdoors Pets Photo Ride Science Tech The Living Severed Hand! by a grain of alt. on November 3, 2007 Table of Contents License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Intro: The Living Severed Hand! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 step 1: Material list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 step 2: Prepare the glove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 step 3: Filling out the glove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 step 4: Begin the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 step 5: Dressing the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 step 6: Bloody the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 step 7: It starts coming together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 step 8: Velcro patches and loose ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 step 9: Wear your work, enjoy the reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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Page 1: Make a Living Severed Arm!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-living-severed-arm!/

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The Living Severed Hand!by a grain of alt. on November 3, 2007

Table of Contents

License:   Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Intro:   The Living Severed Hand! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1:   Material list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 2:   Prepare the glove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 3:   Filling out the glove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 4:   Begin the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

step 5:   Dressing the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

step 6:   Bloody the stump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

step 7:   It starts coming together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

step 8:   Velcro patches and loose ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

step 9:   Wear your work, enjoy the reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Page 2: Make a Living Severed Arm!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-living-severed-arm!/

License:   Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro:  The Living Severed Hand!A severed hand that twitches and grabs at those who come near! Make a convincingly gruesome addition to your Halloween costume or a tool for the perfect April Foolsprank:

Of course, it isn't really severed, it's just an illusion! What you are going to make is a special glove that will make it look like you are holding a living, moving, human arm.In actuality, what people are seeing is your hand , passing straight through a "dummy" glove with an attached fake stump of an arm.

While the project takes a few hours to make (or more, depending on your attention to detail), it is silly-cheap and has a great effect!

Image Notes1. Bone fragments

Page 3: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Page 4: Make a Living Severed Arm!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-living-severed-arm!/

step 1: Material listThings you are going to need for this project:

Main Components:*a pair of heavy gloves (I opted for dollar store work gloves)*shampoo bottle*fabric (to be your "shirt" on the limb)*pillow fill*a sheet of white paper*some nice squishy foam*a wire coat hanger*Velcro*blood colored paint

Tools:*some nice sharp scissors*hot glue gun*wire cutters*packing tape

Optional*"Sculpey" or other clay that you can bake in your oven*super glue

The gloves that you pick are going to be the most important part of the project. Theoretically, you only need one glove- but the effect is best if you are wearing twomatching gloves. You'll want to buy or find some that are thick, sturdy, and have longish cuffs. Having no extra gloves laying around, I bought mine for only a buck andthey worked pretty well.

Every item besides the gloves I had around the house already, meaning a total cost of $1. If you already have some gloves that you could use, the project could bepractically free!

Total time spent on this project was in excess of 10 hours, over the course of several days. This includes all the trial and error that you will be able to avoid, thanks to thisInstructable, however! More than one day will be needed, to allow for the paint to dry. Time that you will require depends on how much attention to detail you take.

Image Notes Image Notes

Page 5: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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1. Only a buck! Sweet! 1. Any type of fill should be able to work, including the stuff for filling quilts. Cottonballs might even work.

Image Notes1. Just what I had around- you'll want a nice fresh blood color

step 2: Prepare the gloveFirst you're going to have to choose the hand that you are going to be sacrificing. This is important since you won't really be able to use that hand for the rest of theevening while wearing the "fake arm" glove. I arbitrarily chose the right glove.

You are then going to begin to cut the glove. Lay the glove palm-up on your workspace, and make a cut up the middle of the palm. You will then continue to cut in a "V",as indicated by the pattern in the second picture.

Cut away any unnecessary linings in the glove that might get in the way.

Image Notes1. The cut stopped about 1cm from the bottom of the fingers2. the base of the thumb

Page 6: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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step 3: Filling out the gloveSince you aren't going to have your hand in the glove, something needs to be inside of it, allowing it to maintain its shape and look realistic. I opted to use some nicesquishy foam that came with some electronics I bought. It was about 1 cm thick.

I cut the foam into 1 cm wide strips, each slightly longer than the length of each finger except for the thumb. A fifth strip was cut to the length across the knuckles of theglove.

Using wire cutters, cut a piece of a wire coat hanger a little bit shorter than the length of the index finger's foam.

Push the section of hanger carefully into the center of the foam, this will be the "skeleton" of the finger, allowing it to hold its shape.

Next, you are going to bulk up the finger and give it some more shape using fill. I did this by arranging the fill on the top of the foam, and then unceremoniously wrappingpacking tape around the entire thing, being sure to get tape on the ends in order to prevent the hanger from potentially poking through.

All pieces are then put into their appropriate places inside of the glove. Arrange the piece of foam that you cut to the length of the knuckles below the foam for the fingersand when you are happy with the location, hold it in place using dots of hot glue. The foam in the fingers shouldn't slip, so you won't need to glue them.

Stuff the thumb with some fill. You won't need to worry about it coming out, we'll deal with that later.

Finally, bend the index finger of the glove to a "C" shape for grasping your wrist when you wear the glove.

Image Notes1. Glue the foam along the knuckle-line in place using hot glue

Page 7: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. It doesn't have to be beautiful

Image Notes1. The pointer finger is the only one with extra padding besides the foam

Image Notes1. Shove the foam into each finger

Image Notes1. Glue the foam along the knuckle-line in place using hot glue

Image Notes1. We'll be covering over this later

Page 8: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. This finger will be grasping your wrist along with the thumb

step 4: Begin the stumpFor the arm "stump," I used a shampoo bottle that was approximately the same shape as my forearm.

Cut off the top at an angle, such that the front of the bottle is slightly higher than the back, and the left of the bottle is about 1.5 cm taller than the right (this is for the "righthand" glove, reverse this if you are choosing to make a left handed glove).

Next, I put a thin layer of pillow fill around the bottle to change the shape of it slightly, to make it more like an arm.

I wrapped the bottle, encased in a thin layer of polyester fill, with a sheet of white paper that was cut to the correct width, and then wrapped around and taped into place.

Note how it is beginning to look a bit more like an arm's shape now. The white paper will also prevent the labeling of the bottle from showing through if your fabric that youuse in the next step is too sheer. The fill will also give the arm a nice "give" when squeezed, making it that much more realistic.

Image Notes1. don't worry about a little bit of fill sticking out the bottom2. a single piece of regular old scotch tape

Page 9: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. cotton balls would probably work too- but it might be lumpy

Image Notes1. a light layer all around

Image Notes1. don't worry about a little bit of fill sticking out the bottom2. a single piece of regular old scotch tape

step 5: Dressing the stumpFor the "sleeve" that of your arm stump, you are going to need a section of fabric and a hot glue gun. I chose an old pillow case for my fabric, because of the nice widehem that was already stitched in, looking like a cuff on a sleeve. I aligned the hem on the cut side of the bottle.

The section of fabric will need to be at least 3 inches or so wider than the bottle is tall (see the first picture) and long enough so that it can wrap completely around thebottle.

I affixed the fabric to the paper outside of the bottle with dots of hot glue as I rolled it around the outside. Be careful to not use too much glue or it may be visible on theoutside of the fabric. Pay special attention to the edges, so that they cannot pull away, revealing the bottle.

Finally, you are going to shred the fabric hanging off of the bottom of the bottle. This will further the effect that the limb was viciously torn from someone's body. I madecuts with scissors and then pulled out the threads with my fingers.

Don't worry about the bottom of the bottle- we'll be taking care of that in the next step.

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Image Notes1. line of hot glue under the edge of the fabric to keep it from pulling up

Image Notes1. about an inch on this side2. leave 2 inches on this side to make the fabric tattered and torn3. long enough to roll around the bottle completely

Image Notes1. beginning to attach the fabric to the bottle using spots of hot glue as I roll itaround

Image Notes1. almost done gluing!2. be sure to use more glue at the edges, so that the fabric can't pull awayfrom the bottle3. be sure to use more glue at the edges, so that the fabric can't pull awayfrom the bottle

Page 11: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. if you are fastidious, you could fold over the edge of the fabric before fullywrapping it around, to keep from having frayed edges. I didn't do this.

Image Notes1. line of hot glue under the edge of the fabric to keep it from pulling up

Image Notes1. Shred it to your satisfaction

step 6: Bloody the stumpFor the fleshy bottom of the stump, we are going to use some more of that great polyester fill, red paint, and my favorite tool: the hot glue gun.

Glue on patches of fill onto the exposed bottom of the bottle using dots of hot glue. I used extra dabs of hot glue to make a chunky texture out of the fill, making it lookthat much more like the texture of torn muscle. I left a little bit of space in the middle so that I could have some nasty bones sticking out.

Once you are happy with the coverage of the fill, you are going to paint it using a nice, blood-colored paint. I used some red enamel that I had lying around. It took a whileto dry, but it worked nicely.

When you are satisfied with the look of the flesh itself, give some love to the rest of the sleeve: let some of the paint soak through the torn fabric and put little splattereddots of blood elsewhere. Also paint some blood on both of the gloves. Let the paint dry overnight.

In the meantime, I chose to make some chunks of bone to have sticking out of the arm using Sculpey brand clay. I sculpted two, baked them in the oven according to theinstructions on the box, and let them cool. I then painted them to look bloody as well.

The next morning, the bones fragments were glued to the space left in the middle of the fill using a dot of super glue for each piece.

Image Notes1. Let paint soak through

Image Notes1. dabs of hot glue, and then pinches of fill

Page 12: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. bottom of the bottle covered in fill

Image Notes1. Just what I had around- you'll want a nice fresh blood color

Image Notes1. Don't leave anything white!2. Space left to glue bone fragments to

Image Notes1. Let paint soak through

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Image Notes1. Bone fragments glued to the stump after paint is dry

step 7: It starts coming togetherNow that we have the two main components of the glove, it's time to begin the assembly!

First, glue the last three fingers of the glove together using hot glue (pinky, ring, and middle finger). You are going to want to avoid glue being seen on the outside(knuckle side) of the glove.

Next, you are going to lay down a line of hot glue just below the fingers on the palm of the glove and affix the stump. Be careful! You only have one shot at this! With thepalm of the glove, the fleshy end of the stump should be facing outwards (the side of the pinky of the glove). The open end of bottle should line up with about the centerof the middle finger.

After you have done, hot glue the fingers (only the 3 that are glued together!) to the stump.

As a final shaping structure, we then cut a piece of scrap cardboard, such as a cereal box. I folded the cardboard so that it was doubly-thick, and then cut it at an angleroughly the same as the slant of the knuckle-line on the glove.

The piece of cardboard is inserted into the glove, on TOP of the foam chunks, but below the flaps of your glove's palm. It is then glued into place. Remember the fill in thethumb of the glove? This will also prevent that from coming out. If you really want to go above and beyond- you could cover the cardboard in fabric.

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Image Notes1. Obligatory but entirely unnecessary side note.2. Edge of plastic (not fabric) should be about in the center of the middle finger.

Image Notes1. Don't glue the index finger!

Image Notes1. Obligatory but entirely unnecessary side note.2. Edge of plastic (not fabric) should be about in the center of the middle finger.

Image Notes1. About the same angle as the knuckle-line

Image Notes1. Cardboard is below this flap2. I left the bare cardboard- you could cover yours in fabric if you are so inclined.

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step 8: Velcro patches and loose endsThe final step is attaching the Velcro patches that will hold the glove on your arm and in its proper shape.

The Velcro that I used was intended for keeping toddlers out of cabinets, and therefore had VERY strong adhesive backing- meaning that I did not have use anything elseto hold the patches on. You may, however, need to use additional glue (or stitching) to keep the Velcro from pulling off.

First, you are going to affix the largest piece of Velcro, which will do the brunt of the holding- I recommend a 1" x 2" piece. The "furry" side of the piece went on the insideof the left part of the glove, and the "catchy" on the outside, located on the right side of the palm. This allows for minimum visibility of the patches. A smaller strip wasused on the wrist of the glove just to keep it from flopping open.

Also on the palm is a triangle of Velcro, placed on the triangular flap that you cut on the palm of the glove (see picture).

For the "sleeve" of your stump, you are going to remove a triangle of fabric, with the bottom of the triangle measuring approximately 2" and facing the palm of the glove.Fold the remaining flap of fabric upward and glue it in place. Affix the the other side of the triangle-shaped piece of Velcro on the inside of this glued flap, facing inward.

Glue any seams that appear to be falling apart on the glove, and survey your work... you're done!

Image Notes1. Awesome tacky backing that saved me stitching

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Image Notes1. Remove a triangle of fabric

Image Notes1. Fold it up...

Image Notes1. Glue all the layers together

step 9: Wear your work, enjoy the reactionsCongratulations! You can now freak out trick-or-treaters, family, and friends with your seemingly-living severed arm!

To wear your glove takes a little bit of technique. Put your hand into the glove, and put your wrist at a right angle. Your hand should be grasped between the thumb andforefinger of the glove. Velcro relevant patches together, including the triangle piece that you glued to the "sleeve" of your limb.

For the best effect, you will need to keep your wrist at this right angle. Take a break every once in a while if it starts to get sore (I never really had any problems). Put onthe other matching glove, and a long sleeved shirt to really have a strong effect. Try applying some makeup to your hand to make it look more "fake" and therefore scarepeople that much more when you move it.

Have fun with it! Have your arm hold a drink at parties, grab peoples wrists when they touch it, or point at its supposed murderer!

Page 17: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Image Notes1. Velcro this...2. ... to this.

Page 18: Make a Living Severed Arm!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-living-severed-arm!/

1. No idea why I'm holding the cup like this.

Image Notes1. Bone fragments

Image Notes1. The finished product

Page 19: Make a Living Severed Arm!

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Comments50 comments Add Comment view all 132 comments

 captain_ham says:  Oct 28, 2008. 9:21 AM  REPLYThis is incredible! I have to work in a restaurant on Halloween, this will be the perfect minimal impact costume - effective and cool, yet easily removeable ifneed be. I'd consider actually cutting up an old shirt for the 'fake' arm. Having the shirt cuff around your own wrist (i.e. so the shirt is on both sides of wherethe glove is gripping) would add to the effect. If that makes sense... I'm making this sometime this week! Pictures to follow! Awesome instructable!

 thepelton says:  Feb 15, 2009. 3:47 PM  REPLYSecond hand shirts that wouldn't set you back much can be had at second hand thrift stores, like Salvation Army or Veteran's thrift store.

 crazycloud says:  Sep 23, 2010. 12:24 AM  REPLYYard Sales too.

 a grain of alt. says:  Oct 28, 2008. 12:12 PM  REPLYMost excellent! I can only imagine how customers would respond, haha. Greatly looking forward to the pictures, feel free to post if you have anyproblems along the way.

 sillyzombie666 says:  Jun 16, 2010. 10:58 PM  REPLYdude i do volunteer haunted houses and i play a crazy doctor / butcher and i so need to make this

 Zulak says:  Apr 4, 2010. 5:51 AM  REPLYMade this for a recent party, worked really well. Very well written instructions, made everything easy. The only problem I had with it was a tendency for mywrist to twist around in the gardening glove so the hand protruded at the wrong angle, but other than that this was perfect.

 Rock Soldier says:  Jun 22, 2009. 9:37 AM  REPLYThe fake arm part doesn't look real. You need to color it to the tune of your hand.

 Jyssa says:  Mar 14, 2010. 5:58 PM  REPLYYea but everyone presumes it to be fake - the best thing would be to paint the real hand to look fake - then it's double the freak-out when it moves/iswarm/etc. :) And it matches the fake stump..

 mr monoply33 says:  Nov 11, 2009. 9:00 AM  REPLYwell done!

*Applauds*

 Raf-ael says:  Nov 3, 2009. 7:32 AM  REPLYThis living severed hand was created by the Magician Kevin James from Las Vegas. He performed it on America got talent & he gave Marvins magic (UK)tye right to sell it in their magic set "freaky body illusions"So all the credit goes to him for creating this wonderful illusion!

 slm437 says:  Nov 3, 2009. 6:23 AM  REPLYHelped by hubby make his - we used doubled up bristol board for the arm - stuffed with plastic bags. since his name is Andy we called him "handy-andy".

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 trialex says:  Nov 2, 2009. 2:01 PM  REPLYAnother satisfied customer...

(yes it does look like I'm groping myself in this photo...)

 a grain of alt. says:  Nov 2, 2009. 5:19 PM  REPLYNICE! Great job with it! I like the longer "stump"... it really adds to the effect! Thanks so much for sharing, trialex!

 rjs899 says:  Nov 1, 2009. 10:29 AM  REPLYThis was great. At least a dozen kids were too scared to even take the Halloween candy i was offering.

For the bone piece, I used a 1" rawhide bone dog chew. The coloring and texture was perfect, and i made it stick out about 2" from the fake arm. A littleblood on the bone made it very realistic.

Thanks!

 rjs899 says:  Nov 1, 2009. 10:30 AM  REPLYI meant to say that the rawhide was 1" thick, and about 8" long.

 alex-sharetskiy says:  Nov 1, 2009. 8:21 AM  REPLYVery clever

,,and grotesque,,

 McGrep says:  Oct 31, 2009. 8:56 PM  REPLYPositively brilliant! Who knew Hollywood-quality effects could be achieved with household rubbish? It's the essence of DIY!

 Blueear says:  Oct 12, 2008. 2:36 PM  REPLYThis is great fun - perfect minimal halloween costume. I'd add - using makeup on your own hand, lots of white and/or gray face paint, black/purple nails,maybe some blood - make the hand look 'dead'.

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 a grain of alt. says:  Oct 20, 2009. 8:14 AM  REPLYLove the ideas... I'd agree!

 jamwaffles says:  Oct 22, 2009. 1:13 PM  REPLYAwesomely cool :P but to make the illusion REAL good, like bluear says, facepaint in the same shade as the wrist bit would make it even better

 jotism says:  Oct 30, 2009. 3:57 PM  REPLYI agree Jamboy.

am TEMPTED to do this soon, who says it needs to be Halloween or April 1st?

I dont lol.

 jotism says:  Oct 30, 2009. 4:08 PM  REPLYInfact, i have had a BRILL idea, we use a bunch of servos, and a linux powered toaster to controll them, good?

or a Linux powered hairdrier

or ma desk :) (joke intended JUST for James, and anyone who knows ma PC layout, if u can even call it one lols)

 jamwaffles says:  Oct 31, 2009. 2:04 AM  REPLYeesh that was so funny...

soz not in a good mood - came back from my paper round all wet.

"Mummy, my spleen is wet"

 Bugsley says:  Oct 30, 2009. 1:48 PM  REPLYGreat addition to any, Zombie/Dahmer costume!Use rubber gloves for Mad Scientist.

 annoyingfeatures says:  Oct 30, 2009. 10:19 AM  REPLY took this too my sisters school today creeped out lots of kids especially the 5th and sixth gradders

 drkakaq says:  Oct 23, 2009. 3:29 PM  REPLYThanks I'll try it

 Rossini138 says:  Oct 12, 2009. 4:36 PM  REPLYThanks so much. So simple, and yet so awesome!I really enjoyed making this and it's gonna go really well with my (seen before!) Zombie costume.

 a grain of alt. says:  Oct 20, 2009. 8:14 AM  REPLYGreat! We'd all love to see pictures of the finished product!

 yorkshire terrorist says:  Oct 20, 2009. 4:49 AM  REPLYYour'e not holding the cup.... the living severed hand is.... and who can really explain anything they do!?!?!

Thanks for the instructable!  I have to dress up for work, and I'm thinking this will be my costume!

 kfinkel1976 says:  Oct 14, 2009. 8:12 PM  REPLYI made a left handed severed arm. So far, I've given my neighbor a nearheart attack, had people take my picture, freaked out moms with theirkids, andweirded out the cops. Great instructable!!

 annoyingfeatures says:  Oct 4, 2009. 2:44 PM  REPLYi made o, just havent added blood

 annoyingfeatures says:  Oct 14, 2009. 1:42 PM  REPLY i have now added blood and bones and will post a new video soon

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 captain_ham says:  Oct 31, 2008. 7:37 PM  REPLYI managed to make this in about one afternoon, with a bit of a hashed experiment the evening before. I used a shirt sleeve with a tube of cardboard inside it,all glued to the 3 fingers as in your instructable. The glove was stuffed with newspaper which, combined with the cheap superglue I poured all over the placegave me more than enough shaping capabilities. I then sliced the glove up the palm like you did and added some more paper stuffing to flesh out theknuckles a bit. Then came the velcro - I velcroed the thumb to the underside of the shirt cuff to give the impression of grip, and also velcroed up the slice inthe glove to give ample grip on my wrist, and conceal my arm more. I'd recommend going stage by stage, working out where you need to glue bits and addvelcro as you go along. So my hand comes out the palm of the glove and goes through the hole already in the cuff of the shirt, so the hand really looks like itcomes right out the sleeve. Leaving excess shirt on the 'stump' end allowed me not only to not bother with making bones (i just painted the inside red) butalso added to the effect when I let my hand go floppy - really lifeless looking! I also found it looked absolutely fine without needing a longsleeve shirt. Wentdown an absolute treat at work, serving food with my 'severed hand'! GREAT idea mate, thanks a lot! P.S. Being liberal with the blood really makes it lookgenuine - I almost abandoned it, until I painted it, which made things 10x better.

 LeftSquareBracket says:  Aug 20, 2009. 1:44 PM  REPLYOh.. oh wow. I'm laughing and cringing at the same time. The second pic is really bothersome/awesome. Using an actual shirt sleeve really does makefor a better effect. And nice touch with the blood.

 captain_ham says:  Aug 20, 2009. 3:59 PM  REPLYThanks! I work in a comedy club, so I was bringing slightly more and more inebriated people their food as the night went on. Seeing the severed handmakes very little sense to the brain when sober, so even the slightly drunken eye is completely thrown by the effect, to the point where the majority ofpeople just subconciously chose to entirely blank it out and ignore it. Really quite interesting! Props to the original writer of this I'ble, truly genius idea!

 a grain of alt. says:  Sep 25, 2009. 10:37 AM  REPLYIt rocks that you brought this to work! I wish I could have seen some of their reactions... It looks great btw, thanks a ton for posting the pics!

 bdunni88 says:  Sep 24, 2009. 12:21 AM  REPLYThis is so great, if I didn't already have a sweet costume idea I'd be all over this for Halloween.

 LeftSquareBracket says:  Aug 20, 2009. 1:46 PM  REPLYGreat 'ible. +10 internets. Your expression really sells it. You look like you enjoyed taking half of someone's forearm.

 trochee says:  Aug 10, 2009. 3:40 PM  REPLYI would recommend painting your actual hand with some costume paint, to match the colour of the fake arm rather than the other way around. Anotherinteresting inclusion would be to use rubeer tubing painted white/pinkish to simulate the tendons coming out the arm. Imagine, if you will, getting someone totug on them so that your "dead" hand will close around an object. That'd seriously freak someone out! Also, adding some sort of battery operated gripperinside the glove to simulate actual movement, would be handy in further establishing the ruse that the glove is your hand.

 lufer08 says:  Jun 11, 2009. 11:34 AM  REPLYohh !! nice work! its so incredible!!

 Edwin Lee says:  Jun 3, 2009. 6:52 PM  REPLYUmmmm... explain again how to cut again. I do not quite get it.

 a grain of alt. says:  Jun 3, 2009. 9:52 PM  REPLYLook at the second picture, I have an exact diagram of where to cut! :)

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 thepelton says:  Feb 13, 2009. 3:08 PM  REPLYLOL. I could imagine using this for passing out candy at Halloween, if someone would be willing to take it.

 eric11 says:  Nov 1, 2008. 12:53 PM  REPLYthey used this in an episode of mind freak

 downhilldman says:  Nov 1, 2008. 10:14 AM  REPLYthis instructable worked really well, I really freaked some people out, thx

 stienman says:  Oct 30, 2008. 4:54 AM  REPLYThanks for this instructable! I got a lot of really good reactions at the party last night. Here's a video of how I did mine - I used a foam rubber fake arm for thestump rather than make my own:

HD video (can see much more of the construction than the youtube version):http://vimeo.com/2105550http://vimeo.com/2105550

Youtube video:

Thanks again for an excellent instructable!

-Adam

 GenioDiabolico says:  Oct 28, 2008. 10:04 PM  REPLYI'm halfway through with this. I made the stump and the glove tonight and the paint is drying. What I can't figure out from the assembly step is whether the"high" side or the "low" side of the angled cut end of the stump is the side touching the base of the middle finger. I've talked myself into both ways makingsense but I think until I can hold it up in place I won't understand the geometry of where my real wrist and the fake cuff meet.

 a grain of alt. says:  Oct 29, 2008. 10:22 AM  REPLYUnfortunately the prototype is 1600 miles away from where I am right now... Just holding things in place (or having someone help you) is how I decidedon the cut of the stump- I remember that it really only fit one way (you can also go back, folding the fabric back and cutting the plastic back further, ifneeded). Just yell if you can't figure it out, I'll do my best to help

 GenioDiabolico says:  Oct 29, 2008. 4:59 PM  REPLYI think I figured it out. I used a real shirt cuff that needed attached to the bottle anyway, so I used velcro inside to connect them. I glued the cuff to theglove but have the option of repositioning the bottle in an emergency if I need to. I'll admit that up until I put it on for the first time I wasn't sure it wouldwork, but when I did my test run it was surprisingly good effect. I'm heating the glue gun back up to tweak it, but it was a big success. Thanks forposting it!

 a grain of alt. says:  Oct 29, 2008. 8:49 PM  REPLYHeck yeah! I'm sure everyone (including myself) would love to see some pics of it in action!

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