2012-Day 29 Corpse chandelier update

One of the 6 corpse hands which will  be connected to the chandelier base

The final October schedule is under way. Corpse chandelier must be hung and entrance hall done by the 15th! As I mentioned in an earlier post I found this prop idea on the Monster page of Halloween project links.  Please bookmark this page Ghouls! There is a ton of cool stuff on there and there isn't any reason you necessarily have to reinvent the wheel as it were! Be forewarned this prop is taking a lot longer than advertised! Fairly cheap to make not including the candles, but a LOT longer than a couple of hours. Give it at least a couple of weeks. The hand shown here probably took about an hour by itself. The directions are clear enough. They can be found here. Thank you Merlin! When you make them be sure to familiarize yourself with a hand skeleton and understand there are multiple bones. Four segments for each except the thumb which has 3. The longest segment is at the bottom called the metacarpal. The rest are called phalanges. Notice the relative lengths of the individual digits and how the long finger (3rd finger) is the longest, index and ring are approximately the same length and small finger (fifth) is the shortest. Model your hands after your own. That's the easiest way to get the lengths right! You can get the bic pens at a dollar store for a couple dollars.Remove the pen portion, then cut the plastic tubes to match the lengths of the finger segments like you see here or in Merlin's tutorial. Take pieces of wire hanger and slide the segments over it. Use a 1-2 inch by 4-5 inch PVC piping to install the fingers onto. I used a hammer to flatten one end of the PVC. You don't have to crush the end totally. Just flatten it enough so you can drill 5 holes across the top. Start with the thumb hole on the side about 1" down from the end and use about a 1/8" drill bit, then drill the other 4 holes across the top about 1/2" from the end. You want the thumb hole set down and on the side a bit. Attach the digits by sliding the end of the wire into the holes. You can bend the end of the wire inside the PVC to stabilize the digit in the rough position you want. Then take your duct tape to secure them. If you are running wire through the arms make sure to leave an opening in the end of the PVC by the palm of the hand. Don't close it off with the tape. I have to wait and see if I am going to need an actual conduit to get the wire through the arm to the center of the chandelier. I don't think so. Finally if you plan to have the hands hold the candles you should cut the tape in the webspace between the thumb abd the index because you will need to bend that thumb way down eventually.