Here’s a project you can create in a day with just a roll of duct tape and some paint.  For best results, hide in a candy bowl, place in front of a gravestone, or hang as a kitchen decoration like some sort of cannibal chef.

Materials:

• Duct Tape
• Paint in desired colors (I used flesh tones for mine, as well as red, black, and white)
• Wire and Knife (if hanging)

Instructions:

1. Create a wad of duct-tape in a palm-like shape and size. Decide which side will be the palm and which will be the back.  Also decide whether you are making a left or a right hand.
2. Add duct tape to the bottom of the palm to create a wrist.
3. Attach the first digit of the thumb to the side of the palm.
4. Attach the second digit of the thumb so that it curves inward, pointing towards where the fingers will go.
5. Add bulk to the thumb to round it out. A good way to do this is to attach small rolls of duct tape to the wider areas on the thumb, then cover the rounded piece in more duct tape to smooth out the appearance.
6. Add the first half of the fingers to the back of the palm by creating half-finger-sized rolls of duct tape. Use your own hand as a guide to placement.
7. Add the top half of the fingers with more half-finger-sized rolls of duct tape. Use your own hand as a guide to the proportional lengths of each finger.
8. Add additional bulk to fingers to round them out, and bend fingers so that they curve slightly inward toward the palm.
9. Compare the duct tape hand to your hands and check to see if any places need to be rounded out or have extra volume added, and make corrections as necessary.
10. Paint the front and back of the hand with two coats of the desired base coat. If you are using darker flesh tones than I did, remember to paint the back of the hand a darker color than the front.  If you are using non-natural flesh tones (vampire white, witch green, or zombie grey) or pale flesh tones this can still be done, but is not necessary.
11. After the two coats of paint are dry, paint a base color for the nails. Around the world, human nails are usually a slightly pinker color than the rest of their skin.  To get the color right for the duct tape hand, use your own hand for reference.  Or give your hand painted nails and skip step 12.
12. After this base coat is dry, paint a lighter half-moon at the base of the nail (again, look to your own hand as a color reference) and paint the tip of the nail white.
13. Decide if your hand is going to be rising from the grave, used in a prop, or if it’s going to be hanging severed from a doorway. The hand that is to be used in a prop should be left clean, so it is finished after the last step.  If it is rising from the grave, paint white tips of the nails brown or black and cover the hand in brownish paint that contrasts with the color of the skin (For darker hands, we recommend colors like clay orange or a dusty grey-brown).  Or, if you are lazy, just take the hand outside and cover it in real dirt.  Bury hand so that it appears to be clawing its way free from the grave.
14. For a bloody severed hand, add blood in three layers so that it trickles down from the wrist toward the fingers. The first layer should be a black red.  After this dries, cover most of it with a dark red.  When this dries, highlight the blood trails with bright red.
15. To hang hand, use a thin, sharp knife to pierce a hole through the wrist and run a wire through it.
16. Repaint the wound with blood.
17. Hang hand where it is most visible.

Happy Halloween!