[QueenHalloween]

Hi Everone,

I saw this here on the forum a while back and on Pinterest. I think I want to attempt this as part of our CarnEvil room and the hallway leading into it. Has anyone done this before? How did you fasten the hands and where did you get that many?

I know Dollar Tree has them but I was wondering if anyone knew where to get them for cheaper? Thank you!

 

[Hilda]

From the looks of it. I would guess most of those appear to be latex hands. So they are softer to walk through. The Dollar Tree hands are hard plastic. I think the softer latex hands are probably a better item to use for this, than hard plastic hands. First of all, so they don't get knocked off the wall, also people can get poked and scratched and hurt with hard plastic hands. I say this because I have a pair coming out of a closet door (only a single pair of hands) and two people got pretty good scratches (enough to bleed) off that single pair. So I can't imagine what would happen with a hallway full of hard plastic hands. Also I would seriously worry about someone getting scratched in their eyes. I just thought I would mention that to you.
Gosh, I have no idea where to get hands cheaper than the dollar store. Sorry.
Good luck with your search. I think that looks like such a cool and creepy passageway.

EDIT: I'm back. Yes. Those are this style of latex hand. There are a lot of them available on ebay. Unfortunately they are more expensive than dollar store hard plastic hands, but definitely appear to be what were used in that photograph.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pc-Lifesiz...d=100338&rk=5&rkt=13&mehot=pp&sd=221568294288

 

[grlwalshy62500]

I did this in my haunt last year. I used the Dollar Tree hands. My walkthrough doesn't have solid walls so I bought foam cut it into board width strips and then put a screw through the foam and into the hand. I had the foam strips painted black so it blended with the backdrop and wedged them between the top and bottom of the frame. I also used few strobes in that room. It held up no problem for the night I get around 150 TOTs. I do limit the amount that can enter the walkthrough at a time (usually around 5) otherwise they tend to get rowdy. Hope that helps!

 

[Screaming Demons]

We did this last year. I intended to make it more elaborate but had to throw it together at the last minute. We used black plastic for the walls. I hung chicken wire over the front of it and stuck about 40 dollar store hands through the holes (had to fold the wrists over the get them to fit). I wanted to cover the chicken wire but we used a strobe light on a fairly slow setting so I don't think anyone ever noticed. All they saw were dozens of bloody hands reaching out at them, and two of them were real.

That ended up being the fastest room to put together, and the scariest. People would get to it, look inside, and turn around to go back out the entrance.

 

[QueenHalloween]

Hilda-Thank you for the help and the Ebay link!! I agree, the $$ Tree ones are scratchy, and could be bad if I got a sharp one. The Ebay ones are pricey! I think I will get some of each and put the plastic ones up high, so they won't touch anyone. The latex ones feel creepier anyway.

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[QueenHalloween]

Hi grlwalshy62500,

Thanks a bunch for the foam board idea! I think this is the best way to mount the hands for me as well. Do you by chance have a picture? I think I understand from your description, but I would love to see it in action.

 

[QueenHalloween]

Screaming Demons,

I love that you had 2 real hands in the hallway, that's what I want to do as well! How did that go over?

Chicken wire is another great (and cost effective) option because it is bendable. Good call.

I'm getting really excited with all of the ideas!

 

[Screaming Demons]

Those are coming direct from China. Great photograph, but I wouldn't bet on them not being dollar store hands.

 

[Hilda]

Hilda-Thank you for the help and the Ebay link!! I agree, the $$ Tree ones are scratchy, and could be bad if I got a sharp one. The Ebay ones are pricey! I think I will get some of each and put the plastic ones up high, so they won't touch anyone. The latex ones feel creepier anyway.

Thanks again for your help!!

Well that sounds like an excellent solution to the problem! Come back and share some photos when you are done!

 

[Hilda]

Those are coming direct from China. Great photograph, but I wouldn't bet on them not being dollar store hands.

I have a pair of these. They are very squishy. Some kind of cheap rubber. Kind of limp too. LOL
Not exactly like photographed, but they are not plastic like the Dollar Tree ones in particular.

Does anyone know if any of the dollar stores have softer rubber hands?! I sure could use some of them for a project.

 

[vonroll]

Buy some of the nitrile gloves at Home Depot or Walmart (paint section), inflate with Air and put those at the top for a visual effect. You could probably fill a few with water if they are the thick kind and place them intermixed with the others.
Pretty handy huh?

 

[offmymeds]

I was thinking stuff some rubber gloves as well, you can probably paint them. They would be soft. I think a mixture of all kinds of hands would work.

 

[vonroll]

I was thinking stuff some rubber gloves as well, you can probably paint them. They would be soft. I think a mixture of all kinds of hands would work.

...or just leave them black and they can be the 'live' actor ones that grab ToTs. They won't expect the ones that look like gloves.

 

[Trex]

I think I have seen posts by people who tried the Great Stuff in gloves but I think there can be issues with it setting up properly?? I agree with your suggestion mount the cheap, hard dollar store ones at top and use latex foam in the areas people will brush against them.

 

[weeping angel]

I was thinking of spray painted rubber gloves too, filled with something soft?

 

[Spanishtulip]

fill cheap latex gloves with fiber fill then paint them flesh tone and add fake glue on nails. a little fake blood and a dark hallway, cheap and realistic looking

 

[Hilda]

haha All excellent suggestions. I am so interested to see some finished hallways now!!

 

[Oswald]

Rehashing this topic a month later or so, but I just purchased 50 plastic hands from .99 Store, which will cover a hallway just a bit over 10' long and about 3' wide. The hallway will be constructed out of 5mm underlayment mounted on a 2x2 frame. I also plan on having kids place their arms though the walls as well as guests walk through for an added scare. Now my question is, what's the best way to secure these plastic hands. I was considering some 1 inch compression springs, which I could twist into the forearm end of the hand and then screw the spring to the wall. This would allow the hand/arm to move and have some give instead of being solidly mounted with no give as guests walk the hallway. Any other ideas you can think of before I buy some cheap springs?

 

[Trex]

My Hubby was given 5-6 tension drapery rods from an estate sale recently, he wanted them for one reason, the spring inside. He dismantled them and saved the springs. Maybe you can find some at garage sales or thrift stores? Those little rods are pretty cheap anyways.

 

[lateadopter]

I think that when you are going for volume in a prop, the best way is to make them yourself. Here's a video on how to cast hands and arms in silcon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPS-W6YZFb4. Advantages are that you can make them much more realistic and they are not going to scratch anyone. Disadvantage is this is obviously going to take WAY more time than buying a bunch of pre-made hands and nailing them to a wall.

BTW... to your original question. For mounting the Dollar store plastic ones, I would cut out a bunch of wood ellipses with a jigsaw (or bandsaw if you have one) that would fit in the end of the hand. Once you have the cutouts, screw those into your panels where you want the hands. Then fit the hand over the wood cutout and drive a screw through the plastic into the wood on each of the long sides of the hand.