Severed Fingers

$10 - $12 (based on 2015 prices)

Makes five fingers

When my little brother and I began yard haunting, it was easy to find realistic-looking body parts at local party shops. Over the years, though, the appearance of fake limbs has become more and more pathetic. Now, to acquire something believable, you have to make your own, buy it at an expensive special-effects store, or locate a hapless drifter. Since the last two options are impracticable (no one has the money for those stores), this project developed from my own attempts at self fabrication.

• Five vinyl fingers
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in burgundy*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in coral *
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in dark red*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in deep maroon*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flesh tone*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in light pink*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*

1. On a newspaper-lined surface, apply three even coats of flesh-tone paint to the fingers. Although I used three, you may want more or less based on your desired coverage.

2. Give the fingers a smudging of coral paint, focusing primarily on the tips and around the knuckles. Use your own skin patterns or those found in a medical textbook for reference. Also, I discovered that applying a small amount of paint to your thumb and index finger and rubbing it onto the prop works well.

3. Dab light pink paint onto the nails. You may want to pat the excess with a paper towel, working with the coverage until it achieves a natural look. 

4. Smudge dark red paint around the tips of the fingers and along their cuticles. Here, too, patting the paint around the cuticles helps to blend it into the light pink.

5. Brush a band of white paint along the tips of the nails. Again, it may prove useful to reference your own hand or a medical textbook.

6. Cover the severed ends of the fingers with several even coats of deep maroon paint. I used two; however, you may want more or less depending on your coverage preferences.

7. Using a brush with splayed bristles, apply a smattering of burgundy paint around the wounds and up the sides of the fingers.

8. For additional detail, you can create random abrasions along the fingers by dabbing burgundy paint with a splayed-bristle brush and adding dark red paint to the centers.

9. The fingers work well by themselves or you can use them to build other props: create holes around the stumps and thread twine through them to fashion a necklace; place them in a monster's gnarled mouth; or allow them to take center stage in a specimen display.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.