Lifelike silicone hands for your plush doll?

[rubherkitty]

So I have been thinking about making a plush doll as well as a full silicone some day. Perfecting the hands and hand skeleton/finger wires is one of the first goals to master.
I will possibly coat my plushy doll w/ silicone and have the hands that will attach to the end of the arm bone. The hand might also have a little bit of cuff that will fit over the end of the arm and glue down.

Would anyone have a interest in adding silicone hands to their plush doll?
I'm not sure how the hand plate attaches to the arm bone right off. I'll have to ck that thread on the plushy tear down and see if it shows. To attach the hand cuff to a non silicone coated plushy you could probably just coat the overlap area at the wrist w/a little silicone.

OK, I found the plush tear down thread. Looks like the finger wires are just glued into the end of the arm bone end. The bone end could be sawed off back to full round and a more complex wrist piece with extension attached to that.
Doll tear down and Pic courtesy of member GDP2000.

[jms033]

That's an idea to consider, but of course, us plushy owners will have to see the finished product. But yeah, sounds good to me

[rubherkitty]

Thanks. I'm a perfectionist so the hands will be nice or it won't happen. I'm thinking a hand around 6-1/2" long from wrist joint to middle finger tip.
I thought about doing a life cast of hands, but the Alginate and resin would cost around $100.00. And then I have to find a model too.
I already have the clay for sculpting and fiberglass supplies to make a simple mold.

[DollFan789]

Have you considered getting 3d printed hands and making silicone casts of them if you can't find the right model? Maybe make the final silicone part of the hand a little smaller then the final result and maybe use the same skin tight fur that winfox uses in their fursuits on the hand. I forgot the name, but I remember it was horribly expensive. I will edit this post later with the fabric name. Just an idea, or maybe carefully shave down some fursuit faux fur.

[rubherkitty]

Yeah, trying to find a realistic 3D print hand was another option I was going to look into. Might get it slightly under size so I can add some detail if need be.
If you want fur, you can probably just glue that to the existing cloth covered hand?

I found some silicone manicurist training hands, but they are expensive at around $240.00 for a set.
They are lifecast flat, but may show a little more age wrinkles than what I want too. Flat hands also have a lot of knuckle wrinkles than don't show as much when the fingers are bent. I'd sculpt the hands flat, but add less knuckle wrinkles so the look more natural when bent. Generally a doll's fingers will be bent somewhat in pics.

[BuilderOfCastles]

Now, i have been working on finger bones for a long time.

But, you come up with a real problem.
People who own TPE dolls just want the bones to magically appear in their doll's hand.

1. Build a hand. The mechanical connection is easy as sliding a bolt down a tube.
. But then you have to melt the hand TPE to the wrist TPE
2. Build a skeleton that will easily go into the space left by some bent wires.
. But then you can design proper knuckles or proper thumb movement into your skeleton.

Anyway, you really do not want to cast the hands flat.
If you have finger bones, then the rubber will pull them back to the cast shape
and will fight you when trying to do the opposite shape.

And if i had to choose one or the other... many pictures are with open hands for expression
... or with closed hands holding something.

I find getting a model to do hands a pain... however, when i was in sculpting class there were tons of girls who i could a casting off of.
What i hate is the paper work, and the permissions to use and make copies... and she can rescind these at any time...

On another topic, dolls with cast hands and heads have been around a long time.
You either put a channel into the hand to tie a cord around, or provide a place to put a stitch around.

So, good luck on your exploration.

[DollFan789]

Try looking into fursuit making, particularly head furring.

[rubherkitty]

SNIP

Anyway, you really do not want to cast the hands flat.
If you have finger bones, then the rubber will pull them back to the cast shape
and will fight you when trying to do the opposite shape.

From all the doll molds I have seen, they model and cast the hands mostly flat. This makes the mold parting line cleaner around the fingers. In the pic you will also see where the finger wires pass through the mold.
Pic courtesy of Orient Industries.

[rubherkitty]

Try looking into fursuit making, particularly head furring. The knuckles shouldn't matter much if you are just going to cover them up in fur.

You have mentioned adding fur in several post. I'm sorry, but I think you have a misconception about me or the project. I'm not looking to add fur to my dolls. I Did post some ideas about adding fur to silicone in the "Anthropomorphic dolls" thread, but it is not something that I am Wanting to do myself. At least not at this time.
I support ALL and generally comment on most doll project ideas whether they are my "thing" or not. I even support and comment on monster tit doll project ideas of which I have 2.83% interest in myself!
So no biggie. Feel free to pounce on or add to any of my doll ideas as well, but I'm not researching the fur thing myself at this time.

There are many fur option possibilities though. Complete fur suit bonded to a silicone or cloth doll. Leather doll made from real or fake fur. Fur can be long or short. Or long and trimmed short in places. Short and long added. I like the idea of a silicone doll, but fur added in places to make her more animal. The limit is only ones imagination, money and skill.

[DollFan789]

Ah my mistake. I did misunderstand, and I will remember that in the future.

[rubherkitty]

Ah my mistake. I did misunderstand, and I will remember that in the future.

No problem at all. I like participation and ideas. Doll evolution is still on page one here and we don't have enough creators and tinkerers as it is.
Even this "silicone hands for plush dolls" will probably not find much interest as many of my ideas don't. I WILL pursue the hand project, but as far as my plush doll, I would be fine w/a non poseable hand make out of firm silicone. So, unless there's 20 people that want hands for their plush doll, it probably won't happen by me. Although I would still do it as an experiment for making a full silicone doll.
Right now I want to develop a good vagina insert, doll head and hands, before I even consider a full doll.

[Zang]

RHK, I guess you're thinking of building a silicone hand completely, but maybe there are silicone "gloves" made for costuming or cross-dressing purposes out there that could be adapted more easily. Perhaps something made of the preferred material that can slip over the existing plush hand / forearm. (No "amputating" necessary! )

[rubherkitty]

That's a good idea and I did see those feminine hand gloves in my searches. Those would probably be just the thing for full size plushy dolls actually.
I'm ultimately wanting hands scaled to a 5' max petite doll so they may be oversized for my project. My hands are 8" long, but I'm 6/1 and I wouldn't want my size hands on my little dolly! Even the female life cast silicone trainer hands may be oversized? Before I ever ordered them I would want a measurement on them.

[DollFan789]

Crazy idea. Maybe get a 3d model of a characters hand that matches the style you are going for off of models resource and in blender, edit if necessary, cut off everything but the hand and size the hand to the size you need it. Send the files off to be 3d printed and use them to make a mold.

[rubherkitty]

RE: 3D printed hands. Yes, I can probably do some leg work to find someone to 3D print a set of hands. The Resin printing system is very detailed, but works in a small scale so the print design & print would have to be done in pieces. I can glue the parts together no problem.

Then my only other issue is payment options. I no longer use PayPal and don't like to do CC info on the net. I usually just call in a order on the phone. I need to get set up w/ another e-pay system that doesn't want your SS#, DL info and control of your checking account!

I found a company that can print SLA - resin, but their print size is limited at 145 × 145 × 175 mm (5.7" x 5.7" x 6.8"). That will just fit a hand, printed in one pc, if tilted. And I'd still have to submit the print info to them.
Someday and just have to buy a printer and learn how to do the design work.