Severed Hand Pet/Prisoner: Making the Most of a Broken Halloween Prop

[TheMistressT]

So I have had this sound-activated, Frankenstein hand that "walks" for a decade or so and about 4 years ago pulled it out of the decoration box to find it had a broken little finger... it still moves, but it just thrashes rather than skittering across the floor.    

I love that thing!  So I figured out a way to fix it... put in a cage and treat it like a pet/prisoner!  So the half-assed search for a cage began last year.  I found one last week on craigslist:



After some distressing and such I got this!



The devil is in the details:



The hand's "skin" had some other damage so I tea-stained some gauze, bloodied it up and glued it over the wounds.



Something about the bottom of the cage (even when I put a smooth surface in it) made the had seize up during it's twitching, so I decided to hang it from the top by a tea- and "blood" stained jute noose.



The cage came with "feeders" so I distressed those as well and put in feathers and a plastic foot that had fallen of a crow decoration I have.  The other feeder has feathers in it, too.



There are more feathers glued in clumps to a few places on the cage and some laying on the floor of the cage.

One of the best things about this project is that the only thing I had to buy was the cage!  I got feathers from a friend with chickens, but the paints, jute rope, gauze, tea, glue, etc. was all from my stash or the cupboards around the house.  

A video of the twitching in action is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36662201@N02/6113169991/

[SkyyAngel]

This is so totally awesome. <3 I love it.

[missmlissa]

AWESOME!!!  I really want to make a knockoff.  Now I must find two cages as I am currently looking for one to turn into an ipod dock/blaster as per a DIY project I saw in Bust last year.

BTW:  This Rocks!

[TheMistressT]

AWESOME!!!  I really want to make a knockoff.  Now I must find two cages as I am currently looking for one to turn into an ipod dock/blaster as per a DIY project I saw in Bust last year.

BTW:  This Rocks!

Thanks!  The hardest part was finding an old-timey cage that wasn't expensive.  Finally I discovered "decorative bird cages" and suddenly the price went down.

[Damara]

Guess who is on the hunt for both a hand AND a cage...this is soo cute and would make the best gift for my Grandma, she LOVES Halloween!

[TheMistressT]

Guess who is on the hunt for both a hand AND a cage...this is soo cute and would make the best gift for my Grandma, she LOVES Halloween!

You are!  You are!  Thanks!  And I think I love your grandma.

[zaluly]

Love this, want one..your craft stash must be AMAZING

[TheMistressT]

Love this, want one..your craft stash must be AMAZING

Thank you!  I was just telling a crafty, but not as crafty as I friend how I used to know people with amazing craft stashes that made me feel inadequate... and now I have a pretty decent craft stash of my own.  Different types of things than those other crafty types, but still it's sure nice to be able to walk into the basement, dig around and find stuff that will work.

[davidsdesire]

Guess who is on the hunt for both a hand AND a cage...this is soo cute and would make the best gift for my Grandma, she LOVES Halloween!

if you have a Home Goods near you, check them.  I got a really nice cage (similar to OP's) for $10.

I soooo love this idea....I was wondering what to put in my cage and you've inspired me.

[Damara]

Thanks Davidsdesire, I'll check it out.  I found a couple of bird cages at a junk store...they wanted $50 EACH!!!