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The Hand Of Eldrad.

Started by russellsuthern, May 18, 2018, 05:50 pm

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russellsuthern

May 18, 2018, 05:50 pm Last Edit: May 18, 2018, 06:04 pm by russellsuthern
Hi all.

Hope you are well.

So this is the next prop I built... A hand of Eldrad for my season 14 photo shoots.

Here's the real thing...

66.jpg


Now let's see what I came up with & how I did it...
First I bought a pair of Marigold washing up gloves for £3.75.
I stuffed one with crunched up paper & taped up the top.
I also found a plastic bracelet in a charity shop for 99p. It had a plastic jewel on it which was perfect for the ring. I dismantled the bracelet & mounted the jewel on a piece of cardboard...
67.jpg  68.jpg


Next I covered the whole thing with a generous layer of polyfilla, (I had a tub lying around in the shed.) Didn't have to be a neat job, as it needs to look like calcified stone. I then pressed bits of gravel swept up from the road into the polyfilla to create a textured effect...

69.jpg

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After it had dried, I attached the jewel to the little finger with a simple ring of cardboard, then I started painting it. First I gave it a couple of thick coats of undercoat to seal & strengthen it, then the topcoat. For this I used a mixture of black, blue & white paints, but instead of using ordinary white, I used "Pearl White" which gave it a more shiny crystalline look.
Now, I know that in the show the hand was quite dull & grey, & it only became blue & shiny after it started regenerating, but grey is such a dull colour, so I used some artistic license & painted mine a bright blue...

71.jpg  72.jpg

I then gave the jewel a coat of varnish to make it shine more.

Here are the results....

First of all, here he is in his home away from home, a nice tuppaware box!

73.jpg

And here he is in his favourite location, basking in the sun on a nice big rock...

74.jpg  75.jpg

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Finally, here is my tribute to the late, great & much missed Lis Sladen...

78.jpg  79.jpg

Hope that last one didn't have you choking on your Horlicks too much....

So there we have it... The Hand Of Eldrad for under a fiver!
Anyway, the hand will be popping up in some photos for my Cosplay gallery very shortly, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this little build diary.

Okay, everybody, all together now...1....2....3....

"ELDRAD MUST LIVE!!!!"


Thanks for reading.
As always, any questions or comments gratefully received.


Best regards to all,


Russell

The14thDr

An absolutely brilliant build, love it!!

(The resemblance to Lis Sladen is uncanny BTW, have you ever considered a lookalike contest? ;))
"Would you like a jelly baby?"

Volpone

May 19, 2018, 04:43 am #2 Last Edit: May 19, 2018, 04:44 am by Volpone
 ;)
"My dear Litefoot, I've got a lantern and a pair of waders, and possibly the most fearsome piece of hand artillery in all England. What could possibly go wrong?"
-The Doctor.

galacticprobe

May 19, 2018, 05:58 am #3 Last Edit: May 19, 2018, 05:59 am by galacticprobe
Quote from: The14thDr on May 18, 2018, 09:59 pm
An absolutely brilliant build, love it!!

I have to agree with this one. Great job, Russell! (And since this cost less than a fiver, if you can find another of those stones, and you have another of those gloves, you could always make a second hand, and paint that one the dull grey, just for looks. That way you can switch the hands out; start out with the dull grey one, and then as your photo shoot progresses, move to the blue "regenerating" hand.)

Quote from: The14thDr on May 18, 2018, 09:59 pm
(The resemblance to Lis Sladen is uncanny BTW, have you ever considered a lookalike contest? ;))

Erm... no offence intended, 14th, but when was the last time you were at the optometrist? ;D (Russell, I think it's going to take me a while to recover from that last photo. ;) But I will give you an A+ for the tribute to the late Lis Sladen. And honestly, you've done a better job of trying to match her look than any other male Sarah Jane I've seen at conventions, so bravo on that!)

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

russellsuthern

Hi guys, 


Thanks, as always for your comments....

14th...  You are quite right, of course.... I do bear an amazing likeness to Lis. I often find myself looking at the 2 photos, wondering which one is which... ;)

Dino... That's a great idea about making a second, grey hand so I can switch between the two... why didn't I think of that?
Something else to add to my ever growing "to do" list...

Volpone...  If you think that's silly...as they used to say in the funny papers..."You ain't seen nuthin' yet!!" ;D  :o


Regards,

Russell

elkad

May 19, 2018, 02:50 pm #5 Last Edit: May 19, 2018, 02:51 pm by elkad
Looking at your prop makes me think of a scene were Driscoll pics up the hand in the radioactive sample chamber. If you look closely you can actually see the actor's hand in a black sleeve leading off to the back of the chamber.  ;D

d04-4n-c327.jpg

russellsuthern

70's BBC special effects were something else, weren't they?

Actually, I am mostly teasing... I'm in awe of what the BEEB achieved on a shoestring back in the day.

All that glossy CGI they use now may look great, but I actually do pine sometimes for the days when the monsters were rubber, & the spaceships were old washing up liquid bottles... :)


Russ

russellsuthern

Hey all,

I'm bumping this thread because I saw something recently that may be of interest.

I was looking in Tesco's as they have their Halloween selection out & I was after a pair of monster hands for my Greel costume.

No luck there, but I found a battery powered severed hand which actually walks along!


20181004_091103.jpg   20181004_091109.jpg

It's £10 & I'm sure you can all see that it wouldn't take much effort to convert it into a working Hand of Eldrad.

Not sure if I'll have a go myself, as I've got so much other stuff on, but I thought I'd post it in case anyone else fancies a go.

Halloween is a good time for getting lots of cheap spooky toys & stuff that can be converted into Dr Who stuff quite easily.

Hope someone finds this of interest.

Regards,

Russell


BioDoctor900

It's a shame the Tesco one is the wrong hand

BioDoctor900

russellsuthern

Well spotted, BioDoc- I completely missed that!

I suppose I could always cut his thumb & his pinky off & swap them round!


Cheers,

Russ

redfern

Quote from: russellsuthern on Oct 07, 2018, 09:09 amWell spotted, BioDoc- I completely missed that!

I suppose I could always cut his thumb & his pinky off & swap them round!


Cheers,

Russ

Necromancing an old thread I'll confess (hope that is not verboten), but if intended for a photoshoot, simply "flip" the final images and "PING!", you'll have a right handed, er...hand!

Sincerely,

Bill