Hands-on Fabrication

When Lola Lebowski invited me to help fabricate part of an ambitious costume for a dance performance, I was game but uncertain. My cardboard work was sculptural but not load-bearing, if you know what I mean. Still, the idea of crafting 26” long hands which function as stage props was appealing, and I’ve found that physically making something with MY hands is a gratifying way to spend off hours. Out the hot glue gun came.

One of the design parameters was that the hands had to be easy to doff or don in performance, so early on I decided to build around an interior handle. The performer can reach inside the hand at the wrist and grasp a rubber-coated handle, like on a bicycle. The framework extended to a box around that handle, onto which I build out the architecture of the fingers and thumb. The posing aims for a bit of realism, with slight fanning and curl to the fingers. The hand is designed to be expressive despite its inarticulation—the fingers do not curl. The slight cupped shape allows for visually pleasing reaching, begging, and head- or hip-clasping.

The skeletal framework and meat of the hand—fingers, thumb, palm, heel—are all cardboard, cut into strips and hot-glued into place. I built out the shape with several layers of papier-mâché, then white latex paint with added shading and wrinkles in light gray as theatrical details which hopefully add a bit of unreal realism. Mod Podge as a sealant, then I finished the wrist edge with white fleece and extra wide gaffer’s tape.

The hands weigh about 2-3 lbs. each, and became part of the “Handsome Dancer Playset” created by Lola Lebowski for mutual friend Alanna Archibald, formerly of Red Balloon Theater Collective and now a modern dance practitioner in Brooklyn, NY.

For a better look at the project, head over to Lola’s: https://lolalebowski.com/