vincentsclaw

Personal story:
Some few years back I really wanted to
make a Vincent costume but lacked the
know how for the claw part. I tried various
other forms a construction such as
fiberglass (too messy and not flexible) and
also craft foam (tears easily and paint
wont stick well to it) before I heard of this
wonderful thing called WONDERFLEX.
This thing is a life saver! Sure its a little on
the pricey side but the end results if done
correctly are phenominal. All you need is a
hot air gun or some other method of
heating it and the material can be molded
and shaped into virtually anything. If you
don't like the results you simply reheat the
material and start over! SIMPLE NO????

To start off you should find yourself some good reference pictures of Vincent's hand if possible or if you
have the luxury of purchasing the Advent children action figure it works out even better because you can
see his claw from all angles! But for the sake of this tutorial his claw looks something like this....

Note how different the construction is compared to his original
FF7 concept.

(sorry the pic is so blurry my camera hates close up shots....)

Oh and for those who don;t know who the hell I'm talking
about...this is Vincent.

Okay so you got all your materials together right? Sweet. now lets begin!!!

You need to create, trace and cut pattern peices for the glove. I used craft foam to create the pattern.
First I traced my own hand onto the sheet and then cut it out to look somewhat like his hand. You need
to remember that wonderflex can stretch to come degree but its always safer to make the pattern
slightly bigger than your real hand so when you mold it doesn't end up being too short.

I needed to figure out a way to make the knuckle ridges on the hand piece stand out just like on his
glove so I took strips of craft foam and hot glued them to the cut out of my hand. When the wonderflex is
pressed over it, it acts like a mold and brings out the shape. For the fingers I simply cut out five narrow
triangles that would later be molded over my own fingers. The fore arm and wrist cuff are very simple
shapes, one being a narrow rectangle and the other being a small square shape.

Trace your pattern onto the wonderflex cutting it slightly larger than the outline. Yes that includes all
the fingers and any other peices you have cut out.

All of your pieces should be ready to go so head to your kitchen or grab a hot air gun if you have one. I
don't so I'll teach you the kitchen method =P. Someday I will purchase an air blower but my method has
been so successful I don't see the need to waste money on that for now. We are going to soften the
Wonderflex using hot water! This works well is you have a pyrex pan or large bowl that boiling water can
be poured into. I had a pan so I boiled water and poured it into that pan then dipped my pieces in to
soften them. Make sure you use heat pads or something to protect your counter and you wittle hands if
you use this method!!!!!

Once the pieces are soft enough take them out with a pair of tongs or chop sticks so you don't burn your
fingers and place it either on a paper towel or cutting board. Let it cool for a few seconds before shaping the
pieces over your own hand to get the right size and shape! Once the material cools it will keep its shape. For
the hand piece I took my mold and then pressed the wonderflex cut out onto it paying special attention to the
knuckle areas. When I pulled it off the mold I bend in the outside edges of the palm and thumb so that it
would stay on the glove I would later glue it onto.

The fingers are going to be the most challenging part so save those for last. I took the triangles I cut out and
shaped them over my own fingers but you could also use a candle stick, thin bottle or whatever is lying
around the house thats to proper radius. To get them to curve you'll have to cut little niches into the sides to
allow the wonderflex to bend into a claw shape. If you have a gap dont worry, you'll be covering it up later
with craft foam for the finger ridges.

You hand piece should look something like this in the end....remember that is it doesn't you can simply
reheat and try again! It took me 3 tries to get this pattern right....

One thing you'll notice with Wonderflex is the texture which is a lot like gauze or duct tape. To get ride of this
you'll have to paint it with Gesso or you can use friendly plastic. Gesso is less expensive so I went that route.
You'll have to layer it on slowly allowing the layer to dry completely before painting on another. I used about 5
layers before the texture became smooth enough to sand and paint. For the fingers I discovered a messy but
time saving alternative to painting on each coat. I actually dipped the fingers into the tub of Gesso and let
them drip dry over the jug letting the excess drip back into the container. I would lay down A LOT of
newspaper if you plan to do this or do it in your garage or somewhere you dont mind getting messy!

When the Gesso is dry on the fingers take them aside and prep up your hot glue gun and your craft foam. I cut
my foam into short strips and glued the finger ridges onto each finger. You don't have the re -gesso this once it
is accomplished just set each finger aside as you finish and prepare them to be painted.

Now that all your pieces are Gesso'd its time to finally paint the suckers! Be sure to do this in a well
ventilated setting so you don't kill all your brain cells for the sake of your craft. Lay out all the parts onto
newspaper or in my case, paper towels and paint away. Paint both sides of all parts so that no white
shows! When the gold paint has dried then give it a blast of clear acrylic gloss to seal it and give it a chip
resistant layer. When its all finished and dried you can attach it to a glove! I used an old black satin
costume glove that I had laying around. You can purchase a glove like this at any costume or party supply
store, Hot Topic or Spencer gifts to name a few. The glove I had came all the way up past my elbow so it
was long enough to accomodate all the pieces of the claw.

This part is optional but just for comfort I glued the old foam pattern pieces onto the inside of my claw parts.
ALSO...to keep the wrist cuff and the forearm together during the glueing process i used a couple of rivets
punched into the side. You can see them in the final picture at the bottom.

Laying out the pieces upside down I basted the top part of my glove with hot glue and layed it down into the
pieces and pressed them firmly into place. I wouldn't do this with your hand inside the glove becasue hot glue
can burn like a SOB....I should know I learnt the hard way....

When the glue has cooled go ahead and slip you hand into the glove and.....
.

YATTA!!!!!
There you have it!