Hair Punching The Hand
I set out to actually include hair punching experimentation within my project this time. I wanted to demonstrate that I did have the skill to produce work that involved a simple bit of hair punching.
Hair punching has always been a huge interest to me, and having the experience to actual experiment with it was rather exciting.
I wanted the prosthetic hand to still appear natural, and when I studied the pigs trotter up close, there were stray hairs that were still attached to it, I took that into considering and looked at where natural hair grows around the knuckle area, this allowed me to create a natural looking hand prosthetic.
I firstly, cut an even amount of human hair to use within my prosthetic. I cut it evenly so all the hair would be the same length.
I then directly placed it over the knucle area, so much in the gap of where the joint of the two fingers would be, and began to hair punch evenly stray hairs into the silicone.
At this point, I was happy with how the hair was looking, and it started bringing the prosthetic to life.
I then added a few more hairs, making sure the direction stayed the same, and the length, which would be cut later on.
I then started applying hair to the back of the hand, evenly spreading it across the hand to ensure it looked as realistic as possible. I particularly loved the freckle spots.
The finished outcome before all the hair was finely cut to the desired length.
A close up of all the skin textures, including the hair punched areas , which became rather effective on close up images.
The hair was then finely cut with small scissors, and trimmed using hair dressing techniques to ensure the hair was directly cut straight.
Side profile of the prosthetic hand.
The hair at this angle looked extremely effective, although the colour on the prosthetic was starting to flake away, which I had to quickly think of an alternative to paint it with.
At this stage, I thought it would be a good idea to try and paint in on the day of the practical application rather than trying to pre-colour the entire prosthetic beforehand.
When I had the opportunity in Uni, I experimented with the screenface foundation palette which proved effecitive.
I dabbed it on using a sponge at first, and the colour stuck quite well, I then started using the brush with different shades to try and create a more skin-tone effect. I think this approach worked a lot better.
The downside was, I couldn't get the seam of the prosthetic to blend out anymore than it was on the image. The various colours I used appeared effective for the concept I wanted, and the hair punching looked more realistic.
Close up of the hair within the silicone.
This is the underside of the prosthetic, this is what happened to the prosthetic whilst hair punching at home, the more I was handling it, the colour started fading and washing off, which was the reason for my alternative colour method.
A close up of the palm area, here you are able to clearly see the flaking of the prosthetic, It was such a shame because I loved the realistic appearance to it.
What did you like/dislike?
How would you improve?
My favourite bit of the prosthetic hand was using the splatter method to create liver spots on the back of the hand. The experimentation was also a very enjoyable part, having the opportunity to develop skills and improve on different methods.
The colour cracking was what I disliked the most, I had heard many people say how the colour cracks if it's heavily applied, or if anything was stretched it would start flaking off which is what i experienced the day before my practical which resulting in me colouring it on the day.
I would love to gain some more knowledge of how to make the perfect application of colour. I will try and experiment with different materials next time, like oil paints. I also would benefit out of researching into silicone methods in more depth.