show of hands

My hands have long been a source of concern to me. Not the hands that are attached to my arms. They're fine. Rather, the hands on my Halloween props.

For a while, I was able to ignore the problem. Cover it up. I draped my props in cloaks and worked on the assumption that their hands were hidden within the folds of the material. Unseen.

But eventually, I wanted my props' hands to be seen. And so began the era of the stuffed glove. Remnants of old costumes or dollar store finds, the gloves were stuffed to provide substance and discreetly pinned inside the cloaks. Simple, effective, and even somewhat impressive to anyone under the age of five.

The day arrived, however, when just being seen was no longer enough. I wanted the hands to work for me. Hold lanterns . . . grip shovels . . . caress skulls. So I set to work on the creation of new and improved hands. I needed strength. Hence, stuffed gloves were out. I wanted flexibility. So papier mache wasn't going to work for me. Enter the ubiquitous wire coat hanger and everyone's best friend: duct tape. While I'd like to take credit for this idea (and it does sound like the sort of thing that would occur to me) I actually happened upon it one day while lurking on the Monsterlist in search of inspiration.

And inspire me it did. I raided my closet for wire hangers and began to unravel, cut, bend, and shape. It was an often painful process. Wire hangers are tougher than they look. Especially when you're deconstructing them. The hands began to take shape, but they weren't quite . . . right.

My coat hanger/duct tape technique definitely needed work. But by then, my old nemesis, time, had caught up with me and Halloween had arrived. Which meant I could accept the flawed wire hands as they were, or return to the days of hidden hands. I chose acceptance. And the wire hands were more than adequate. Certainly strong and flexible. They did what they needed to do and did it admirably. They simply needed . . . refinement. And for this year's props, I decided, improved bony-ness.

Not surprisingly then, when I found myself in a dollar store last week as the staff were engaged in their annual January ritual of setting out the garden supplies, last year's regrets and this year's nebulous prop ideas came rushing to the forefront. Of course. Garden wire. More pliable and easily shaped than those pesky coat hangers. And if I start now, I'll have time to experiment. Adapt and refine the process. Create many hands for multiple props. Yes, it was all falling into place.

So here we are. First of a new generation of prop hands. As always, there's room for improvement. But at least this year, time is on my side.