The Severed Finger

 Something that I just cannot manage to get perfect is the severed finger. This one is a little trickier because the finger needs to be folded behind and then a sort of mould created to sit on top of the finger to act as the sawn off part. I've done this about twice before, but decided this time I would create the other half of the severed finger rather than just the stump.

How I Did It
 
  I started out by creating the top half of the finger. To do this, I wrapped cling film round the upper half of my index finger, and then coated that in liquid latex and tissue paper to create the mould.

This took around twenty minutes to be dry enough for me to take off my finger. It was a soft cast of my finger, which to keep the shape I stuffed the inside with a mixture of liquid latex and balls of tissue.

 I waited for this to dry and then proceeded to paint it. Afterwards, I began on my own finger which instead of using liquid latex I used Snazaroo's Special FX Wax to help create the stump. I sellotaped my own finger back, and then moulded the scar wax onto the bent knuckle to create the illusion that it was a stump.

 After any other reshaping was needed, or engraving such as the knuckles, all that was left was too add blood. I used a combination of Mehron Stage Blood in Dark to hide any imperfections, and then used Snazaroo Special FX Gel Blood to give to the impression of fresh running blood. (Excuse the messy work surface.)

What I Would Improve
 The lack of colour similarity drives me nuts! If I were to re do this, I'd definitely try to match the skin colours better. As well as this, I'd try to get the texture of the sawn off finger better as I felt it was too 'bobbly' to look realistic. An idea may be to attempt to create it out of scar wax but I'm not sure how well the colour pay off would be.

 A previous attempt at a severed finger that happened when I was free styling on my hand (hence the black green patch that was a bruise gone wrong and the other areas) that I feel had a much better colour match and realistic look.

 Obligatory rock n roll selfie with my cut off finger! Hope you've been having a good week.

Grace