Manning Makes Stuff - Halloween decorations, paper mache masks, costumes, party ideas, and more

Manning Makes Stuff - Halloween decorations, paper mache masks, costumes, party ideas, and more

Monster hands decoration


Published by Manning on November 29th, 2025

I made these simple monster hands to decorate this cabinet that I hate that’s in our powder room. The space under the cabinet doesn’t fit to the sink at all, and you could see all these ugly tubes in there. I couldn’t think of a good way to fill or cover the space entirely, and that’s how I got the idea for these hands.

The monster hands, set into the open space on top of a small white cabinet under a sink.

A cut out foam board shape representing a bent finger as seen from the side.

I started by drawing the profile of one of the bent fingers on foam board and cutting that out. This profile is really just to define the bent underside of the finger; I’ll build up the top part later.

I started with the pinky and then drew each of the other fingers to be slightly less bent than the last. Once I had drawn all four fingers for one hand, I numbered these and then traced them and made copies; eight fingers for the two hands. (I write numbers and letters on everything all the time to keep track of stuff — also arrows sometimes, sometimes F and B for front and back, etc. The more labeling I do the less confused I get.)

I've added three narrow flat foam board panels to the back of the foam board finger.

I then cut thin strips of foam board and hot-glued them along the backs of all of the joints of all of the fingers.

I've added gray foam clay to the underside of the finger.

I then used foam clay to begin padding out the undersides of the fingers, trying my best to maintain the exact curves I’d drawn and not let the clay fill in the spaces where the joints bend. I let the foam clay set for a day, and I moved on to the fingernails…

Rolled up poster board tube covered with paper mache.

I rolled up a tube of poster board and then put two layers of paper maché on it, to lock it in this curved shape and to make it a bit sturdier. I then cut out my fingernail shapes from this. A thing I do all the time when I’m making lots of copies of something is to make several more than I actually need, and then choose the best [X] (in this case, eight) to actually use.

Cut out shapes representing fingernails.

I left the fingernails much longer at the back than they needed to be, and a pointed at the back, so I could shove the extra length in the back under the foam clay, coming up…

Then I built up the backs and sides of the fingers with foam clay, being careful to maintain a small ridge around the sides and backs of the fingernails.

The completed monster hand sculptures before painting.

I glued the finished fingers onto a small rectangular piece of foam board to serve as the palm or whatever. I glued them slightly splayed out rather than perfectly parallel. I covered palm and the back of the hand with some foam clay.

I let all of this set for a day, and then I painted the hands. I started with a coat of Mod Podge, let that dry, and then I experimented a bit with some different colors of spray paint and acrylic paint.

Early stages of painting; the hands are purple and pink and the texture looks rough.

Painting progress; the paint job looks smoother now and the fingernails have been painted dark purple.

After painting the fingernails, I got the idea to use real clear nail polish to make them shiny!

The completed monster hands poking out from inside of an old suitcase.

Close up of one of the hands showing the shiny nails.

The monster hands, set into the open space on top of a small white cabinet under a sink.

The hands are easy to stick onto the cabinet; they just hang there loosely and are easy to remove. This was a fun and easy two-day project!

Interested in commissioning a piece from me? Please see my page about custom paper maché pieces. Please email me; don't put your request in a comment below.

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