Making a leg form ( my new project)

pauline

pauline

Registered Guest
This is my new project for the new year, I thought I will share this with you. OK I know that I could go onto Ebay a buy a leg but that would tie up money I could spend somewhere else.
So I decided to try and see if I could make my own.
This is how I am going about it.

a) To start off I when on line and found this photo of a commercial one.

leg.jpg


b) Then I scaled it up in paint shop pro to about 25" high, this graphic was now too big for my computer to print off it crashed with a graphic at that size so I cut and pasted it onto three separate pieces of A4 paper and printed them off, stuck them together.
I now had a paper template of a out inline of a ladies leg.

c) This was then drawn around on to a piece of Medium density fibre board (MDF) to save on money I actually used three scrap pieces and joined them together if you look carefully you will see these joins.
leg1.jpg


d) Now I have started to attach thin card around the cutout to give it three dimension, this is fastened to the wood with small nails but drawing pins could be fine also I can adjust the shape very easily at this stage as you can see the ankle is slightly wrong and the foot has yet to be done.
Easily rectified at this stage.
leg2.jpg


I hope I have not bored you but I thought it might be worth sharing with you so you might even inspire you also.

If you are interested here it is in more detail
 
Fantastic project Paul! Am I right in thinking this is your area? (craftsman like things!)

I tried to make a glove form from a cereal packet.. not quite so professional looking! Keep us posted on the progress, then I'll get my order in, lol!
 
paul.... you must have the patience of a saint...

about 6 months ago.......my mother threw one of those model legs out.. when she was clearing the basment of the shop......

i didnt realise they sold them on ebay... until afterwards.. lol

keep us all updated paul......with the finished picture....

:USETHUMBUP:
 
Thank you for all your encouragement, I will keep you up to date , but I do have a slowly growing big box of various unfinished project all with various issues.
Wood, metal and plastic are the materials I am at home with but I wish I could add fabric to that list but it just is so hard to work with and perplexing.
My Mum was a trained apprentice seamstress / soft furnishing, before school age I must have seen up to 10 pair of curtain made each day but not much rubbed off on me
If I could turn the clock back ....

Originally posted by Hattysattic
I tried to make a glove form from a cereal packet.. not quite so professional looking!
Click to expand...
Well you tried.. oh your got me thinking now ... what about using a small rubber glove and pouring plaster of Paris into it and painting it flesh colour
You can buy imitation hands at joke shops but I think the are mans hands.
 
It\'s finished... all done.

Here is my finished leg form. It is not perfect but it is a least finished, I have to say I did think a few times " what am I doing"
The paint shade can be improved, that's for another day.



[align=center]
leg3.jpg
[/align]
The workshop for making it..

Now I can get on with something else.
 
Fantastic - much better than my cardboard fingers :D

You are good to do a workshop!

I had thought about inflated rubber gloves and all sorts for glove-forms, but think i shall just get some cheap perspex ones or buy up old glove dryers.

So what's your next project then Paul? :)
 
Thank you both.

My next project or task it to organize my vintage items a little better.
But have a few things in the pip line.

I have thought when fashions shops shuts down there are some bargains to be had on the display front but never had the cheek to ask because i felt it is like pouring salt into the wounds.
 
Originally posted by paul
Here is my finished leg form. It is not perfect but it is a least finished, I have to say I did think a few times " what am I doing"
The paint shade can be improved, that's for another day.



[align=center]
leg3.jpg
[/align]
The workshop for making it..

Now I can get on with something else.
Click to expand...

Paul, I just came across this thread and wanted to tell you what a great job you did. I do alot of my own armatures for Garden Ladies I make, and also 3-dimentional items, keeps my wee brain functioning happily. :) I offen use foam core, kind of like what you used for inside the leg, easy to cut and shape and very lightweight. Photoshop is a great help also. I am far from a pro, but I married a guy who worked for Disney Studios and he is very resourceful.

Anyhoo...I'd make a lamp out of that leg too!
Nadine
 
hi paul,
please dont think i'm nuts, but i agree with nadine, foam core is easy to sculpt and lightweight. i have a prosthesis and the inside is actually foam to make it light weight and wearable. in the "olden days" my first legs were hollow, shaped with foam then they took a ladies cotton stocking, similar to nylon hose but in cotton, the kind for garters, and used that over the foam, and put plastic laminate over it.
They would measure my "good leg" the left one from the calf down in about 4inch incriments and shape the right leg from those measurements so they would match.

ironically, i wore those cotton hose over the prosthesis to hide the "shine" from the plastic, then panty hose over the cotton stocking. it worked semi well, made the colors match a bit more "naturally" and at least my leg didnt shine :)

shading is hard to match to normal skin tone. again, back in the 60s, they had one shade for "white girls" and three shades for blacks. so my leg was always a pinkish orange, not near flesh tone. thank goodness they've come so far.

and my goal now is to be like Heather Mills/mc cartney and have 30 different legs, one for each kind of dance, lol.

good luck, they look great!
yvonne
 
Thank you Yvonne
It not up to professional standards it does what I want it to do , since then I have changed the colour and here it is with a pair of nylons on.

1095_nylon.jpg
 
That's really amazing, Paul! Did I miss something, though, between the picture with the white strips around fiber board and the finished product? (ie what did you cover the strips up with to have a smooth surface to paint on, and what kind of paint did you use?)

Also, your rubber glove/plaster of Paris idea is wonderful! I have glass, bronze, and ceramic display hands that I use to show bracelets, etc, but the fingers and general breadth are way too fat to pull a glove (particularly a vintage one) over! With your idea, maybe the hand size could be better controlled.
 
Carrie
The skin is glass fibre kit filled with car body filler and sanded and sanded until smooth, the painted with a gloss household paint this gave a hard and smooth surface but it was too gloss ( see the photo above with the black stocking) I had a look around a DIY store and found a satin emulsion paint in a very pale shade which works well.
Hope that helps paul
 
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