Sculpting hands are always a challenge! (Medicin doll part 3)

Link to part 1
Link to part 2

Good evening, I´m back as promised with som work in progress of how I sculpt hands.
I am not really good at sculpting hands. Really. Not any good. I find it very very hard and challenging. Polymer clay is a bit easier than paperclay, but over all I think the hands are the hardest part to sculpt.

Continuing from yesterdays decision, I am not trying to make it perfect. This is a medicin doll, not an art doll.

Okay, first I roll the clay like this:

Then I divide the clay in two:

I make sure that the hands have the correct size. They should be the same length as the face. In my case 5 cm (2")

Then I cut the fingers halfway down:

And then I start to sculpt. This process is hard to describe. I´m not really any good at it as I said, but I try and try, and at some point I get a hand that I can accept. Then I add a thumb on both hands.

I totally forgot to take pictures after this, but here is the result. I am going to sand a lot tomorrow night, in order for those fingers to look a bit more slender and elegant ;-)

Hands, hands and more hands....

This video is an introduction to the volume and the basic shapes of a hand. I think hands are really hard to make, and found this video very helpful. 

A dollartist once told me that one of her students also had a hard time making hands, and she instructed her to make at least 2 or 3 pairs of hands every day for a week. At the end of the week, the student felt more confident and had even started enjoying to sculpt hands. I think I will do the same. 

See, I never ever practise enought, and I can easely tell that my sculpted hands are gettinng better each time I make them. 

If you have more videos or tutorials on sculpting hands, I would appreciate you sharing them with me. 

Update on sculpting hands part 2

I worked with a armature last night. I made it out of 1,4mm thick steel wire and I really thought they would be great...

I prebaked the palm of the hand with the steel wire fingers, and sculpted clay on the hand afterwards, but my mistake was that the steel wire was to thick. I couldn´t bend the fingers without braking the palm clay...

What to do...what to do? 

I will make a new pair tonight, and try a new idea!

Update on sculpting hands

Well, I sculpted a new pair of hands, following some guidence from fellow artist online, and watching tutorials I found on YouTube. Overall I was satisfied, but they broke during the baking... Must work with armature next time :-)