What should I do with these vintage industrial glove molds?

Sell them to Nef.

Are you hoping to use them for their intended purpose, or do you want to display them?

I gotta hand it to ya @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard, you are hands down one of the handiest blokes around.

Attach curved handles on them and use them as back scratchers.

I’d display them as art. No embellishment. They’re awesome as is.

Sell them to Lingua. (bidding war begins now!)

When I read the Q, I was assuming they were made out of wood and was thinking along the lines of découpage. This would allow for a wide lattitude in terms of style choices from old to ultra-modern since there’s such a wide variety of photo and paper choices.

Are you familiar with a style of decorative paper reproductions called “Ephemera” ? That would give a nice vintage look if that’s what you’re going for.

But from the pics, it appears that they are metal. That might present a slight bit more of a challenge as a surface for découpage but still not impossible if that appeals to you.

You didn’t mention how many of them you have but depending upon the amount, a couple of other things also sprang to mind.

You could attach hooks to them and then attach them to either a metal or wooden bar for a unique coat/hat rack.

You could also dress up some of those utilitarian metal bookends found in office supply places and attach a hand to each for some really striking bookends.

If you wanted a unique way to display small(ish) photos, you could save metal lids from mayo or other jars, whatever would fit easily in the palm of a hand. Spray all the lids with the same color Rustoleum. Circle cut the photos to fit inside the jar lids and epoxy one to each hand. Display them in a nice grouping on the wall or attached to some type of base to stand up and place on bookshelves, desk, or other surface.

That’s about all I got. Hope it helps.

www.blumchen.com

This is one of the largest and well established companies for Ephemera supplies known by crafters, but there are others as well.

A lot of their images revolve around holidays (since they come from greeting cards) but are certainly not limited to that.

In the Scrap category are wonderful, mostly Victorian era, images of all kinds of subjects from flowers to animals and children that are quite charming and I’m sure you can find some that appeal to you since you’ve previously mentioned that you enjoy vintage historical things in general.

There’s even one sheet with six assorted images called “Victorian Floral Hands” if a little hands-on-hands humor might appeal :)

Decorate your garden [if you have one]. It’s funny to see how hands are struggling to get out of the earth :D

I just think the Q is cute on the face of it, @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard.

“All we hear is radio ga-ga, radio blah-blah.”
A hand out for the destitute perhaps.

That has got to be one interesting arts supplies closet !

I see those sometimes at a local store called Fishs Eddy in several sizes.
I strain my brain for an excuse to get a dozen of them and haven’t come up with one yet.

Best idea so far is hang them from the ceiling as if they are reaching through…
If you have a lot of them they could be in pairs in a circle hanging from the ceiling.

If you were making a movie with miniatures they could be a nightmare forest of hands etc.

Affix a stick to them,paint a number one on the palm and take them to a pee-wee football game.Give them something to do,man! XD

I would take one and cut off the first, third and fourth fingers. Then make 535 plaster casts and mail them to a certain place in Washington DC.

Keep them around and use them whenever you need a good high five.

Or you could keep one on hand and pull it out any time someone says they “need a hand”. I’ve done that before. It’s a great joke.

Sell them on Ebay as ring (jewelry) holders.

I’m sure that some leather working hobbyist would absolutely love to have a good pair of glove molds.

Do they come in pairs, or can you do both right and left hand with a single mold? If they come in pairs, auction them in pairs. Otherwise you will do best selling them individually rather than as a lot.

@ANef_is_Enuf definitely not interested in selling them. I want to display them in some way.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies aww thank you. And I see what you did there.

@FutureMemory haha, that’s interesting. I may actually do that with one of them. I have five of them anyway.

@snowberry I may do that with one or two of them.

@linguaphile they actually have these on ebay and etsy if you look. Way overpriced compared to what I paid for them though. The antique store literally had hundreds of them in a bin from where a local glove factory closed down. I was like… 9 at the time, so I bought what I could with my meager earnings.

@Buttonstc sweet, thanks for the link. I have five of them, and they are made out of either wood or some kind of compressed polymer material. Definitely not metal. I love the coat rack idea though.

@Hibernate I totally did that one halloween. I’ve got a pumpkin patch growing in my garden right now and these would look super cool in there. The problem is that I have a bunch of little hood rat, perpetually truant neighbor kids that like to steal anything that isn’t bolted down, so these hands would be a target unless I welded them to the earth.

@JilltheTooth well I just think you’re cute on the face of it.

@ucme ok, I chuckled.

@dabbler, that store is awesome! How much do they sell the hands for there?

@lucillelucillelucille lol, I would totally do that if I had a peewee game to go to. My mom’s boyfriend coaches middle school football, so maybe that will work.

@Adirondackwannabe lol, I like it, but with my luck, I’d be arrested for terrorism and “disappeared” to GITMO or someplace.

@dverhey I just gave you a virtual high five with one of them.

@snowberry, done that :D

@Jude nah, I’m definitely keeping them. If I ever get a nice girlfriend though, I could let her store her jewelry on them.

@YoBob I think they double as either left or right hand. They are completely flat. I’m definitely not interested in selling them though.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Chuckled? Why there was no humour intended dear boy.
It was genuinely the first thought that crossed my mind…...scroll to 2:02 for best results.

custom paint stirs… but save at least two of them for sticking out of the ground at your grave site.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies ROFL! Awesome!

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I’ll keep two of them around and put that part in my will.

What I would do, really, would be to paint them in bright colors with small intricate designs.

@linguaphile I actually thought of that. I tend to do that with a lot of things.

We’re recalling around 20$ for the glove molds at Fishs Eddy.

They also have small ones (½ scale?) for $3.99.

But the little ones can’t touch the grit energy of purpose-built manufacturing tools – like porcelain glove molds.

An homage to Sandy Skoglund seems possible either with a whole lot of the glove molds themselves, or make a whole lot of custom gloves or hands with using them.

@dabbler ohhhh I love Sandy Skoglund! I had forgotten her name until you posted that link!

Have one in each room, as a house wide aesthete theme:
—Singular hat rack, “Can I take your hat sir?”
—Mount on wall, coat hanger.
—Attach to ceiling, high five.
—On kitchen counter next to oven, oven mitt holder.
—One on the bedroom nightstand, for guests.

Fingers too, lots and lots of fingers. Halloween is just around the corner if you’re talking hundreds and hundreds of fingers…. Mwaaahhaahhaaahhaa !

Strap em’ up and make some freaky sandals out of em. Run through the local hiking trails after a rain and rumor folklore throughout the township of a crazy wild beast chimpanzee on the loose. Drop banana peels behind you along the way.