Monkeys Paw

[@SkillTree]

Some were asking for the file I made for my lil finglers. I posted it free here! www.skilltree.how/store/p/fingler-pattern-for-the-cursed-monkey-paw-build

[@TheWoodruffnavy]

Do you have the label and letter?

[@SkillTree]

@TheWoodruffnavy I do. Do you want them sent your way? If so, shoot us an email, [e-mail]

[@kevinbarker9039]

@SkillTree I'm not good with social media crap so I'm not sure how to get a hold of y'all Skill Tree peps! Me my wife and our 6 kiddos Love watching your videos! I swear we just saw you a few weeks ago at the ren faire in Milton Florida!!!! You wer by the Mermaid picture tent by the jousting arena!?!?!?

[@tommylitchfield3450]

If you ever make another one, or have to do maintenance on this one, you can include another pipe, since monkeys have two bones in the forearm, and install another set of "tendons" to extend the fingers back to straight. since the grasping tendons are in one pipe and the new extenders are in the second pipe, you can keep the tendons separated. Maybe use different colors of heat shrink on each finger's tendons. As Clever as you are, you'll be talking in sign language before you know it!

[@SirMorat]

I don't know if anyone else has said this, but if you ran a wire on the backside of each finger, it should allow you to open the hand the same way you close it.

[@OutlandStation]

Level up THIS skill -> "Create Cursed Object"

[@andrewfisher1051]

This should be a legit category.

[@skitariiranger4346]

Dark magic is a skill

[@vhaelen326]

the monkeys paw always reminds me of a funny dnd item concept i read ages ago: the cursed clowns nose, the monkey paw grants your wish in the evilest way possible, the clowns nose grants it in the FUNNIEST WAY, for example: "i wish for a million dollar.." i pull a 1 dollar bill out of my pocket i pull another 1 dollar bill out of my pocket i pull another 1 dollar bill out of my pocket...

[@coreyz.2800]

An idea for the lore aspect: "resetting" the paw is, indeed, a cursed process in itself. As the paw draws its power to grant wishes from five souls, it must be fed more souls to reset the count. And for obvious reasons a single person can only reset one finger. One finger, one wish, one soul. When someone resets a finger they bind their soul to that finger. Of course, as it is your own soul being used to power that wish you cannot USE that wish. Now, whether that means any wish made on that finger will simply be ignored or if the consequences are more dire is another matter entirely. It could be a matter of it being literally impossible to wish on a finger you've reset as resetting a finger binds one's soul to it immediately, resulting not only in instant death but also your soul becomes trapped in a state of purgatory and will never find peace until someone wishes upon that particular finger. A bound soul may also result in a state of "zombificaiton" in which the victim remains ore or less "alive" but is enthralled to the paw, or perhaps becomes immortal but not altogether invulnerable; i.e. still susceptible to the ravages of time, or accruing damage from blades, arrows, etc. leaving them with gashes and gaping holes that won't just magically heal (the body can only heal itself just so much) but also won't kill the victim, either. They remain as such, forever bound to this world and/or enthralled to the paw, until a wish is made on the finger they reset. Enthrallment might also mean they are tasked with carrying out the wish in some way, e.g. if the player wishes for a steed the thrall has to go out and "acquire" one. If the player wishes for a spouse, the thrall goes out and kidnaps somebody, etc. Alternatively resetting the finger still binds your soul to it but otherwise has no immediate affect until a wish is made on that finger, at which point the soul is "harvested" and thus wishing on a finger you yourself reset is self-destructive. As a result if you wanted more wishes you would be compelled to recruit others to reset the fingers ahead of you (on the assumption that the fingers close in a specific order at all times) And if you were the unfortunate soul who reset the first finger before learning how it works, well, you would have great incentive to see to it that no one ever makes a wish on the Monkay's Paw ever again, which creates impetus for up to five "antagonists" desiring to preserve their own lives by controlling/destroying the Paw. Borrowing from the first iteration a bit, being bound to the paw may grant true immortality/self-restoration for as long as the finger remains active. This would mean at any time, and for all time, there could be a "league" of up to 5 immortals with their fates bound to the paw, and there is equal change they may be motivated not to preserve it but to encourage its use as being immortal is ultimately a very lonely, painful, and hollow existence in which you don't dare form attachment to anything or anyone because everything you have ever known and loved you've had to watch wither and fade from existence, possibly several times. This creates the possibility for two competing factions between those who want to stop anyone from making a wish so they can live forever and those wanting wishes to be made so they can finally rest. And their position in the order of wishes would drive the intensity of their desire, e.g. if wish #1 is bound to the soul of a wish denier and wish #5 is bound to the soul of a wish encourager, they would be very bitter enemies indeed as the former knows he's first in line to die if any wish is made and the latter faces the desperate obstacle of needing to go through not one but FOUR wishes before he's in line for release. Perhaps the only more volatile dynamic would be if #4 were the denier, as he would be constantly seeking to recruit more thralls to reset the fingers to delay his wish as long as possible, and #5 has essentially orchestrated the deaths of dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands over the centuries but #4 just keeps finding more "recruits." How that would all play out in a LARP scenario, however, would likely require "NPCs" to be used as the thralls/immortals, and some way to stay in constant contact with them so that if a player "persuades" them to reset a finger and then a wish is made on that finger later, they'll know to just "play dead" wherever they happen to be at the time. Obviously if they're in the room with the player making the wish the effect/consequences will be far more immediate. I'd have to workshop some good names for the two factions. Perhaps something that plays off the dichotomy of each. After all, while the "denier" faction IS protecting people from making wishes that are cursed to be twisted from their true intention they are motivated out of a selfish desire to retain immortality and that's rarely something a "virtuous" sort would desire. Meanwhile the other faction consists of "trapped souls who only want to be released from this earthly realm and find peace" which sounds noble (or at least innocuous) enough until you understand that to achieve this they coerce everyone who comes in contact with the paw to make cursed wishes that (along with whatever cursed twist) always result in someone's death. And in a scenario like the one described earlier, it could mean one person is "directly" responsible for thousands of deaths because they keep feeding new souls to the paw while another is indirectly responsible for the same number of deaths all because HE wants to be released. So there is a dichotomy of "nobility" and "selfishness" motivating both factions so neither one is truly "the good guys" or "the bad guys." Well, arguably they're both "the bad guys" in a way. Unless you get, like, a paragon Paladin archetype in the first faction who, once having obtained the paw, dedicates their immortal existence to keeping it locked away, and to tracking down and destroying any record of its existence. If any of the other 5 are in the "want to be released" they may be actively going around the world spreading rumors or creating clues about its existence and/or location hoping to incite someone to find and use it. Altogether there is a LOT of potential with this item.

[@RayKonold]

That is the kind of prop that makes an adventure memorable.

[@StarlasAiko]

The sad part is, everybody nowadays knows about the Monkey Paw. Nobody is going tio actually use it. Just as nobody with any legacy knowledge of D&D would ever draw a card from some musty deck of cards they find in a dungeon without first running Detect and Identify Magic and maybe some repetitions of Break Curse. If you want to use cursed items in your TTRPG campaign, you'll have to invent your own. Of course, you could change the rules and the Monkey Paw triggers when muttering a preference in the same room as the item, even without knowing it is there.

[@GrandpasPlace]

Oh ya, you could easily set it up with servos to move the fingers, then using Ollama, whisper, and N8N set a wake word to "I wish" and have it move a finger down when it hears the wish. ;)

[@SkillTree]

Damn, that sounds so COOL

[@balduinvontrier128]

The future is f-ing now! Holy cow, that would be such an awesome prop.

[@VinnyVega57]

Creating cursed objects....TAKE MY LIKE

[@chickenman1632]

Next episode's gonna be: Level up THIS skill -> "Remove Curse"

[@nerderonofficial]

Dude, you could straight up deign costumes and props for MOVIES with the quality your work is!!!

[@timfranz9337]

Most awesome thing I have seen in a long while. If I may make suggestion , if you continue the beads around the base it will disguise your “actuator beads”. Victorian parlor tricks were all about deception You are truly gifted and very entertaining to watch. Keep leveling up you

[@PronounGoddess]

I like the new camera angle where we're closer for like sidebar commentary but it for sure did catch me off guard the first time lmfao. The project turned out SO SO good. That would totally freak me out with some good slight of hand. (Pun not intended)

[@HeroWaresNSupplies]

I love this project. I'm going to make one for my Victorian library of (fictitious) occult artifacts and tomes.

[@WyattNErdy]

You really needed some hidden camera footage of the wife reacting to the finished product...

[@LWalker_Art]

I’m glad you did old school wires, not automated. It’s like the sideshow attractions. It’s such a fun project

[@Handles_AreStupid]

At first I was thinking that it would be better to seat each finger on its own joint to reduce interference from the wire pivot spinning as you moved each finger, but actually it just makes it look more realistic. You can't close individual fingers in real life without slightly moving the others around it, so I guess it makes sense. Nicely done.

[@greatauntlizbethg9137]

Instantly tries to move just one finger. Failed first attempt.

[@blackhagalaz]

As someone who basically makes faux corpse-parts and fake disected animals in my free time, I love this prop so much ❤. I have made Latex-Skulls in the past but making the fingers of the Hand move is just so much fun, I might need to try that out

[@Handles_AreStupid]

If you ever do a project like this again, get some "synthetic sinew" sometimes called "dynema". It's used for bowstrings because of its extreme tensile strength, wear resistance and resistance to stretching over time. It would be pretty perfect, and if you specifically get bowyers string making stuff, it comes pre-waxed which will also reduce friction.

[@songofshadow5043]

"You know what would be a good way to mimic tendons? Fake tendons!" I love how engineering copies biology.

[@jamesh975]

That is so awesome and creepy looking! Well done!

[@SkillTree]

Thanks! I'm super stoked with how the creepy factor turned out!

[@edcottrell5670]

Love this. As kid in the early 80’s we read the story of the monkeys paw. This brought back memories. 👍🏻

[@Gabriel-e5g3e]

I love this spooky vibe intro… we need this to be a series.

[@Darkeklaw]

Clever, the thing about the Monkey Paw myth is you wouldn't go missing until ALL 5 wishes are used. You got four more to go buddy. Great job on the Monkey's Paw though. You always rock it.

[@elibroussard8810]

I love when newspaper montages happen because I will seriously read every line I can of copy to see what gibberish they came up with. that said... "Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..." "There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..." Kudos, you did not disappoint!

[@markfergerson2145]

Love this weird, creepy thing. The “spell scroll” wrapped around the palm really sells it. I think fishing line would last longer as the “tendons”- it’s more tolerant to repeated flexing and thus is way less likely to break. Only snag is that some kinds ignore superglue, so you’d have to use epoxy. How old is the whole thing? The dome should be dustier, maybe. How would you apply a permanent dusty coating that would still allow cleaning real dust off of it though? Maybe distress the wood base too, with some wormwood holes.

[@Negan_smith_did_nothing-wrong]

This is a cinematic masterpiece

[@animereverie4380]

Cursificer. Skill leveled up!

[@Gideon-STC]

Great job with the prop!!!! Digging the 4th wall break style 2nd camera work.

[@RobZazueta]

I just want a remote controlled one so that, when someone says something like, "Man, I wish I had some ice cream right now," I could activate a single finger going down and just dejectedly tell them, "Aw, man, you just activated the money's paw. Now we're getting cursed ice cream."

[@danielsquire2643]

This is amazing. A future idea is to pair the wires so the puppetry can also open the fingers. As for adding servos I'd use the puppetry to the base and hide the electronic inside there, it would mean the paw itself would not need to be adjusted to compensate for them.

[@paulmacdonald5135]

Nice evil monkey paw and other strange things!

[@chrisclark4799]

That was an awesome project. I think if it were possible, you could've utilized small springs to reset the fingers back to the upright position. Or maybe incorporate another wire to pull them back to the starting position. But, again sir, you did an awesome job 👍.

[@blkholestudio]

Pretty cool idea tho! You could have added some elastics on the back to make the fingers go back naturally after you stop pulling. Using this as a base and just changing the appearance, this could be used as a "hand of vecna" prop I guess. Add some rings, make the hand less hairy, make it a tad more grey.

[@jacksonwells292]

Well done! Consider mixing a dust that makes it change color when exposed to a bit of moisture. This way if the “artifact” is touched, the curse is transferred and visible.

[@DanielLee-wc9gb]

Looks like Cl3ver had tooooooo much fun making both the hand and the video!

[@raktoda707]

Dude, All your creations are worthy .Today's is One of your best...it's so creepy that monkey paw !

[@l.ashleygarr6537]

I have to tell you, the glue you use makes me so happy. I was told use the same glue for my archery builds and seeing it on your channel makes me feel like it was not only good advice but that it’s the only supper glue I’ll use from now on. Your channel gives my crafting life!!

[@grayshadow1856]

Trade offer: You get: terrible curses I get: a really sick tutorial

[@atomicgearworks]

It would be awesome to attach the fingers to servos and some sort of controller and a microphone. Then you could voice activate it like "I wish for ..." and it would close whatever finger is next.

[@Sumsar333]

Great idea and execution! Looking through the archive, I was surprised you haven't touched anything related to fishing yet (from what I can tell, I may just be blind). The image of a Hobbit-type character sitting on the side of a river bank, straw hat, pipe, and a trusty fishing pole in hand, has been floating around my head for the last few weeks. I would love to see your take on a fishing pole, or perhaps a mini fishing tackle kit carried by a ranger, used to catch dinner whilst on the move. It seemed right up your alley!

[@SkillTree]

I LOVE this idea, though, I may have to revisit it come summer. It would be nice to actually test it out!

[@makeitkozi]

That outro tho! LOL. Really dope build here. Loving the passion and personality in your videos.

[@fenrisulfr3558]

I genuinely cannot stop rewatching this specific "It would look like bone" part, idk what the hell that was

[@mildlycornfield]

I'm really digging the additional camera angles in the talky bits!

[@RocketPunkArt]

Hey, I got this letter from Oregon, apparently there's a certain Mr. Pines who wants it back, he misses one from the curated items at the... Mystery Shack, am I reading correctly?

[@SkillTree]

Oh.... ummmmm. Return to sender. Probably just junk mail. IGNORE

[@tonilafountain636]

Awesome! This could make a wicked cool talon prop also, or the cursed dragon's claw! XD

[@bridgetgroce4634]

That ending was AWESOME!!

[@gabriellerussell8484]

I absolutely LOVE the way you engineered the finger motion! Those are so darn good

[@madengineer9072]

Very cool build. I like the whole multiple iterations of figuring everything out yourself. For those with a 3D printer, it seems like resizing the proportions of a printable prosthetic hand would give you a jump ahead of a lot of this work.

[@johnsullivan6560]

That is disgusting! Creepy and disgusting! Marvelously creepy and disgusting! Good job!

[@kimwilliford6303]

I love this project. It turned out extremely cool. ❤ The spell and the instructions sheet is perfect for it. But instead of putting it under the display capsule, make a plaque for it. ❤❤❤ Then it definitely be awesomely cool😊

[@DaleHawkins]

Thanks!

[@ropeany1]

That is really creepy looking, I love it! Also love the way you did the intro and outro on the video to give it that mystery look. Great job!

[@scottyG153]

I love the little meta story that Clever has gone missing. Awesome project and as always inspiring.

[@ThisIsYaxin]

I absolutely love it! The only improvement I could see is what you already suggested and make it motorised. And possibly some light in the base? But really, this is great!

[@Lorddanielrushton371]

That is awsome. Great job. Only suggestion is have is to add more beads around the case base. So it hides the finger pull ones.

[@andytripp2002]

"I learned a lot about finger anatomy" Clever search history: Cosplayer or Serial Killer? LOL Always love the vids. Thanks for the great content.

[@StarlasAiko]

Or novelist. I have a lot of search history that would put me on every international crime&terrorist watchlist, if it wasn't for the searches about plot structure and about pacing and action words for specific scene types dominating my history.

[@DrPandemonium]

Awesome! Great job, loved the articulation and skin/hair texture. Think you’ve already been cursed with creative talent and good looks.

[@jackbarling6088]

We need to see his take on the tarot deck from phasmophobia to, tried my hand at card making a while ago and would love to see what he would do diffrently

[@CCulh]

Kit being naughty @12:51.We see you

[@qoolbru]

Not stolen. Re-distributed. :D OMG! This a f-ing awesome !! The end result is fantastic. Tying the video's style to the prop was perfect.

[@jamesh975]

Steal is actually an acronym: Strategically Taking Equipment to Alternate Location

[@GhnmiksGamingCorner]

Would love to see a series of lovecraftian relics props because this looks awesome.

[@TotalPamarchy]

Did someone say cursed object? Now that's my kind of weird. You know you've done a good job when you've thoroughly creeped out a family member :D

[@moongirl247]

This is SO COOL! I have to make one of these for Halloween next year! The mechanics of this will help me with another project I'm currently working on. Thanks Clever!

[@AvenRox]

Dude this is awesome! If I were to make this, I'd cut the fur a little shorter and roughen it up a little more, maybe make it stick up a little more in some spots. Also, I like the new camera angles and the editing changes! Looking good!

[@FedesaurusRex]

Awesome project! The end credit out-or murder mystery is hilarious.

[@debvoz]

Fantastic work!

[@DrgnDesigns1021]

loving the new set and the extra camera angle adds visual interest. Also I loved seeing the B roll shot you did while we were in our 1 on 1.

[@OtherOneman1973]

One idea would be to have added elastics under slight tension before all the coatings. To make them self reset

[@PocketKanin]

That looks so cool!!!🎉 You did amazing! I wonder what it would look like using remote control 😲

[@K0tt0n]

❤❤❤❤❤ I love it, I love the story. I love the way that you brought this piece to life. It made my day

[@FlorenceB12]

My first thought was--> "it's the hand of glory" [HP reference]

[@anoukgentier490]

Same

[@MisterPunch19]

Love this, great job, the aesthetic is perfect! Also next time you stop by Tandy, remind me to tell you about the steampunk claw arm I built for Dragon*Con years ago

[@andrescruz9295]

From the moment I clicked on this video I knew it was only a matter of time before Kit flipped us off 🤣🤣🤣

[@davidbarnett3732]

I LOVE it.❤ My only critique is where the hand and fingers meet, to me it's too straight across, I think it should have a slight curve down from finger to finger, but dude don't listen to me, this is great. All the techniques you used were spot on for the finished product. Now you've got my imagination running. Darn you, Darn you to hades.

[@larshenrici1598]

I absolutely love that! But I really think it needs a way to open the fingers...

[@juliaizquierdo923]

This turned out so creepy and cool! I enjoyed learning the process and gaining new knowledge.

[@Blackpowder-Ben]

It is your best one so far. Very nice made.

[@rezrat2000]

This is an awesome project. Creepy yet amazing. Keep up the good work.

[@tuffcoconuts]

Ha! Love this video. A great build and a story around it. Very awesome.

[@Zeldur]

Omg, I loooove this. I hope you make more props like this ^^

[@JustAnotherPerson811]

Love the video! The quality is amazing!

[@lady_draguliana784]

fantastic results!

[@The45thClown]

The Monkey’s Paw is a short story by W.W. Jacobs, published in 1902. It’s freely available online and recommend people read it.

[@Niles_Champagin]

I got the Fingly pattern from the site, I'm just curious about how you accounted for the different sizes of fingers? Just scaling up/down, as needed, I.E. Same pattern, different size? Love your work, BTW. I made enough of the decorative lanterns you detailed to light the bar at my local LARP lol

[@goatelope7539]

Freaking amazing!!!! Love the creepiness

[@bohurley8626]

I didn't know I needed one of these until today! Thank you haha

[@shanekuchler9569]

Look here....I am bowing down to the master. This is judy Bloody amazing

[@Mongoose540]

Adam Savage, Mythbusters, talked about making a posable hand for sets out of bike chains and a cordage. That could be another easy way to do it as well.

[@Haladmer]

Maybe instead of beads, how about a ring of runic language plaques to disguise which are the pull-activators for the fingers? Or since you've used beads, maybe a garland or string of beads (like the mala style bead). Just so when casually looking, it's not so obviously a functional prop? Either way, awesome design and execution on this!

[@goatelope7539]

The editing at the end!!!!

[@LJB...]

Sweet. Nicely done!

[@DaleHawkins]

Great job on this one!

[@Jumbaladore]

Opening a finger gives your soul to the paw to enable a wish.

[@greatauntlizbethg9137]

I hope the dms I just mentioned frantically pulling the lore out of the video also see this comment.

[@Bubba-23nineteen]

I love it and definetly need more lore and props of the missing youtuber. This needs to be its own thing for "cursed objects." LOL

[@NachoeldeAna]

Super kool awesome work my friend!

[@VRplay86]

Great job 👍🤓

[@ClanMcC79]

Great video! Far too much fun and shenanigans been had😂

[@LouisParke]

that ending was awesome

[@MostlyMajestic]

Very Cool!

[@ebony5766]

Your mind is probably never still is if? Fascinating skills you have to analyze problems and paradigm shift your mind to solve it!

[@jerrythrasher1289]

LOVED this one guys......!!! Lol that was great. Keep it up y'all lol awesome

[@SkillTree]

Thank you so much! Super fun one to make.

[@jerrythrasher1289]

@SkillTree Ever since I was young I always wanted to work/do things in the movie props department. And this one reminds me of the scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets. You did a great job and I love it so much lol

[@jerrythrasher1289]

@SkillTree And also, there was this one show called Friday the 13th, not the Jason movies, but a show where they went after cursed objects and collected them from harming people. Very much like Warehouse 13 only on the more macabre side lol. You should do a little off shoot like Skilltree's corner of Macabre of something lol. Like that @vinnyvegas57 and @outlandstation comment suggested.

[@samuelstephens273]

I remember when you had 4k. Ngl Kinda proud. Good on you!