Do you remember tracing your hand when you were a kid to draw a turkey? That was the inspiration for this guy. I made him a few years ago at the suggestion of my husband, and it’s one of my favorite window pieces that I’ve made.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Hand-Turkey-768x1024.jpg)
I tried tracing my own, adult hand to make the design but didn’t like the proportions of palm to fingers, so I found a hand shape on the internet that I liked and used that to create my pattern.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-pattern-768x1024.jpg)
I used 10mm tubing for the turkey’s body, but for the details I needed to go with something smaller. His beak and feet are 8mm and his eye and wattle are 6mm.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-face-768x1024.jpg)
To connect the wattle to the turkey’s neck I had to splice 10mm glass to 6mm, which turned into a big, hot blobby mess on my first attempt so I had to splice a short piece of 8mm clear to act as a little bridge between the two sections.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-bridge-weld-1024x768.jpg)
Here it is just after bending and before processing.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-bent-768x1024.jpg)
In my haste to get this guy hung up in my kitchen window before Thanksgiving, which was rapidly approaching, I just added a few support bars and hung it by the neon tubes with some picture wire rather than make a dead frame for it (which I eventually did)
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-2-768x1024.jpg)
Here he is hanging in my kitchen window, waving at the neighbors and passersby.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Hand-Turkey-768x1024.jpg)
He has become a perennial favorite every November and a luminous reminder to be thankful for what you have.
![](http://www.eveningneon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hand-turkey-eye-768x1024.jpg)