Justin Poulsen 

Who printed it?
MSG Printing in Toronto

Who designed it?
Hans Thiessen at Rethink

Who edited the images?
The printed image was shot specifically for this project. The documentation images were edited by Hans and myself.
The post production was handled by myself.

How many did you make?
Originally there were 50. Due to the overwhelming response, I will be creating an additional 50 throughout the year for a grand total of 100.

How many times a year do you send out promos?
This was my first promo. I hope to do it once or twice a year (not necessarily containing body parts).

How did the thumb idea emerge?
I was exchanging emails and brainstorming with Hans. We pulled together a rough list of ideas/talents I have that are uncommon. One of the ideas was to create physical thumb drives. We bounced back and forth between some other ideas, but the thumbs seemed to stick. I knew that I could pull it off because we had previously cast an entire fake hand and forearm in faux ice. Including the physical thumb drives in the promo allowed the recipient to have a small piece of the shoot, while also opening their eyes to some creative possibilities of our in-house prop building.

How did the thumbs get made?
First I cast my own thumb in a low durometer platinum cure silicone rubber. This specific rubber is commonly used in the special effect industry to have an almost-flesh-like feel. This “realistic feel” was further enhanced when paired with an internal skeleton (the rigid flash drive). The same silicone used in the thumbs also worked out to be a suitable mold rubber. Casting silicone in silicone, I used a urethane spray to ensure that the mold and thumb did not become one. I then painted/airbrushed using hand mixed solutions of FW ink + alcohol. To seal in the pigmentation the thumbs are sprayed with a solution of naphtha and silicone. With the future thumbs I’m moving to a completely silicone based pigmentation system, which is a slower process, but the end product is more durable.

Here’s a video demonstrating the process of creation