You Won't Believe That These Hands And Feet Are Not Real

In a recent article for BBC Future, Frank Swain called Sophie de Oliveira Barata "the undisputed queen of personalized prosthetics."

With a background in art and special-effects makeup, she worked for a prosthetics manufacturer before deciding to strike out on her own. "It meant I could use my creative skills and do something massively rewarding," she told The New York Times.

In her UK studio, she creates remarkably realistic and wildly imaginative prosthetic limbs, custom-made based on each person's requests and dreams. She calls it The Alternative Limb Project.

Some of her bespoke prosthetics integrate surreal designs like snakes or stereos, but some are so real it's uncanny. She gave us permission to share images that show some of her realistic prosthetic creations as well as how they are made.

Here is Sophie de Oliveira Barata at work in her studio crafting a leg. She told us in an email that from start to finish, a realistic arm or leg takes her about a month to make.

While she's making a limb, the client who ordered it is invited into the studio while she works, so that she can match their skin tone, freckles, and limb shape exactly. Here is one of the prosthetic arms she's created. Check out how it's covered in freckles, just like her client's natural arm.

"Creases, blemishes, freckles and veins can be reproduced," de Oliveira Barata writes on her website. You can see the realistic creases in the palm of the hand below.