Stitched lip

Yesterday I created a stitched lip effect. The final effect looked like this:



There were three relatively simple (if not fiddly) steps to create this effect.

Step one - create cut

The first step was to create a realistic looking cut on the lip using the trusty bruise wheel alcohol / water based makeup. I drew on a darker reddish brown line in the centre and then lighter red on either side. This created an effective looking scar that I was quite pleased with as an effect in and of itself. Step one looked like this on me:



Step two - latex work

The next thing I wanted to do was to enhance the 3 dimensionality of the cut. To do this I used a little liquid latex on either side of the cut line, which I applied using a toothpick and did very light layers. I then dried this with a hair dryer and powdered with setting powder. Step two completed, I then got Alana to take another photo:



Step three - the stitches

The final step was to create some stitches. Using some very sharp scissors I cut up very short pieces of black thread. I then applied spirit gum over the area where the stitches were going to be. Then using a pair of tweezers I stuck the very small pieces of thread criss-cross down the cut. The final effect looked like this:



I think I could do some more research and get the stitches looking a bit better again. I could also apply some yellow around the area to make it look like some iodine has been used to clean the wound. However overall I'm quite pleased with this effect. Hope you enjoyed it!

Severed Pinkies

Inside the envelope he found a note and something wrapped in cotton wool...



Alana and I have been working on a severed finger effect. Above is the finished effect! Close ups of both finished severed pinkies:





This was out first attempt at making a mould. As expected when teaching oneself a new technique it did not all run as smoothly as we'd hoped. However, we learned a lot from our first attempt and managed to get a successful effect on our second.

Step one

To begin with we took an impression of our fingers using alginate and gauze. From this negative impression we then made a positive cast of our fingers using Hydrocal. The Hydrocal positives looked like this:



Step two

Then we set about creating a mould of these positives using Ultracal 30 to give us some work time. We also covered the positive cast with some petroleum jelly. For out first attempt we used half a plastic cup for the bottom half of the mould. Then used the other half of the cup to make the other part of the mould.

The biggest problem with making a mould this way was that the two Ultracal 30 halves stuck together a bit. Worse the positive moulds also stuck to the Ultracal. The failed attempt looked like this:



I think there were 2 reasons why this happened:

1. We did not give the Ultracal 30 mould a long enough dry time between making one half and the other.

2. We did not coat the Hydrocal positives with a sealant before trying to make the mould. We probably also could have used a little more petroleum jelly too.

So we refined the process somewhat and tried again. We repeated step one but this time we made several important changes.

1. We let the Hydrocal dry for 24 hours. Then sealed it with two coats of mat varnish. Books recommend Krylon crystal clear spray which is an art product used to protect pictures. We used a similar product that we had on hand. Then coated the finger with petroleum jelly.

2. We then made an Ultracal 30 mould for the bottom half using the same process as we began in step 2. But this time we let this dry for 24 hours. For the top half of the mould we decided to paint the Ultracal on to avoid air bubbles and then reinforce the top of the mould using gauze. This time we also used some dye to colour the different halves of our moulds. Pink for girls and blue for boys!

Step three

We then pulled apart our moulds! Unfortunately Alana forgot to put petroleum jelly on the top half of the mould! So her positive broke in half and stuck in the mould. I took out a jeweller's drill and slowly bored out enough of the remains stuck in the mould to get it out. My positive broke neatly in half when I pulled it out. We then filled some of the very small holes left by air bubbles with a little Ultracal 30. They looked like this:



Not pretty, but functional.

Step four

We then put the two halves back together and poured some uncoloured latex into them. The latex at the end shrank a little bit as the rubber dried, so we topped up the ends a bit to give a flat end. I think we shall have to experiment with colouring the latex before pouring next. We'll also have to try the same process with foam latex in the future once we have an oven that we can cure foam latex in, which releases toxins so you probably don't want to use the same oven you bake cakes in!



Step five

Next we had to trim the mould lines off the finger. Although we had a sharp surgical razor on hand I had more luck with a sharp pair of scissors as the latex just seemed to stretch against the scalpel blade. Perhaps an old school razor blade might work here.

Step six

The latex also went somewhat yellow when it was curing. This is not too much of a problem with this effect as the fingers are severed. But we are trying to cast another 2 using latex that has been tinted with a flesh colour.

For the finished product I used some setting powder on the finger. Then I added some detail using our trusty bruise wheel and some water based white makeup on the nail. I then used some more setting powder before applying some skin coloured powder - foundation. I then painted the nail with PVA glue to give it a shiny layer.

Alana did something different to finish hers. She first used setting powder on the finger, then some dark foundation to get into all the cracks and define the fine lines. The she repeated this process and added a layer of lighter foundation. Then she painted the nail with enamel nail polish (which I thought might eat away the latex but it didn't).

To complete the effect we added blood gel and voila! We have severed pinkies ready to be sent with a ransom note!

Gashed cheeks

After our first attempt at making up a prosthetic arm wound I decided to try something a little more delicate - a face wound. This time Alana was my guinea pig. The whole effect took over two hours to achieve, probably because this was my first ever attempt at working with latex and makeup!

First I carefully cut out two oval shapes from two sheets of single ply toilet paper and checked their size on Alana's cheeks. They needed to be cut down and made smaller to fit. Then I created a flap of skin on one by dabbing water on the toilet paper and pushing my finger through. For the other cheek I made a gash using scissors. It could take several goes to get two pieces that you are happy with. Luckily both pieces worked out nicely on my first attempt. I then applied latex on Alana's face and stuck on my ovals. Using a hair dryer on cold I sped up the curing process. Then I gently applied more liquid latex to the toilet paper which acted as a base for the latex to adhere to. Again this had to dry before I applied a coat of Mehron castor sealer. This is what the first stage looked like:



After the sealer had taken effect I gently blotted off the excess. Then I applied Revlon liquid foundation over the top.

Tip: if you have not sealed your latex properly liquid mineral makeup will eat into it!

This gave the prosthetic a skin tone. Notes for the future: if I had to do this effect again I would have used foundation to cover the face to lessen the difference between the prosthetic and real skin. This would have taken more time. I'd also like to point out that this was my first ever attempt at using makeup too. And it looked like this:



Taking out our trusty bruise wheel I then applied some red makeup to the area under the fake latex skin. To do this I used a size 0 sable paint brush as I thought that size would give me a degree of control when colouring the surface. After doing this I used some setting powder. It turned out like this:



You may have noticed that the edges of the fake skin shriveled up a bit, while I don't mind this in some ways, I think this is far from what real skin is like. I think I will have to do some research into other materials to use as a basis for skin. Overall for a first attempt I think this works well enough for a camera range of a two or more metres (yards). After this I applied some Mehron coagulated blood gel, which made it look like this:



Blood helped improve the effect a lot. Watering down the blood gel a little gave it a bit of run which looked more realistic. The blood smears also somewhat disguise the join between the prosthetic and real skin. Again, makeup applied to the entire face would blend the tone between the prosthetic and the real skin underneath more. This would take longer again to get right, probably three hours total, but with practice I suspect I could get the whole thing down to 2 hours. I also noticed a little white under one prosthetic, which could be setting powder or perhaps the toilet paper base. This could be easily fixed with makeup. Criticisms aside, here is the final shot:



Alana was feeling tired by this stage, so she removed the prosthetics shortly after this shot was taken. As Alana has very fine white hairs on her cheeks they were a tad painful to remove as some of the hairs got ripped out.

Next up Alana will write about the zombie makeup effect practice we did on my brother in preparation for a zombie shuffle. Then I'll write about making realistic fake blood and 'pre-made' scabs.

Merely a flesh wound

This was our first foray into creating a wound out of latex. We obtained some instructions via the Instructables website and ordered some products required - liquid latex, setting powder, bruise colour wheel & fake blood and then we were ready to go.

Firstly Ed shaved the inside of his arm as latex has a tendency to stick to any hair and makes removal of the prosthetic difficult and painful. Wash and dry the area to be covered carefully then apply a thin layer of liquid latex over a slightly larger area than the wound is going to be. Wait for latex to dry or speed up the process using the cold setting on a hair dryer. You will know when the latex is dry as it will go from being opaque to clear (around 15 - 20 minutes).




Roll up some 1 ply toilet paper (preferably without colour or print on it) to shape the outsides of the wound. Apply a small amount of latex to adhere the toilet paper to the latex already on the arm then coat all of the toilet paper with a thin layer of latex blending the outside edges into the arm but keeping the inside edge of the wound blunt. Wait for latex to dry. Apply some setting powder to the wound to provide a barrier between the latex and make up to come. Mineral make up will react with the latex and spoil your wound effect. Apply some foundation make up to blend the latex in with the skin around it.



Next apply some reddish colour from the bruise colour wheel to the inside of the wound to give the appearance of an open wound. I used a lighter red colour all over then used a darker burgandy colour around the edges to give the appearance of depth to the wound. Once you are happy with the colour apply more setting powder to set the colour. The powder will soften the colours used but you can remove excess powder with a damp sponge which will bring some of the colour back again. You may like to add some more colour to increase the intensity if you like.



Then it was time for some blood. The blood we had was fake coagulated blood so it was a bit thick for this wound. We diluted it with some water before application. It's a bit tricky to know how much blood to put on and where to put it. I'm not very happy with my first attempt. Ed added some more which you can see in the final photo which I think works better. When using fake blood I think it's important to consider how it would naturally flow from a wound considering the movement of the arm and the force of gravity upon it.



Here's Ed contemplating the final result. He appears to be thinking 'Oh dear, I appear to have cut myself'. You can tell when the wound starts looking real when you start to feel squimish looking at it, usually this occurs when the blood is added.




When you are finished with the wound you can keep it for another occasion. Wash off the excess blood and blot dry with some paper towel. Carefully pull the latex off the skin being careful not to tear it (or rip out too many hairs!). Make sure the prosthetic is completely dry before storing in a snap lock bag.

All in all not a bad first experiment into latex wound making.