First off we need our shopping list. For this we are going to need:

• Latex prosthetic. I’m going to be using Metal Attack from Woochie. (I have the Glass Attach pictured)
• Blood Gel (Also can use Stage Blood. I only suggest the cheep Halloween stuff if there is no other option)
• Spirit Gum
• Make up Sponge
• Stipple Sponge
• Q-Tips
• Bruise Wheel (or Stack)

First off figure out where on your body you want to put this. Most images will put these on the face. Mainly because it’s a great place to put things for an example, but you can an easily put them mostly anywhere on your body that isn’t a moving joint. Alot of people will come in and ask to have stuff put on their neck. This rarely works out. Your neck moves around alot and there is nothing stable there to glue to. Most anything will fall of by the end of the night. There some newer items that have velcro that goes around the neck to hold stuff on that work well.

First off for attaching our item here is to apply Spirit Gum Adhesive to the back of it. Bottles tend to have a little brush on the inside.

You can apply the skin instead if you choose. If it’s going to be a looong night you can apply spirit gum to both skin and the prosthetic. If you like you can get Spirit Gum Remover. It is great for cleaning up with. You do not need it though. your natural oils and sweat will break down the adhesive as the night goes on making it relatively easy to take off at the end of the night.

Now there is a step when using spirit gum that isn’t communicated very well. You need to work air into the adhesive to make it sticky. You can do this my simply tapping it with your finger. You will see little stands start to come off it and it becomes very tacky when it is ready to be used.

Many people will simply brush it on and push the prosthetic on to the skin. It will often fall off quickly with out working air into it.

Now we will apply it to the skin. Once the Spirit Gum is in place you can just press it on where you need to be and make sure you get all the edges down.

Sometimes you will get some issues with edges not staying down. You can lift it up and reapply the Spirit gum as needed following the steps above. and press the trouble some edges down till they cooperate.

Next we are going to start blending it in with some make up. When people are on a budget this is the step that gets cut the most. You can blend it in with only blood, but I think it looks better with a little make up. Using a Bruise Wheel, or Bruise Stack mentioned in the How to Make A Bruise you can make some irritation around the wound. I like to use the reddish colors since it is pretty fresh.

Be careful as you are apply make up on the prosthetic. The make up will appear differently on the prosthetic as it does on your skin, so it is best to go light with it.Also be sure to paint the skin around the prosthetic as well. It’s best to pretend there is no edge and apply accordingly.

Next is the blood. You can go as crazy or as light as you like. I tend to go a bit lighter on the blood because I want people to be able to see the rest of the work. Otherwise everything gets lost in a sea of blood. Since this is a puncture wound I am going to use a stipple sponge. It is very textured and will leave a splatter look to the blood. Then with a Q-Tip I put blood around the metal it self in larger globs so it will drip down and the night goes on.

Also note how the blood completely hides that curved edge around the metal that was visible in the previous steps. Another cool thing about Blood Gel is that it is a bit heat sensitive. It will dry, but as you body temperature goes up, it will start to run which makes things look really cool over the course of a night.

Here is our completed model also the sporting the Bruise from before.

First off we have The Joker. I did a few of these this year. The big trick was the scars cause everyone wants the scars. I think I could have gotten them a bit closer, but I was more concerned over making something that would last a night of dance, sweat, and booze. I tried to make the make up sloppy, and I make it so as the night pressed on it would look worse and worse, and more like the movie. But this image is the immediate look.

Next, we have a club DJ who wanted to be DJ AM, a club DJ who was in a fiery plane crash earlier this year and suffered massive burns. Not such a fun concept when I lay out the info like that, but, really, making the burns was fun. Also I think it turned out pretty cool.

Now, we have some couples. We had a bride a groom, who were an actual bride and groom! They got married during the day. Came to the shop to have their make up done, and then were off to the reception. Fun stuff! I worked on adding some wounds to the groom, and Ellwyn (or maybe it was Tina. I honestly wasn’t paying attention at the time.) did a glittery fairy make up on the bride.

Finally today we have an other couple going as Beetlejuice and Lydia. I worked on BJ, and Ellwyn worked on Lydia. They also the rented their costumes from the shop as well. The couple won a contest at the party they went to.

In the next post I’ll have more fantastic make up from the Halloween weekend that Ellwyn and Tina worked on.

Also after the shoot I took her over to Wendy’s for a fun shot for a restaurant photo contest the next day.