Visit their website at www.exposure.co.uk for the unabridged version of this article and many more!
Panzer Corps Note: Real squibs can blow a nice chuck of flesh out of your body, so unless you have professional effects specialist and production insurance DON'T USE THEM!
How to make compressed gas bullet hits
This method uses the force of compressed air to blast fake blood from a length of tubing. Simple!
What you'll need...
Insecticide sprayer-Garden Hose-Fake Blood-Gaffer Tape-Sponge-Poster tak
Step One - Cut approx. a 3 foot length from your garden hose reel. About an inch up from one end you need to make a hole big enough to put your little finger in.
Step Two - Bung up the end you have made the extra hole in using Blu-Tak.
Step Three - Attach the unmodified end of the tube to the empty sprayer. Give the sprayer about 150 pumps.
Step Four - Gently pour your fake blood to the modified end of the hose. Close up the side hole with pieces of red sponge.
Step Five - Make a hole in the back of the shirt and feed the tube over the actor's shoulder, tape the tube in place at the front with the side hole facing forwards.
MOST IMPORTANT BIT!!!
Have the actor get down on his knees and get an assistant to hold the sprayer as high as possible for 30 seconds. This allows the blood to run down and prime the tube. The blood should now all be in the last part of the tube held back by the bits of sponge
Step Six - The side hole of the hose should be lined up with the hole in the shirt. Use gaffer tape on the inside of the shirt to close the shirt up.
Step Seven - Have the assistant who will fire the trigger, out of camera shot on the ground. Push the trigger!!
When positioning the camera be careful. The force was so powerful on one of the tests we ended up showering the camera operator with blood. If you are straight on get a good distance away and zoom in.
----------
Corn Syrup Blood
16 oz. Karo syrup
1 oz. red food coloring
1 oz. washing detergent
1 oz. water
Add a drop of blue food colouring to create a more realistic colour. Remove the washing up liquid if you want to make edible blood. Adding condensed milk makes it less transparent and more like real blood.
The blood is extremely sticky and can stain skin and clothes so makes sure its washed off quickly. Use a stain remover on clothes.
----------
More recipes from shades-of-night.com
Blood Recipes
Theatrical events, videos, and vampire LARPs (not to mention the occasional sick leave) can rely on the use of fake blood to impart realism to a scene. Here's a few recipes you might like to use if you ever find yourself in need of blood, and don't want to get it the hard way.
• Realistic looking Blood with a gentle mint flavor.
• Clear Blood which looks excellent in a Wine Glass.
• Chocolate Blood More realistic than you'd think!
• Gore Blood with a jelly consistancy which helps it stay put.
• Buckets o' Blood for bulk use.
• Buckets o' Blood 2 using a gelatin base.
If you have a blood recipe you'd like to recommend, feel free to email it to me. My address is at the bottom of the page.
Realistic Looking Mint Blood
• 2/3 cup Corn Syrup
• 1/3 cup Water
• 5 Tablespoons Corn Starch
• 3 to 5 Teaspoons Red Food Coloring
• 2 or 3 Drops Green Food Coloring
• 1 Drop Peppermint extract, if desired.
Mix the Corn starch thoroughly with the water. Add the Corn Syrup. Mix well. Add red food coloring into the mixture, using only 3 tsp at first. Then add a couple drops of green food coloring to take the 'pink' edge off the red coloring. If the mixture is too light, add one or two teapoons more red food coloring. Add an extra drop of green food coloring if the mixture gets too pink again (Real blood is slightly on the dark red to reddish brown side, when its not fresh from the heart). Add one drop of Peppermint extract if you wish a fresh minty blood mixture. The concoction tastes quite pleasant, and can be used as makeup or a "Glass of Wine" for your vampire to drink.
I've also been informed that Milk can be added (instead of or with the cornstarch) to keep the blood from being too transparent. White glue was also given as a suggestion, but if you go that route I wouldn't suggest using the mixture on or in your mouth.
Clear Blood for Wine Glasses
Real blood is foggy or opaque, but clear liquid looks better in a wine glass. Try this recipe:
• 1/2 cup Grenadine Syrup
• 1/2 cup Corn Syrup
• 1 to 3 Drops Green Food Coloring
Mix the Grendine and Corn Syrup through eachother. Add green food coloring one drop at a time, mixing thoroughly after each, until the 'pink' edge has been taken off the mixture. Pour into a wine glass, and swirl. The concotion looks very good under bright light, and moves with the viscosity of thick blood. If you plan to drink it, though, I recommend you cut it half-half with water.
Chocolate Blood
I was promised the recipe years ago, but only came across it quite recently. It was worth the wait. The mixture may seem odd, but it tastes pretty good, looks surprisingly like real blood, splatters like real blood, dries like real blood, and had several people asking me if I was really okay after that staged fight....
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 3 or 4 tablespoon corn syrup
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red food coloring
• 2 drops yellow or green food coloring (optional)
Mix the cocoa powder thoroughly into the water before adding the other ingredients - it may help to use warm water. After adding the rest, blend the concoction well, and then wait for it to settle a bit. Either skim the bubbles & chocolate scum off the top with the edge of a kleenex, or pour the mixture into another container. The longer it sits, the more the cocoa tends to settle to the bottom, which oddly mimicks the effect of real blood seperating.
If you splatter this mixture onto cloth, it makes neat two-part marks which dry into pretty convincing bloodstains. If you let it run from a victim's mouth and then let it dry, the blood darkens and cakes to the skin in much the same way real blood does. I can also say from personal experience that any washcloth used to wipe down the 'bloody' face afterwards looks remarkably realistic, too.
Gore Blood
• 2/3 cup Oriental 'Cherry' Dipping Sauce
• 1/3 cup Water
• 1/2 Teaspoon Red Food Coloring
• 2 or 3 Drops Green Food Coloring
Mix the Cherry dipping sauce with water, thoroughly enough to thin down the sauce into a gooey consistancy. Add food coloring. Stir again, and let the sauce sit, preferably in a fridge. When needed, take it out and spoon it onto areas where 'gore' effect blood is needed. The blood will drip in glops & globs, but doesn't puddle out like watery blood does.
Buckets o' Blood
• 1 Liter Corn Syrup
• 5 Liters Water
• 2 or 3 Tablespoons Red Food Coloring
• 1/2 Teaspoon Green Food Coloring (optional)
• A slosh of milk
Get a large pail to mix this all together. If you do not like the consistancy you can either thin it with more water, or thicken it with sugar or corn syrup. The exact amount of food coloring you require will depend on the brand you buy, so you may need to play around with the measurements. If you make it too dark, just add more water again. Adding some milk will reduce the translucent of the mixture (real blood isn't see-thru, but if you want clear blood, leave the milk out of the recipe). Don't add too much milk or the blood will look pink!
The final product should splash like water, but be slightly shinier, and not soak into cloth quite the same way water does, leaving more of it on the outside of clothes so they look suitably bloodied. NOTE: This will stain clothing, so don't get it on anything important.
Buckets o' Blood 2
This is great for the 'hands-on' type of blood, and (from what I hear) also works well in bath-tub sized proportions.
• 1 package plain gelatin or 1 package red colored JellO
• 2 bottle red food coloring (especially if using plain gelatin)
• 1 tbsp green food coloring
• 1 - 5 gallons of water (depending on desired consistancy)
Directions are simple: Follow the instructions on the side of the jello package, but double or quadruple the amount of water needed, and don't add any sugar. Doubling the water gives you a very slimy, gloopy jello which doesn't look a lot like blood, but can be fun to get kids to stick their hands into at hallowe'en parties. If you use 5 gallons of water, you're going to have quite a thin runny blood, great for pouring over bloodied bodies in bathtubs or splashing on walls (especially if you can hose down the walls after - I wouldn't recommend this in your livingroom or parent's bedroom). You can play around with the recipe to get the desired consistancy - gelatin is reasonably cheap and available in almost any grocery store.