Wesley Scoggins
Indy Mogul
Wesley's Weekly SPECIAL: Blood Test II: Return of the Blood Test
Last month, I did a special on the blog called The Blood Test, well I enjoyed doing it so much, and got such a good response from it last month, that I thought I would undertake it once again, and show some of the less common (and not so uncommon) bases for fake blood i've read about. Submitted for the approval of Mogulville.. Wesley's Weekly BLOOD TEST 2: RETURN OF THE BLOOD TEST!
SAMPLE #1 - Non-Dairy Creamer
I had read that Non-Dairy Creamer was a nice base for an opaque blood that showed up well on dark backgrounds, (You'll see that opaque blends will be a reoccuring theme this time). It is quite bright, and a little bit to saturated looking, but i'm sure that with a little bit of green you could darken it up a bit and make it look a bit darker.
It sticks well to skin, and shows up very well, but like I said previously, has a very bright look.
Shows up pretty well on fabric. Absorbs nicely without losing to much color.
Also, think it splatters nicely, nice even ground as far as thickness goes I think.
SAMPLE #2 - Lotion
It is kind of pastel and very bright, very similar to the Non-Dairy Creamer in color. Although, same as the creamer I had to add a LOT of food coloring to start to get it to a nice red color.
I think it smears really nicely on the skin...
I think it shows up on fabric really nicely as well, even though it's a bit thick.
I don't like the splatter that much, it looks kind of gummy and sticks together to well.
SAMPLE #3 - Aloe Vera Juice
I had to add less food coloring to this to get it red, but it doesn't look a lot like blood to me. It has an ok viscosity in the jug I got (I got A LOT of it for only 4 dollars), but once it gets in the cup, it's a lot closer to water.
It's to watery and doesn't show up on the skin really well, but I guess it wouldn't be terrible as a "mouthful of blood", or as blood in the blood pump.
It doesn't show up on fabric real well, and it's a little pink.
It splatters well, but it's hardly discernable on the white background of my table.
SAMPLE #4 - Ketchup
Probably one of the first fake blood that most of us remember using for anything (I can remember more than one Halloween simply smearing Ketchup on my face with plastic Vampire teeth and trying to claim that was a costume), it's actually not bad for being so easy to get ahold of. It is pretty thick, and it's viscosity is way more than blood, but watered down a little, and with a little red added, it actually can be pretty decent.
It looks nice and bright, and smears pretty well on the skin.
It works well on fabric, but doesn't soak in very well. But I think it still looks pretty decent.
It does not splatter very well though as it is so thick, but I think with it being watered down a little more I think it could be acceptable. It might make a decent congealed blood though if you darken it a little with a little green food coloring.
SAMPLE #5 - White Glue
The glue did not take to the glue as well as I desired, becoming quite pastel. A dried pigment might make it a bit more vivid, that seems to work in Nihonga painting (where they make paint from glue and pigment). But it's viscosity is also an issue, since it's so thick, so definitely water it down even if you can get it redder.
It's opacity is nice, but once again it's worthless if it's soft pastel instead of a vivid red. Smears nicely, but worthless as a blood application. Maybe decent as a application of a 2nd Degree Burn though.
It looks decent on fabric, but it's still too pink.
It splatters ok, but it beads too much, and it's just way too thick.
SAMPLE #6 - Acrylic Paint
This is one i've read about a few times. I've primarily read about this one in relation to old 70's Kung-Fu films, where this (and other opaque blood mixtures) would be utilized because regular corn syrup blood is very hard to see on the Black Fabric of many of the costumes. So they needed something that would show up even against a very dark background, thus Red Acrylic Paint was used in some of the films.
It shows up well on the skin and is very vivid, but can easily stain, so BE CAREFUL.
It is VERY bright on fabric, but doesn't soak in well. It also dries very quickly, so be careful about that.
It beads up to a similar degree as the white glue mixture, so pretty thick, this is definitely one to water down.
SAMPLE #7 - Milk
The milk has an ok viscosity, better than straight water definitely, but because it's white by default, it doesn't take to the color red very easily, and suffers from a similar issue that I had with the white glue, turning pastel rather than bright red.
It sticks ok to skin, but it's too pastel to really be viable for me.
It actually soaks into the fabric pretty well, but once again it's very pastel so that is a big issue as well.
It splatters ok, but once again i've got to go back to the pastel. This would probably work find as a additive to corn syrup blood to help it be more opaque (which is what i've heard it used as more commonly than simply by itself), but on it's own, it just doesn't work very well for realistic blood.
SAMPLE #8 - Hair Gel
The hair gel is pretty good, it takes the food coloring really well, especially for how thick it is. But it still has a consistency close to gelatin.
It smears pretty well on the skin, and stays on really well.
It sticks to fabric really well, but doesn't soak in very much.
It doesn't splatter very well as it's very thick, but might respond better if it's watered down a bit.
SAMPLE #9 - Honey
Honey works pretty well, it's a nice thickness, and is pretty close to corn syrup, so if you can't find corn syrup in your area (as a few of our overseas Mogulers have reported), honey can definitely act as a stand-in.
It sticks pretty well and responds very closely to how corn syrup responds.
It sticks pretty well, and looks pretty close to how corn syrup looks on fabric.
It splatters decently, but it's a little thicker than i'd like, i'd suggest watering it down just a tad, but other than that it's almost perfect.
STAINING RESULTS:
After washing the cloth (once again no bleach, single wash cycle, no drying), the following stay stained after retrieval...
1. Non-Dairy Creamer - Minor Stain
2. Lotion - No Stain
3. Aloe Vera Juice - No Stain
4. Ketchup - Minor Stain
5. White glue - Medium Stain
6. Acrylic Paint - Major Stain
7. Milk - No Stain
8. Hair Gel - Minor Stain
9. Honey - No Stain
There you go guys! Hope this test helps you pick out the right blood for your films! Good luck!
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