Often used in connection with body squibs and other theatrical F/X, fake
blood is an important part of stage performance. Most good theater supply
stores should have gallons and gallons of the stuff available for purchase,
but if you are planning to do gory stuff, the price of fake blood can
do bad things to your budget.
So - here are a few recipes of fake blood that I have used in the past. They
are all tried and tested to various degrees of luck.
Tasty blood
Some times you have to use blood that the actors can hold in their mouths.
To be able to do this, it should taste OK, not be toxic, and still look
good.
Purpose
If you want blood bubbling from your actor's mouths, this is a shure-shot
way of achieving your goal!
Ingredients
- 2 cups of corn syrup (for viscosity and color)
- 1 cup of water (for balancing viscosity)
- 10 table spoons of maize flour (for making the blood less translucent)
- 10 tea spoons red food coloring (for color)
- 10 drops blue food coloring (for color)
- A few drops concentrated mint (for taste - optional)
How?
Basically mix everything together. Make sure you get all the flour to dissolve
- this is what adds the viscosity you want
Drying blood
Purpose
If you need your actors to "die" on stage, and then stay there
for a prolonged period of time, it is nice if the blood dries and changes
color (i.e gets darker) like real blood would.
Ingredients
- 1-2 handfuls of Nesquick (or other cocoa milk mix)
- 1 cup of water
- 30 drops of red food coloring
- 5-6 drops of blue food coloring
How?
Make sure to mix the cocoa milk mix with the water first, adding the other
stuff later.
This mixture works very nice as blood, and dries in a very cool way on
textile - try to have your actors "spill" some on white clothing
of the murderer - stunning effect. This is my preferred type of fake blood
for use with body squibs (if I can't get "real" fake blood, of
course )
Blood for drinking
Purpose
For scenes where (i.e) a vampire needs to drink blood. This looks good
if it's taken from test tubes or a wine glass or something like that.
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1 cup dark colored squash (e.g blackcurrant)
- 4-5 drops blue food coloring
How?
Mix it all together. Make sure you keep stirring until just before use
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