By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by RealFakeBloodFilms.
Shop fake blood costs about eight dollars for a small bottle and most of it looks like cherry syrup on camera. Benjamin Martian of Real Fake Blood Films makes a better version out of corn syrup and food colouring for roughly three dollars, then shows what to stir in to change the look.
The base takes two minutes. The variations are where it gets interesting, because fresh blood, old blood and congealed blood are three different materials and one recipe will not do all three.
Corn syrup, a lot of red food colouring, and one drop of blue. That is it.
The blue is the part people skip and it is the part that matters. Straight red food colouring reads as candy. Real blood is much darker and sits closer to a red-brown, and a single drop of blue drags the whole mix in that direction. A little green or yellow does a similar job. Add it a drop at a time because it goes too far quickly.
Stir with a downward motion. Food colouring floats on corn syrup and will sit in a layer on top if you just swirl it.
Colour in a bowl looks nothing like colour smeared thin. Keep a paper towel or an old white t-shirt beside you and drag a test streak across it every time you adjust.
If the blood beads up into droplets on skin rather than spreading, stir in a little dish soap. That breaks the surface tension and it will lie flat and wet-looking instead.
The base is translucent. Real blood is not. Mix small test amounts rather than dosing your whole batch, because these are hard to undo.
| Add | Result |
|---|---|
| Cornstarch | Opaque and slightly matte. Add gradually or it clumps |
| Cocoa powder | Much darker. Good for old or dried blood |
| Chocolate syrup | Darker and still glossy. A classic for a reason |
| Non-dairy creamer | Clouds it into a stylised, film-looking red |
| Flour | Thick and matte, that eighties horror look |
Any of these will shift the colour, so top the food colouring back up afterwards.
Gel holds its shape instead of running, which is what you want for a wound that has to stay put through a party or a scene.
Unflavoured gelatin gives the best congealed look. Hair gel is less malleable but works. Red gel toothpaste is a decent option and has the advantage of being edible. Petroleum jelly gives a thick coagulated finish, though it needs dish soap in it or it beads badly on skin.
Tear up toilet paper and stir it in for clumpy blood. Cotton balls pulled apart create nastier stringy masses that clump and tear. Clear school glue thickens into chunks and dries more than the others do, which is useful if you need it to stop moving.
Red food colouring stains fabric, grout, unsealed wood and light carpet, and corn syrup makes it stick around long enough to soak in. Treat every surface as at risk and lay down more paper towel than feels necessary.
On skin it washes off with soap and warm water, though a strong mix can leave a pink tint for a few hours. Test on an inner arm first if it is going anywhere near a face. Get it out of clothing quickly with cold water, because warm water sets it.
Keep a bowl of water and a rag next to you the whole time. You will be washing your hands constantly and walking to the sink with blood on them is how it ends up on a door handle.
Making a whole costume? A no-sew cheesecloth ghost and sewing on a patch cover the other jobs that come up in the last week of October.
10 steps · about 5 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Pour corn syrup into a bowl. A three dollar bottle makes plenty, and a gallon runs about thirteen if you are doing a whole cast.
Set up a second bowl of water with a rag in it before you start. You will be washing your hands every couple of minutes and you want that within reach.
Add red food colouring and keep adding. It takes far more than you expect before corn syrup goes properly dark.
Stir downward rather than round in circles. The colouring sits on top of the syrup and a swirling motion leaves a red layer floating on a clear base.
Tip
Buy the large bottle of red. The multipacks of small bottles run out fast at this rate.
One drop of blue. This is the step that separates convincing blood from cherry syrup, because real blood is far darker and browner than pure red.
A little green or yellow does the same job. Whichever you use, go one drop at a time and stir fully between each, since it shifts the colour much further than it looks like it should.
Tip
Think of it as mixing paint rather than following a recipe. There is no measurement here worth writing down.
Smear a streak on a paper towel and another across the back of your hand. Thin and spread out is how it will actually be seen, and it always reads lighter than it looks in the bowl.
If it pulls into beads on your skin instead of lying flat, stir a small squeeze of dish soap into the batch and test again.
The base is see-through. Cornstarch makes it opaque, which is closer to the real thing.
Sprinkle it in gradually and mix as you go. Dumping a spoonful in at once gives you lumps that will not break up. Work with a small amount in a separate cup rather than risking the full batch.
Tip
Cornstarch dulls the shine a little. If you want opaque and glossy, use chocolate syrup instead.
Cocoa powder takes the mix much darker, into old-blood territory. Fresh blood and blood that has been on a costume for an hour are visibly different, and this is how you get the second one.
Chocolate syrup darkens it too and keeps more of the wet shine. Non-dairy creamer clouds it into a flatter, more stylised red.
Mix unflavoured gelatin into a separate cup of the blood. It thickens into a jelly that holds its shape instead of running off.
This is the one to use for a wound that needs to stay put. Runny blood is right for a fresh cut and wrong for anything that has to survive a night out.
Tip
Mix gels in small cups, not in your main batch. You want both consistencies available.
Red gel toothpaste mixes in well and is edible, which is worth knowing if it is going near a mouth. Hair gel works but is stiffer and less workable.
Petroleum jelly gives a thick congealed look. It needs dish soap mixed in or it will bead straight off skin.
Put a sample of each mix on a white surface with a label next to it. Side by side is the only way to see what each additive actually did.
Photograph the row under the light you will actually be using. Blood that looks convincing on a kitchen counter can look like jam under a coloured party bulb.
Tear toilet paper into pieces and stir them through for clumpy blood. Pulled-apart cotton balls make stringier, nastier masses that tear and clump.
Clear school glue is the third option. It goes chunky and jelly-like and dries more than the others, so it holds still once it is placed.
Tip
Tear the tissue rather than cutting it. Torn edges break up into the mix, cut edges stay looking like paper.
Keep going
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