Blood Effect

Blood in a bucket

Every make-up artist has their favourite brand of blood, but the problem is, that pro blood is well, er, bloody expensive! Most special effects artists, who need to supply blood by the bucket, rather than the dribble, use this recipe or a modification of it. Be mindful though, it’s a messy business making blood.

Take a saucepan and add 500g of Lyle’s Golden Syrup and heat gently so as to make it more fluid. To this add half a small bottle of cochineal food colouring. Depending on the brand, you may need to add more or less, so do it in dribs and drabs. Mix a heaped teaspoon of instant coffee in a quarter cup full of boiling water until it is entirely dissolved and add to the saucepan. Stir until everything is fully mixed. Now try it out by dripping into a sink. You may need to add or subtract amounts to this formula, depending on your personal views of how screen blood should look, and also on the cochineal colour and strength. Once this mixture cools off it will become more gooey again, so add 100ml of mouthwash. Mmmm. Because this is made of food products, actors can use it in their mouths. Tastes OK too! Beware though; cochineal can stain so be careful what you let it come into contact with. Once you have made enough you can bottle it up.

The big problem with blood is that it needs to be multipurpose, for which you will need different densities. Viscous blood for dribbling down faces or bodies, thinner for splattering on walls, and even thinner for pumping through pipes (to squirt or pour from wounds). Always, and I mean ALWAYS do blood tests as you can absolutely guarantee it won’t go right in front of camera. Also, make much more than you think you need- and use it! Blood seems to disappear on camera. You might feel you have drenched you cast in the stuff, but when you get your rushes back you will be astonished and wonder where on earth it all went.

If you want some ‘fresh scab’, you can boil the blood down to a thick gluey substance which can be applied to actor’s skin for extremely convincing scabs. Be careful not to boil the mixture dry or it will solidify and burn, stinking out your kitchen.