FX Update - Scary Blood

I'm still stalling on doing a comprehensive update post (so of course it gets harder the more we get done before I post it)... but right now our Blood Supply is on my mind.

This year we are making our own blood from raw components—FD&C food colorings, water, thickener, opacifier, and a small amount of surfactant... all very safe and inexpensive ingredients, though not necessarily recommended for eating (the surfactant could give you the trots something fierce, I think).

I have come up with three basic formulas so far, that I've been getting feedback on and will be dialing in to a final recipe over the next week or two. There is the "Bright Blood" which looks the most like fresh blood (I know, we had Erik drip on a card for us after he poked his finger); there is "Dramatic Blood" which is darker and more menacing; and then there is "Dark Blood" which is nearly scab color and will be mixed up thick and gloopy.

The question that people always have about the blood is... will it wash off of my hands, and out of my clothes?

Being composed almost entirely of Red #40 (think: cherry cool-aid) you would expect it to stain like nobody's business, and at first blush this seems to be true.

My hands were covered in blood up to my wrists the other day and a first wash in the sink hardly touched the color at all—dry skin from sculpting in clay soaked up the pigment like a thirsty sponge. But when I showered after the lab that night, my hands were perfectly clean!

The trick, I think, is to sweat some, which helps push the pigment out of your pores and skin. Failing a good workout, you can prepare yourself to be blood-proof by moisturizing your skin before contact; or, to be more extreme, there is a product used by sculptors ("Gloves in a Bottle", I'm getting some from Armadillo Clay to test today) that my be even better.

To remove the stain from dry skin, I would recommend makeup remover, or even something like olive oil, which will leave you salad-fresh after! Olive oil, and then a gentle facial cleanser, is what I used when I did clowning, and it removes the makeup better than anything.

"Enough about skin—what about my fine linen suit? It's soaked in blood!"

First—don't wear your nice clothes to our haunt; we will not be kind to them, and even the Green Groups may brush up against something nasty by accident.

But if you do, the blood washes out, at least from cotton.

I soaked one of my SCARE for a CURE t-shirts in blood and let it sit for two days to set (note: don't do that; wash immediately). Then I put it in a small laundry load and washed it on cold... afterwards... stained! Oh no!

So I ran it again on hot and it came out as clean as it started, no hint of red, pink, or even fuchsia.

I suspect it may stain wool, and I need to test wash-ability on things like silk, rayon, wool, and so on still (any volunteers of white fabrics of different types?), but I suspect it will wash out of most anything (in hot water, it seems)—just like our last blood recipe!

I credit this success to the soap additive I use in the formula (it helps it flow and keeps it from beading, and makes the blood its own pre-wash!)—Synthropol, used by tie-dyers to help rinse out excess die from their garments.

I haven't done a scientific test of with and without the additive, so this is just my hunch, but I'm good with the voodoo for now.

Now, would anyone be interested in buying quarts of high-quality stage blood, custom made by and for SCARE for a CURE, for $10 a quart? All proceeds go to the haunt!