Favourite Blood Recipes

[seanandkate]

So I'm in the process of teaming up with a local fire department to assist them with actors from my drama department to act in mock trauma scenarios. I'm looking for your best fake blood recipes. I've got a grisly motor vehicle accident to set dress.

C'mon . . . you know it's fresh on your mind after Hallowe'en . . .

 

[Footer]

Karo Syrup and red food coloring is the "classic" way to do it. It looks pretty good and flows right as well. I know people who mix in a bit of Hershey's syrup for color and a bit of texture.

 

[derekleffew]

The standard is Karo Syrup and Red (perhaps with a slight dash of Blue and a scant soupçon of Green) liquid food coloring. This article, by CB member and Propmaster extraordinaire erichart, contains excellent advice: How to Make Stage Blood.

 

[BrianWolfe]

Back when I was in grad school we did a production of Streamers which required a lot of blood. The director wanted it flowing down the clothes and set. We borrowed the uniforms from campus ROTC and we had a problem finding blood we could wash out of the uniforms that we did not own and could not afford to buy. We also could not afford gallons of expensive stage blood that would wash out. The standard home made recipes stained the beige uniforms badly. The answer was to use real cow blood. We went down to the local slaughter house and got a couple of gallons which we treated with salt to keep it from coagulating and kept in the refrigerator. You never saw a better looking bloodbath on stage. The actors stripped off the uniforms and we soaked them in detergent over night(Duz, I think) and the uniforms were perfect in the morning. Had to re-visit the slaughter house it after a week for more. We went through 3 gallons of blood. I would not recommend that anyone else try this as I am sure we violated many health code restrictions but I thought it an interesting if not gross tale.

 

[seanandkate]

Let the experimenting begin. Thanks folks! (And bonus points to Derek for using the phrase "a scant soupçon" . . . )

 

[jessamarie6]

Add some coffee mate to that combination of karo syrup, red food coloring and hershey's syrup and it won't stain. Can't tell you why it works, but I've tested it on many shows and it does.

 

[SHARYNF]

Food coloring dyes can be a real nightmare
As a gross oversimplification there are dyes that are set by heat, and there are dyes that are set by Acidity of the dye mix and there are fabrics that will accept dyes and some that are pretty dye resistatant

Nylon cotton wool and silk are easy to dye or stain, Polyester is very hard to dye or stain. A lot of clothes that for instance a organization that might be subject to fire must be made out of cotton, the polyester fabrics melt and cause severe skin damage


So food coloring in Karo syrup and all its varieties looks great. I have never tried the CoffieMate it might be worth a try I would guess it changes the PH but I would be concerned with natural fiber clothes getting stained.

Years ago I did a magic show with a now well known artist, it involved sawing to remove a person body parts with a table saw, we did use actual meat bone and blood. It worked great but was a terrible mess, and today I am sure would be a health regulation nightmare, In fact now that I think back at the show, it was so gross and realistic that a lot of the mess was from the audience throwing up

Sharyn

 

[seanandkate]

Ew . . .
I don't think that clothes staining will be a big issue--many of the bloodied clothes will also be cut open by the trainees to expose the wound. Now if I could just find a Canadian grocery store that sells Karo! (No luck on that front so far . . . )

 

[SHARYNF]

Karo is hard to find in Canada but white corn syrup is the alternative generic definition

here is a link for more information

Making Fake Blood | Raindance Canada


Sharyn

 

[seanandkate]

White corn syrup . . . and a new search ensues . . . Thanks Sharyn! You from the great white north too?