How To Make Pickable Latex Scabs
Easy Oozing Party Scabs for Stage, Screen, Costume or Halloween
May 15, 2009
Once dry these scabs can be peeled off the backing and stored. Powder them well with loose powder or baby powder to stop them being too shiny and sticking together.
Before Starting:
- The scabs are made from latex and therefore not suitable for latex allergy sufferers.
- Always observe proper health and safety precautions when working with latex.
- Keep liquid latex away from skin and eyes and always follow manufacturers instructions.
- Make sure the latex used is suitable for contact with skin once dried.
- Work in a well ventilated area.
- Do not apply these professionally without being a professional make-up artist and in possession of proper public liability insurance.
You Will Need:
- A clean flat surface such as a sheet of glass or plastic.
- Liquid or cream latex.
- A brush.
- Small bits of something like tiny seeds, beads or anything pickable.
- Latex colorant.
- Fake blood and / or puss - optional.
- A small plastic pipette.
- A hair dryer - optional.
- Loose powder or baby powder.
Method:
It takes time to make the scabs because latex dries slowly. Drying time can be sped up by using a cool to warm (never hot) hairdryer. However, these can also be made over the course of a day. The finished scabs are best being left to dry overnight.
- Using the brush, paint thin circles of latex on to the surface. Leave them a little rough at the edges; they should look like slightly melting chocolate buttons. Keep the layer as thin as possible and If using cream latex, dilute it a little with water.
- Repeat this process 3-6 times depending on the desired thickness of the scab. Latex colorant can be mixed in at any of these stages but are quite strong so only use a very small amount. Yellow and red works particularly well and can look like little streaks of blood and puss. Latex is white until dried when it turns a translucent yellow so the best scabs utilize the natural skin like, sickly color
- After the second layer, do not paint latex right up to the edges. Rather leave the edges a little thinner. This makes the scabs more realistic and easy to blend in to the skin.
- Wash the brush well with soapy water in between layers. Liquid latex is easy to disperse with water but if dried into a brush head, it will fuse everything together in a lump of rubber and ruin the brush. If the brush is getting clogged, then peel off any dried latex and keep a pot of water nearby for frequent rinsing.
- Once the layers have dried, make a blob of blood or puss in the center of the scab.
- Take a little thinned liquid latex and cover this. The easiest way is to drip it with the pipette. Leave this to dry naturally as the hair dryer might make the matter inside ooze out. The idea is to encapsulate the liquid.
- Mix the seeds or beads into a little latex and once the previous layer is dried, apply a couple more layers with the seed mixture.
Once dry these scabs can be peeled off the backing and stored. Powder them well with loose powder or baby powder to stop them being too shiny and sticking together.
They can be attached with stage glue / spirit gum and when the beads or seeds are picked, the blood and puss will start to ooze out. The scabs can be blended into the skin or colored with cream make-up.
It is also possible to make professional re-usable molds for these scabs from plaster which will result in a more uniform product that can be produced in large quantities. The above method is for small quantities (up to about 100) for fun, parties and basic special effects make-up.
