As long as we're on blood again, we've used a Karo/food coloring/powdered cocoa combo for a long time with good results. The cocoa gives the opacity of peanut butter without lumps! It's reasonably washable, but no blood, commercial or home-made we've found is both really really red, and really really washable, alas. The addition of shampoo or dishwashing liquid helps, but tends to be yucky if it has to be in the mouth.

I can tell you that the recipe that we use down here is made from cornsyrup, Chocolate Cow syrup and red food colouring. You do have to be careful because it will stain clothes, but if you need to just add a little dish detergent. One advantage to this recipe is that is does look fairly realistic, and also you aren't using any toxic substances. We're using it in a production of "Wolf Boy", by Brad Fraserr, and our actor assures us that it even tastes good, so there you go. Hope you find what you're looking for.

I made blood out of corn syrup, smooth peanut butter, and a shot of red food dye. about 1/2 cup syrup to 1 teaspoon p-butter. you can thicken or thin as desired. in all my uses it never stained and is not violent to taste. i had another recipe that would coagulate or something, but it used dish detergeant and if it gets hot it produces bubbles like soap bubbles and that is bad. use the first one. i like it.

We always used Caro syrup and food coloring...fairly cheap, and a little goes a long way...

• 16 oz. White corn syrup (Karo syrup - this is a US product, but adding golden syrup does the job just as well, alternatively just mix sugar and water and reduce on the stove until it becomes syrupy)
• 1 oz. red food coloring
• 1 oz. washing detergent
• 1 oz. water
  

Because of the food colouring used in a lot of blood recipies they tend to stain easily and can sometime look more purple than red. Here's a more natural alternative that's closer to a Spaghetti Western style arterial red. It also washes out of clothes easily and can be eaten reasonably safely (although why you'd want to eat it is beyond me).

Take a teaspoon or two of Arrowroot (a white powder used in baking that you can easily find in health food shops) and add to water heated on the stove. Stir continuously until the mixture becomes gloopy. Add a small amount of red children's non-toxic powder paint and stir in. The mixture should now be bright red. Add a tiny amount of brown powder paint or coffee concentrate (make this by adding a small amount of water to coffee granules) to darken the blood as required. Store in a bottle or jam jar and thin by adding water to make the blood the required consistency as and when you need it. For bullet hits you need to thin the blood quite a bit to allow it to spray out.

MB2 Blood

Flour Base

One cup batch of MB2:

• 1 oz (29ml) Red food coloring (Durkee (R) brand or equivalent)
• 1/8 teaspoon (.6ml) Green food coloring (Durkee (R) brand or equivalent)
• Add flour base described above to a total of one cup (250ml).

Cool before adding food color. Stir in any surface scum. Makes a good base for stage blood. Slightly slimy. Fairly low surface tension. Soaks and spreads well.

There is no sugar and very little food in the MB2 formula so it's probably less attractive to insects. Shelf life is fairly short (days) at room temp. Does not go rank but ferments a bit and looses viscosity.

This formula will temporarily stain skin. Seems to wash out of cotton cloths OK.

Mix 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon flour. Bring to a boil and let boil for 3 min. Then let simmer on low for 15 min. Remove from heat and let stand around 5 min then mix in one 0.13 oz. package of black cherry (powder) kool aid mix. You will see the results right away. When I priced one packet of kool aid to the food coloring it was about a quarter of the price.

It is a little thick but a good color. Another cool part is if you do get some in your mouth or have to drink it as for a vampire movie, it tastes pretty good to.

Alfred Hitchcock famously used Bosco chocolate syrup in Psycho. Any opaque chocolate syrup will do. Tastes great as well!

Microwave 3-4 bottles of glycerin then add one cube of strawberry jelly and mix until dissolved. Then add small amount of gelatine (1/5 of a packet) and then add red food colouring to desired effect. Keep stirring until mixed well. It is sligtly runny but great for that reservoir dogs look in back seat of the car. All ingredients are easily found in supermarkets.

Zombie Rot

(Not blood per se, but related...)

If you ever need some zombie rot, I take the mess out of the inside of a pumpkin,like when kids carve jacko-lanterns, remove the seeds, add red food coloring with a touch of blue, and you have bloody zombie rot. Keep in a plastic bag in the fridge to keep it wet for a realistic look.

Courtesy of: Jack Smack (jackclifton@webtv.net)

Bloody Mary Brand

I would like to mention that Bloody Mary has a great fake blood. It dries with a NON-STICKY wet look that is fantastic for make-up aplications (altough a bit pricey for gallons and gallons).

http://www.dearbloodymary.com/makeup_products.html

Signed,
SpecterMidian
Web & Graphic Coordinator
www.specter-studios.com
High Quality American Made Fright!

Common question(s) on the Stagecraft ( and other groups ) often run a bit like .......

"For a forthcoming production, show, simulated massacre, Vampire party, or just a present for my "ghoul-friend" ... etc etc I need lots of FAKE BLOOD " ....

On a closely related thread...

Here is a question...I am trying to come up with ideas on how to rig blood to spurt. I was thinking of using a small aquarium pump to provide both pressure and maybe to get the blood to "pulse" it also is equipped to be attach tubing to it. I am wondering if this is an utterly ridiculous way to go about it but i have absolutely no idea...I think this idea might make the blood froth or something because of the aeration. If someone coule help me and let me know if I am an utter sill person for hoping this would work...I know a squeeze bottle will work but if I need enough pressure to get the blood to up to upraised wrists. Anyway I guess that is all...I have never done this before so that is why this idea may sound too off the wall.

From "Dale":

Putting on my medical hat. Frothy blood is indicitive of a wound that has punctured the lung(s). AKA a sucking chest wound, from the characteristic noise it makes. It would be inappropriate for slashed wrists. Also small aquarium pumps do not pump liquids very well. If the actor has a free hand or armpit to squeeze a bulb pump, they can with a little practice produce a disconcertingly realistic arterial bleed. Make sure the blood solution is non-staining!!

From Rik Griffin:

--Also small aquarium pumps do not pump liquids very well. If the
--actor has a free hand or armpit to squeeze a bulb pump, they can with
--a little practice produce a disconcertingly realistic arterial bleed.

This might be a wacky idea, but if the actor was standing and bleeding, could you put the squeezy bulb in their shoe, and get them to subtely pump it with their foot? As I say, may be useless, haven't tried it.

From "Erin" (http://www.obscure.org/~nimue):

--could you put the squeezy bulb in their shoe, and get them to subtely
--pump it with their foot?

tends to be easier if you work with gravity i like to put the blood supply above the wound drips a bit nicer

This started another thread .......

--If the actor has a free hand or armpit to squeeze a bulb pump, they can
--with a little practice produce a disconcertingly realistic arterial
--bleed. Make sure the blood solution is non-staining!!

speaking of which...I know of one recipe for non-staining blood using shampoo (Vo5 was suggested...) but I was wondering if anyone knows of others...??

---

I'm in the same class, and was wondering, how? how do you make a non-staining blood mixture, everything I think of is staining, so I was planning on just putting in my answer, "Buy lots of Bleach and wash the costume later."

From an unknown sender:

this idea just occured to me. try using the spray on water repellant stuff for clothes(coats) it looks kinda like pump hairspray and leaves no finish i can see(looking at my coat). that in combination with a detergent based blood(shampoo, dishwashing liquid, etc.) probably wouldn't stain.

From an unknown sender:

When I did "Agnes of God," that's exactly how the costume crew survived--lots of bleach! However, I worked on another blood show where the props crew did a mixture of detergent (which has the thickness of blood) and food coloring (non-staining, of course). It worked wonderfully for us, but we weren't dealing with all white. I'd suggest you try various mixtures to get the color you want for the effect you need.

From "Erin" (nimue@obscure.org):

if you have the money, you could always break down and buy commercially available blood the ben nye thick sticky variety washes out pretty well with ordinary laundry detergent, as does almost any kryolan product pre-treating it as soon as the actor gets out of costume helps

keep in mind that the longer the blood is on stage cooking under the lights, the more it will stain if the cloth is white cotton there will almost certainly be some slight staining but bleach takes care of that

also, i found that mixing red tempera paint (the kind you can buy at most k-marts or cheapy stores in the childrens section), the kind advertised as washable, and mixing in a bit of purple casein washes out marvelously with warm water and soap. You can also add in a bit of glycerin if you like that sort, but that makes it more expensive and doesnt really improve the texture all that much the major drawback is that the consistency is not very viscous (it is, after all, paint) and if you leave it in stage under hot lights for more than a couple minutes it starts to dry out and cracks, which most directors arent too keen on in small spaces or long scenes.

From Jesse Chan-Norris (jcn@brown.edu, http://www.netspace.org/~jcn/):

I've been looking for one as well. Nothing I've found has worked particularly well. We did a production of the scottish play (or was it Electra? who can keep track?) here last year, and i know that the blood solution had detergent in it. One problem was that the blood was awfully runny and would run all over the tablecloth.

And even though the blood had soap in it, all of the costumes still had to be thrown into the washing machine after every performance to keep them from setting.

Soap blood is also pretty slimy and smelly. In another space where I work, there are still blacks that smell like the blood from the show. And don't even get me started about the lights that got covered in the stuff... (it was a messy show, to say the least. :)

I've been looking for one as well. Nothing I've found has worked particularly well. We did a production of the scottish play (or was it Electra? who can keep track?) here last year, and i know that the blood solution had detergent in it. One problem was that the blood was awfully runny and would run all over the tablecloth.

And even though the blood had soap in it, all of the costumes still had to be thrown into the washing machine after every performance to keep them from setting.

Soap blood is also pretty slimy and smelly. In another space where I work, there are still blacks that smell like the blood from the show. And don't even get me started about the lights that got covered in the stuff... (it was a messy show, to say the least. :)

Liquid Glucose (syrup)
Coffee
Red Food Dye

Try not to get in your mouth as you will be on the biggest sugar and caffine rush you've ever known.

(Editor's Note: This is said like it's a bad thing... At the end of some runs, I know I could've a rush like this.)

Liquid Coffee
Red Food Dye

Because it creates a very thick and sticky consistancy you may want to water it down a bit, it temporarily stains the skin and as far as i know has a similar affect on clothes (although i haven't actually tested my theory). You can put it in your mouth but isn't very nice when you don't like coffee!

Two 16oz boxes chocolate instant pudding
1/2 cup dish detergent
1 oz bottle red food coloring
Add water until correct consistency - about 1 and 1/2 cups or so Mix well

Looks great, and no gooey, stickey, Karo syrup issues. Washes off easily with plain water. May delete the detergent to "drink", but staining then becomes an issue.

We prefer Reel Creations blood, and deal a lot with Fred. There are however other manufacturers we deal who also make excellent blood products. We were initially skeptical but Garry Turncliffe blood (2 Hours in the Dark inc.) is very washable and sought after in the film industry. KNB, has a great blood and is very different from most in how it sits on fabric. Nick Dudman Blood is another fantastic product which is different again in how it smears.

Most of these are not consumer bloods, so directly calling people such as KNB may not get a great response. We deal with them because of the large volumes that it takes to make it worthwhile for them and bring the best possible prices to our customers.

We've also had some experience with a blood by Tri-Ess. It is a two-part clear fluid that when one touches the other turns blood red.

Nice Website. Keep up the good work.