Un-true blood

True Blood Bill and Sookie

MAKE FAKE BLOOD

One of the highlights of my elementary school years was putting on Gene Simmons makeup, walking on homemade Kiss coffee-can platforms, and biting into ketchup filled plastic baggies while I waggled my tongue. So feeling nostalgic, I thought we’d up the ante from ketchup to the real thing.

Here are some recipes for true blood…

NON TOXIC

Most professional-quality fake blood uses toxic compounds like antifreeze. And as you know antifreeze = bad. So we’ll start with the non-toxic variety of fake blood. It may not be the choice of indie horror film directors, but it’ll get the job done.

Start with about 1 tablespoon of Arrowroot powder or Corn Starch in a large bowl. Either one of these will do, though Arrowroot powder is better for avoiding lumps. Now add about a cup of White Corn Syrup and mix it up with the powder. The results will be rather thick, so once you have it mixed, start thinning it down with water until you get something close to the consistency of blood — about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water should do the trick.

Now that you have a base, it’s time to add the dye. Start with the red and add a few drops at a time, mixing thoroughly until you have a nice red color. But of course, real blood isn’t bright red. That’s where the blue and green dye comes in. Add a couple of drops of either color until it looks more like actual blood.

Once it looks like blood, set your mixture aside and let it thicken a bit before applying it to your costume. If you’re looking for something a bit more edible, add a few drops of peppermint extract for that minty blood flavor.

CAUTION: This mixture will stain your clothes and might temporarily discolor your skin as well.

SEMI-TOXIC

It won’t leach lead into your skin or do anything else truly frightening, but you definitely don’t want to let this fake blood near your mouth, eyes, nose or any other orifices.

Here’s the recipe:

Water-soluble hair gel
Water-soluble personal lubricant
Red food coloring or liquid dye
Blue or green food coloring or liquid dye

Pour alcohol-free, water-soluble hair gel in a bowl. We’re going to add some other liquids so you only need to use about three-quarters of what you want the total amount of blood to be. Now add some water-soluble personal lubricant (Astroglide works well here). You want the lubricant to thin the hair gel down so that it’s just slightly thicker than water — start with a small amount and add more if you need it.

Now it’s time to color the mixture. As with the non-toxic version, start with red dye and then add blue or green to shift the color to something more bloodlike. Chocolate syrup can also be used to create a bit more maroon color.

The advantage of this blood is that it’s not sticky and, if you experiment a little bit, you’ll find that flinging it around creates very realistic splatters.

But, as with the other variety, use caution since this mixture will stain just about everything it touches.

Here’s the recipe: