** CONVENTION COVERAGE ** Philcon 2000 ** 17-19 November 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ** "Monsters, Aliens and Spirit Gum" ** Presented by Richard Stout, s-19-nov-10:00 Basic principles - Spirit gum is the classic adhesive for hair and makeup appliances, though historically some stage actors have used cheaper shellac. (R.Stout prefers Stine's brand spirit gum to Zauder's, though it needs to be thinned (thinner sold separately).) Unflavored gelatin also works under less demanding circumstances. Makeup is sticky and messy, so it's important for the artist to keep his hands clean while working. Keep solvents on hand -- isopropyl alcohol for the face, turpentine for hands. For removal the same solvents can be used, plus cold cream for oil-based makeups. Tissue paper most be soaked/softened in hot water, and can then be peeled off in chunks. To convince with full-face makeup, focus your efforts on the central feature; typically the nose. Nose putty is harder than Dermawax; it can be softened with cold cream in a microwave oven. MAKEUP White faces - Use clown white, then dust liberally with talcum powder to fill in the gaps, creases and pores. Use a makeup brush to smooth/consolidate the texture. Beards - To look convincing, beards must be applied in layers, starting under the chin, and overlapping on the way up the chin and cheeks. Warts - Nuggets of Rice Crispies-brand cereal make convincing crusty-witch- warts. For dark complexions, use Cocoa Crispies. Blood - The tubes of vampire-themed blood gel sold at Halloween are expensive, but convenient. Instead, for large quantities: mix clear Karo- brand corn syrup with hot water to achieve the desired viscosity, then add red food coloring. For even larger quantities (useful for spraying and splattering, but not makeup): mix unflavored gelatin with hot water, then add colorant. Scars - Used for decades by medics, "nonflexible collodion" is brushed on as a liquid, which then dries and pulls together the edges of a wound. Hollywood makeup artists jealously guard the fact that, used on unbroken skin, it quicky and easily creates the taut line of a years-old healed scar. The effect is more convincing on fleshy surfaces (eg the cheek) than bony (eg the forehead). PROSTHETICS Punctures and bullet holes - Dermawax (aka mortician's wax) is a soft wax mixed with cotton fibers. It can be easily shaped by hand and is sticky enough to adhere to skin, though an adhesive (such as spirit gum) can also be used. A puncture wound has a deep, shadowed interior; to mimic this, cut a half-inch black circle from a glossy magazine. Shape the dermawax into a ball, press onto the flesh, smooth into a dome. Press the black disc into the lump with a blunt tool, such as the eraser end of a pencil. Add blood to taste. Burns - Tear a piece of tissue paper into a ragged disk. Apply it to the skin using spirit gum or moistened unflavored gelatin, fastening only the perimeter; dry with an electric hair dryer. Apply additional gelatin over the surface, and dry to a crust. Poke or tear into the middle to create burst blisters or ragged flaps of flesh; accentuate with red and black makeup, and add blood as needed. Wrinkles and bald cap - Cut discs of tissue paper, and stretch while affixing to the face with spirit gum. As the gum dries, the tissue will relax into wrinkles. Apply unflavored gelatin, and let dry. Color with grease paint or standard makeups, then powder to avoid smearing. Straight lines are a dead giveway of makeup-flesh boundaries, so overlap the discs on each other, and from the face over the edge of the cap. Vulcan pointed eartips - Apply spirit gum to the earlobe, then touch with a cotton ball to add a feathering of fibers. Add Dermawax, blend with the fibers, and shape into the desired eartip. To seal for later painting, use flexible collodion (nonflexible's relative); containing ether, it air-dries rapidly. Color with greasepaint. Note: the eartip will deform if touched, so avoid certain mannerisms or curious hands. Vampire fangs - Despite its decline in popularity, some dental supply houses still carry Ivory Inlay Wax. Cut a blank, soften it in hot water, then press it onto a tooth to take an impression. (Do so with alacrity; it cools and hardens within ten seconds.) Yank off the block, then carve the exterior to shape; this probably requires several successive test-fittings. Vampire fangs are typically symmetrical, so it's a minor challenge to match the second tooth to the first; however, "Star Trek's" Ferengi and Klingon are snaggle-toothed. Use Orafix or a similar denture adhesive to hold the appliances in place; dab on the back of the tooth, since the pink adhesive might show through the slightly translucent wax. Note: the appliances can easily be dislodged by careless lip movement. Working with latex - One-off makeup jobs can be performed with cheap materials (Dermawax, tissue paper) but for repeatability (eg over multiple days of a film shoot) durable latex prosthetics are necessary. Experiment on a clay model, taken from a cast of the actor's face. Create a clay positive of the prosthetic, cast a plaster-of-paris mold, then cast using liquid latex (the one item in this presentation *not* sold in Halloween shops). To avoid self-sticking, powder the appliance before ummolding. PROPS AND FILM EFFECTS Mummy's accessories, swords - To simulate curved metal tubing (such as the "crook and flail" held by some Egyptian sarcophagi), slip flexible plastic tubing (found at any hardware or aquarium store) over coat hanger wire bent to shape, then spray-paint. For a lightweight sword, wrap silver or gold wrapping paper (not aluminum foil) around a strip of wooden lath. Gunshot effects - Blanks are not harmless; the projectile is a small paper wad, which carries enough kinetic energy to drive itself into flesh at short range. One actor on network TV actually killed himself by fooling with a blank-loaded gun, accidentally firing the wad into his brain. For a safer alternative, feed a plastic tube into a toy gun; run it up the actor's sleeve and out his collar. Loaded with talcum powder, discharged with a sharp exhalation (while the camera focuses on the gun) and overdubbed with a gunshot, the effect is quite convincing. For machine guns, use a road flare in a swappable gun barrel. Detonating skull - To cheaply-but-effectively fake the look of a skull blown out by a gunblast, use a white paper bowl covered with crepe hair (matched to the actor) and filled with ragged strips torn from a red balloon. Affix a string to the bowl, then tape it to the back of the actor's head. On cue, a stage hand yanks the string, pulling away the bowl and releasing the pseudo-blood. Overdub the gunshot in post.