Special FX Makeup using wax

There's a variety of techniques to do special FX makeup my book, Stage Makeup, featured some realistic burns and scars using wax I decided to try next. Wax in makeup is similar to play dough or clay, you can mold it and make different shapes then apply it using a skin safe glue called spirit gum. Wax can be difficult to work with, unfortunately I learned this the hard way, make sure you use Vaseline or something else to keep if from sticking to your fingers while you mold it.

To create a fake wound you first use spirit gum on the area so the wax will stick, then "scoop out the desired amount of derma wax and roll it in your hands until soft and ball shaped... once the wax is secured to the body spot, smooth out the ball into what-ever shape wound you wish to create" (Thudium 76). I continued to follow directions from Stage Makeup, by creating my shape, creating a slit in the wax, and coloring it to match my skin tone. To finish it off I added blood, this is how, "After lightly dusting the wound area with powder to set the makeup and dry the wax so that blood will stick to it, apply 'thick' stage blood to the slit you opened in the previous step" (Thudium 77).

Finished product on my arm

Where do you see special FX makeup being used?

Work Cited

Thudium, Laura. Stage Makeup: The Actor's Complete Step-by-step Guide to Today's Techniques and Materials. Vol. 1. New York: Back Stage, 1999. Print.