Ageing using latex & scars

Health & safety
- Test latex on the skin before use (little dot on the inside of the arm/wrist). Some people can be allergic to latex.
- Barrier cream/ foam on before you apply and latex based products, small prosthetics. It creates a barrier for sensitive skin.
- Latex can hurt if you apply it to 'hairy areas' especially when removing it.
- Remove products with warm water.
- Don't tip any products down the sink, it will block it.
- Cover the person's clothes over because it can damage all clothes.

When applying latex for ageing:
- Apply products with stipple sponges.
- Use acetone to blend away any edges.

Demo:
Decant the latex into a pot as it will help get rid of the smell. Keep the lid shut as it will form a skin in the bottle.

1. Apply the pro shield barrier cream around the areas you are applying latex.
2. Stretch the skin and stipple on the latex.
3. Test hair dryer on you so that you know it's cool so it won't burn the client.
4. The latex will turn clear when dry.
5. Layer up the latex as much as you want.
6. Look at the different colours in the hand, not just one colour ( it looks false)

Ageing:
- *Research how people age*. Skin ages differently depending on age, so think about this and the character you are trying to age.
- Around the eyes we are darker and a bit blue.
- Red liner for the eye (bloodshot eyes)
- Old age stipple latex.. same process as regular latex it just has colour. Can be bought it different skin tone colours.

Scar:

To create the look of an old scar we used a product called 'collodium'.

1. Apply barrier cream before using the collodium
2. Apply the collodium straight from the bottle in the shape that you want your scar and using a hair dryer dry the liquid
3. Then squeeze the skin together to create some texture to the scar


Reflection:
When applying the latex around the eyes i found it very difficult to blend the edges and make sure that the product didn't go in the hair. Next time i will have to be more careful when applying it and take more time. As you can see in the picture above some of the latex wasn't blending properly near the hair line even when i was trying to blend it with acetone. Another mistake i made was powdering it a lot more to make sure the latex became fully matte so it looked more like skin.

Using the collodium was very easy however the outcome wasn't very good. I didn't think it looked much like a scar it looked like pva glue had just dried clear on my hand. This is definitely a product i need to practice with to get better at creating scars.

My character is a youthful man so i won't be using any ageing as i don't believe he would have any ageing to his skin. He was an outgoing and adventurous boy growing up so i believe that his skin would be very youthful. For my character i want to use the latex technique described above but apply it to the lips to create dry skin on the lip as he was always outside and would be in contact with a lot of harsh weather, eg. wind,rain etc. This would cause the skin to become dry.