Cuts, Scratches & bruises

Health & safety:

-When applying the latex over the wax make sure that if the person has sensitive skin you apply barrier cream prior to starting any of the make up as this will prevent the latex from reacting to the skin.
- When making a cut from the wax using a spatula, it's important that you don't press too hard as when i was having a cut done on my face, the spatula actually scratched my skin and made it bleed a little.

Products used:

Bruises:
- Ben nye bruise wheel
- Kryolan bruise wheel

Cuts:
- Latex
- Moulding wax
- Supra colours
- Sealer ( if allergic to latex)
- Acetone to blend edges
- Blood ( colour of blood depends on the type of wound)
- Collodium (scarring) - use pro-shield foam before
- Wound filler ( texture of flesh)
- Puss (infected wounds)
- Alcohol

Tools used:
- Stipple sponge
- Black stipple sponge
-Kryolan blush brush
- plastic/metal palette knife/spatula
- hair pin

1. Apply the wax onto the skin using a spatula or palette knife and make sure that all the edges are smooth so that it looks like it's part of the skin.

2. Make the cut in the shape that you want and then apply latex using a stipple sponge over the top and blend the edges, this will hold the wax in place on your face.

3.  Dry the latex using a hair dryer on a cool heat.  Blend any edges that aren't smooth using acetone.

4. Using the alcohol and a supra colour, put a wash of red over the skin to create the illusion of sore skin. Apply all the others colours to create the kind of cut that you want.

5. Apply wound filler to the middle using a hair pin, this will deepen and darken the cut. Then apply some of the blood around the rest of the wound. This gives the wound some texture and makes the blood look glossy.

6. To create scratches on the skin you can take a black stipple sponge and some blood and drag it over the skin.

Scratches:
To create scratches on the skin all we used was either some of the fake blood / red supra colour and used the black stipple sponge really lightly on the skin and just swiped in a downwards motion. This will create the effect of a scratch.

Bruises/ black eyes:

Using the ben nye or kryolan bruise wheel, create the desired black eye or bruise you would want. You have to take into consideration that bruises change colour depending on the length of time they have been there. You can get different colour bruise wheels, yellow tones, purple tones, brights and dull colours.
Black eyes and bruises are ever just one colour, so you really have to look in detail at what colours you can see in a black eye and try and replicate that.

Reflection:
The cuts went well apart from the edges and some of the colouring. I need to get used to using latex and the wax and practice blending the edges more. I found it difficult to blend the edges of the latex even when using acetone, however the wax was a lot easier to blend. I need to purchase the right spatula to help make this process easier, as using a smoother, flat spatula makes it easier to smooth out the edges of the wax especially.
I found the wax a lot easier to work with than latex, a lot less messy and doesn't hurt at all when removing it.
My partner used a plastic spatula on me and it ended up scratching my face underneath because there was a sharp edge on it, so i definitely need to purchase a metal spatula so that it's smooth and i don't make that mistake with a client.
When it came to the black eye i din't have a lot of time to try this, literally had 5/10 minutes. So next time i would make sure i had a lot more time and think about the colours i should use and the placement of my colours.
I am not going to use either cuts or bruises in my design for my character, however the bruise wheel might come in handy for darkening up the eye area and creating a red sore look which is something i am looking at doing.