Burns

Products

- Gelatin

- Supra Colour (adds colour)

- Aqua Colour (adds texture) 

- Witch Hazel 

- Fake Blood

- Fake Pus

- Powder

- Vaseline

Equipment

- Spatula

- Paint Palette

- Plastic Bowl

- Brushes

- Powder puff

- Hair Pins

- Hairdryer

- Microwave

- Baby buds

HEALTH AND SAFETY

- DO NOT put metal into the microwave

- ALWAYS test the gelatin on the back of your hand before applying onto the model to test the heat

- If your model is allergic to latex, gelatin can be used as a substitute, and no barrier foam is needed

- Always test the hairdryer on yourself before using on the model to make sure that it is cool. 

- If you have a model who is vegan, latex can be used instead provided they aren't allergic

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE

- You can use gelatin in moulds which are good for continuity

- Don't use a hot hairdryer as it will melt the Gelatin

- To remove you can just pull it off and then run the area under hot water

- To blend out the edges, use some Witch Hazel on a Baby bud to blend them down

- If you want to water down your Supra Colour don't use IPA as it can cause the gelatin to melt, so use moisturiser instead

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BURNS

- 1st Degree: sunburn, oven burn. It's very red, not blistered. You have to think about every detail and the back story of the wound.

- 2nd Degree: Acid, hot water. It's shiny with lots of different colours and softer edges.

- 3rd Degree: Much deeper, it's almost translucent. Think about depth. 

STEP BY STEP

- Put a square of gelatin in a plastic bowl and melt in the microwave, only 10-20 seconds will do! If you do longer it will go over and won't be as good to use.

- Test the heat on the back of your hand.

- Apply onto the skin, scrape for a flatter surface and pick up slightly for a risen surface. 

- If there are any hard edges put some Witch Hazel on a baby bud and blend downwards

- Dry with a cool hairdryer, it will stay tacky, it's dry when it doesn't lift off and your finger doesn't stick as much.

- Then pat powder onto the area.

- Gently stipple on the colour, make sure to go around the area to make it look like it is sore. 

- Use a fine brush to add extra definition to the wound, making sure to be delicate.

- Add fake blood or pus as desired. Vaseline is good for adding shine to the wound. 

MY BURN

Below are the images I took of the burn I did. 

I'm not very happy with the final burn, I think that it looks awful! As I have never used Gelatin before and I was very nervous about doing so, and I think this reflects in my work. I really had a lot of problems with the Gelatin. When I heated it up it was so hot that I couldn't apply it to Megan's skin without burning her, and by the time that it was cool enough to use it had hardened to a point that it wasn't spreadable. Even going back to heat it again didn't work as it was still too hot to apply to the skin, this made it really difficult to get a good spread of the Gelatin onto the skin. As I was having such a difficult time of getting the Gelatin right I didn't have enough time to properly colour the skin which makes it look really fake and not like a burn at all. I think it may have been good to add some fake blood along with darker Supra Colour to make it look much more realistic. Furthermore I needed to blend away the edges a lot more to make it stick out less on the skin.

I think that if I do have the opportunity to do so I would like to practise this again to perfect the technique.

UPDATE: PRACTISE AT HOME
As I was so disheartened by my final burn in class, I decided to have a go at home using powdered Gelatin instead. I found it so much easier to use the powdered variety as I was able to control the heat a lot more, as it is dissolved in hot water rather than a microwave, meaning that I didn't burn my model. The element that was a bit tricky was diluting the Gelatin so that there weren't any lumps left, however when applied to the skin this lumps really added to the effect. I thought that the colours I chose were a lot better as they were a lot darker, which in turn made the wound look much 'angrier'.

As I don't have any fake blood or pus at home I had to give the illusion of dried blood by using black Supra Colour mixed with the dark red. I think that adding fake blood would add more to the wound and make it look even more realistic. Furthermore I think that adding pus underneath the raised parts would add another element of realism to it. All in all I'm so much happier with this burn than my previous attempt, and I think that if I was to do a burn in the future I would definitely choose this method over the blocks of gelatin.