Okay, so halloween is almost here., and you still don't have a costume? well, don't be scared. I'm here to help. (hope i could tho.)

Here's a roundup of the halloween concoctions I used over the years of transforming myself and others to be very ugly, most of which I got from a whole series of trying and failing, so you can think of it as, I failed so you guys won't anymore. haha. Don't worry, it's for amateurs, because I am. HA HA!

NO FACE CASTING NEEDED. or wherever else casting(what?).

So before I start, I'll let you take a glimpse on a few of my works. The rest comes in the ending. ;)

Step 1: SAFETY MEASURES (MUST READ)

Before you put anything on your skin, make sure that you're not allergic to any of your chosen materials.
- To make sure your skin is not allergic to any of your weapons of choice, do a skin test. With me, the most sensitive part of my skin is the hairless part of my arm. which kinda figures why most of my trials happen on that part of my skin, so I know whether it would be okay to have it wherever, especially my face. (1)
- Many people are allergic to liquid latex, so for your skin test with this material, just dab very little. because latex can really damage your skin if you're allergic.
Make sure it's clean and well moisturized and protected. you can use any moisturizing cream or lotion. Also, it would help to apply petroleum jelly on your skin so your pores are protected from the liquids. don't put too much tho, because your prosthesis will easily fall off. just make sure it's not too....wet?
If you're gonna use liquid latex. Wax your hair off or shave a day before. mainly because taking it off would really hurt terribly if you still have even the littlest of hair on that part of your body. it would actually be like waxing because it will pull some of your hairs off. also wear headband to keep your head hair off anything. latex on hair is a big pain in the ass.
Any of these materials won't hurt when applied to properly prepared skin. If you feel any sort of burning or pricking feeling, you have to STOP. That either means you're allergic or you've not prepared your skin properly. If you think you've prepared your skin well, then that only means you're sensitive/allergic to those materials and you can't use them.
Check your skin for any kind of wound, acne, or rashes. If you can see some, DO NOT APPLY ANYTHING ON THEM. unless it's very small and you've protected it well. you can use band aid. the type that covers your wound properly and cover it with nose and scar wax. then you can apply on it non toxic pva glue before applying a wee bit of liquid latex to keep it from opening up. if by any chance you can still feel something when you put liquid latex, any itchy or burning feeling. you should just give up on that spot and don't apply anything on it.
Make sure you're working on a properly ventilated area
Before using liquid latex, shake the bottle and open it for about 5-10 minutes so it would vent out the slight ammonia content.
As much as possible, don't apply liquid latex near your eyes or nose. It smells really bad. even when it has vented out properly. and hurts the eyes. If you don't want to listen to me, make sure you're okay with bad smells. (it will only smell that bad for a few minutes, just until the top coat is dry). And make sure to close your eyes.
Do not wear contact lenses while working on your prosthetic. PLEASE. you can wear it when you're done and your prosthetic has fully cured.

I think that's all you have to watch out for.

Step 2: DIY Nose and Scar Putty

Materials Needed
Petroleum Jelly
Flour
Empty container
mixing stick (anything you can mix with)

Steps:
Prepare your empty container, make sure it's clean and dry.
Mix in your petroleum jelly and flour. Start from a very little amount of flour and just add some more until your desired consistency.
I know my putty is right when i can shape it in my hands and yet it's still a little too soft to spread evenly.

Uses:

protect your wound (see safety measures)
protect your eyebrows: just spread evenly on eyebrows until you almost can't see any hair sticking out. apply non-toxic pva glue to set it in place and dab on liquid latex. wait for it to dry.
smoothen out prosthetic to merge with skin. most of the time when you re-apply prosthetics, the sides just won't stay down, cut those sides and just spread out this putty after you've stuck the prosthetic in place and when you think it's smooth enough. dab liquid latex to cover it and keep it in place.
make simple wounds: for simpler wounds you can just shape it to the shape of wound you want and dab liquid latex on. then you can paint it however you want.

Step 3: LIQUID LATEX CONCOCTIONS, TIPS AND TRICKS

LIQUID LATEX RULES

*as I've said before, just in case you skipped the safety measures*
- Liquid latex does not hurt, sting, prick or itch if you prepared your skin properly. If in any case it does, that means you're allergic to it and should stop.
- You HAVE TO properly vent out liquid latex before using it. Shake the bottle well and keep it open for 5-10 minutes so it can vent out the ammonia. If you're using liquid latex in larger containers, just pour some in a plastic cup and let it breathe for a while before using. it would also help to stir the liquid latex in the process.
- Do not apply liquid latex on any type of wound, acne or irritated skin.
- Liquid latex and hair are enemies. shave or wax. unless you want to get hurt.
Latex like most paint, is highly flammable.
While working with liquid latex, do not use any container or mixing sticks that you will use in the future for your food.
Keep it away from children.

Where to get Liquid latex?
I always have a tough time asking stores for liquid latex, most of the time I would have to find it myself. most arts and crafts shop have them in different brands. sadly, not all sales clerk know what they're selling so in case you'd have to find it yourself, I'm attaching a few brands I know that you can try to find.

INSTA LATEX PAINT

Materials Needed:
Food color gel
Liquid latex
plastic cups
mixing sticks
Dishwashing foam (cut-out for application)
cotton swabs

Steps:
Just mix in food color gel and liquid latex in a plastic container with mixing sticks. and you're done. now you can use the cut-out dishwashing foam or cotton swabs to apply color.
Why food color gel? because it's not as much pain in the ass to get off of skin as liquid food color and more controllable than powder food color. It also dries transparent unlike other paint, and almost always available most houses. Also, other type of paint would not mix-in properly,the latex will only cover the paint and dry up. then you won't be able to mix it. unless you actually use latex paint(which ruins the point of this concoction)

TIPS:

Do not use brush. or else, your brush will be ruined fo sho.
Liquid latex dries darker. so when you mix in color, be reminded that it should be about 10 shades lighter than your preferred color. for instance fuschia dries bloody red, and to get flesh color the mix would have to be pinkish white. Also it dries almost transparent. so the base color of what you're painting would contribute largely to the end product. with that I would suggest to shade darks to your prosthetic with any type of paint first before painting on this concoction.
The color would actually transfer to your skin if directly applied. So it would be good to protect your skin first with a layer or 2 of uncolored liquid latex before you start painting this concoction on.

MOLDABLE LATEX
Materials Needed:
Flour
Liquid latex
plastic cups
mixing sticks

Steps:
Pour some liquid latex in your cup, just a little because this one dries faster, just the amount you think you can handle within 3 minutes. Then mix in flour, little by little until you get the right consistency, you'll know it's right when it's already thick and you can handle it with your fingers but still wet that it sticks to your fingers. It would be like pudding mix.

How to Use:
Apply some on your skin, or wherever you want to sculpt it on(plastic, cling wrap) as much as possible to the shape you want. then let it dry for a while, just until you can touch it without sticking to your fingers, then now you can shape it to how you want, just be very quick because it dries faster, specially if you put too much flour.

I would put in foam latex but i promised no face casting whatsoever so I'd just skip to the...

GENERAL LIQUID LATEX TIPS AND TRICKS

For less complicated wounds and sculpts, you can use tissue with liquid latex, you can find tons of instructables on this right at home and video tutorials on youtube.
You can also carve a mold of different shapes clay and fill it in with latex to form that shape. one thing to remember tho, you have to brush in 2-3 layers of liquid latex to it before you fill the whole mold in. because it will form air bubbles if you don't and won't dry to be that shape. also if the mold is too deep, don't fill it in all at once, because liquid latex will dry very slowly, it could take you hours if not days.
If you're making your prosthetic days before the day you're gonna use it, make sure you let the latex cure fully first before you take it off your skin, or else it won't take shape and will be a pain to reapply when the proper day comes. Also make sure it's thick enough if the whole thing is just about a millimeter thick then just do it the same day you're gonna use it.
You can also use liquid latex to stick stuff on your face, as long as it's light. like shards of glass, barbecue sticks, toothpicks and other hanging prosthetics. just make sure your liquid latex is thick enough to hold. The heavier it gets, the thicker your latex would have to be. you can use the moldable latex for this or layer it with tissue.

Step 4: FAKE BLOOD

EDIBLE FAKE BLOOD
Ingredients
Corn Syrup
Red food color gel
Green food color gel
Cornstarch

Steps:
Mix the corn syrup, red food color gel and green food color gel(just a wee bit) and mix. If you're okay with the consistency then stop, if not mix a little cornstarch to thicken your mixture. adjust the color to your preference.

WASHABLE FAKE BLOOD
change the previous to half corn syrup and half liquid dishwashing soap.
Mix in the corn syrup, red food color gel and mix, add a little cornstarch to thicken the mix in the dishwashing soap.

If you want them thicker you can dissolve the cornstarch in warm water until it's a little too thick before mixing it in the blood mixture.

If you want your blood meatier, you can mash some red gelatin and mix it in. or mix flour with pva glue and make little fleshlike pieces before you mix it in with your fake blood. :)

Step 5: FAKE TEETH

Materials Needed
Paperclay
Thin steel wires
Knife (for carving)
yellow poster paint
water
gloss varnish.
florist's foam/clay

Steps:
cut the steel wires into the length of tooth you want plus a centimeter. then get your paperclay and mold it into the shape of tooth you need, for me I needed all canine so I just looked for some reference pictures and went with it. paperclay needs to dry longer because it's air-drying so you'd need to stick your steel wire into your tooth, with the extra centimeter poking out of the bottom of the tooth.
get your florist foam or clay then stick your tooth there until it dries up so it won't have any bad shape that you'll get if you just place it on the table while waiting. When it's dry, sculpt it so it would be pointy and sharp. that's the good thing with paperclay, you can sculpt it when it's dry, not like polymer clay.
you can soak your tooth in water and smoothen the surfaces after sculpting.
now mix some yellow poster color with water, you can also put a little brown or purple to make it look dirty, then soak you tooth there for about 5 seconds. take off whatever excess with tissue then wait for it again to dry.
Then you can get your gloss varnish and apply it on your tooth, glossy teeth are scary.

voila! now you can use your liquid latex or moldable latex to apply it on your prosthetics.! woot!

Well, sorry for not having pictures for this, I was in a rush to finish my prosthetic for the event yesterday.

If you're gonna use the moldable latex to stick it in, make sure it's a little dry first. then hold the tooth in place until you can feel that it's stable in place. you can use blowdryer so it would dry faster.