Making Scars

Hi folks,

If I wanted to make myself look even uglier than I already am, by giving myself some facial scars, is “Rigid Collodion” the easiest, best way of doing so? Some links:

rigidcollodion.info/
mehron.com/Scarring_Liquid_p/204-rac.htm
youtube.com/watch?v=qFyot9NL … re=related (<— is a video)

It seems like a pretty effective way of doing it. Where would I get some of this stuff?

Cheers all

Hi Matt,

Rigid collodion is fantastic for giving yourself old, indented scars. Slightly newer, but healed scars can be made by putting a very fine line of red paint underneath the collodion. It does peel off eventually (faster on more mobile areas) and smells like nail polish until it’s dry. Normally I can get it but it’s out of stock at the moment. How urgently do you need it?

If you wanted raised, lumpy scars you’re better off with skin wax but there’s a lot more work involved.

Hey Kara (thought that might grab your attention :slight_smile: )

Not too urgent but probably in the next month - the (overseas) sites I’ve found it on all seem to have smallish bottles for <10 USD so it’s not exactly expensive but so far I’m blanking on somewhere to get it in NZ.

Peeling off eventually might be a problem… I’d be putting it on ~6pm one night and would want it off before work the next morning - could I peel it off that night, or better to sleep on it and peel it off in the morning? Does it leave marks?

The scars would be well and truly healed (they were inflicted about a year ago) but they’d be long and pretty deep; a werewolf wound is the effect I’m going for.

I’ve seen Scott get all Scarred up (HA!) for Teonn but that seems like a lot of work and reasonably painful (and I’m a wuss!); I wouldn’t be too keen to do that to my face :slight_smile:

Cheers!

I meant that sometimes it starts to peel before you want it to. :slight_smile: Make sure you clean your skin well before using it. It will start to come off pretty quickly if there’s any oil underneath.

Collodion can be removed with nail polish remover (on the face? ow!) or spirit gum remover, otherwise makeup remover or baby oil. I usually just peel it off. You may end up with a red mark on your face if it gets irritated.

Oh ok that works out well; it’s for a fortnightly larp and it’ll only be going for 3 or so hours. Will have a poke around (found a couple other threads on here that mention it and Jon said he got some from a Life Pharmacy so I’ll ask there) and see if I can grab some. Thanks :slight_smile:

Collodion is the go to stuff for making scars. It works very well, but has a few problems…

  1. Getting it in New Zealand is expensive, however, I believe it’s the ONLY way to do it. Because it’s HIGHLY flammable, and cannot be transported by air. There is a pharmacy in Wellington that sells it. And Minifies in Christchurch sells it, and will courier it to you. But it takes longer because it’s dangerous goods. A bottle of about 40ml is about $40. It;s not cheap, but lasts a long time.

  2. Make sure your skin is clean. But even with clean skin, it will probably start peeling a little around the edges after an hour or two. You can fix this in the middle of a game by having a small bottle of acetone and a cotton bud, and just carefully melting the edges back down.

  3. I recommend removing it with acetone. Not much else will touch it, and you can rip your skin sometimes by peeling it off. Resist the temptation.

  4. If you want to colour it, put a layer on first, then put colour over the top, like reds and so on for fresher scars. Then layer more over the top.

  5. Have a little experiment before using it the first time, so you know what to expect…

Nail polish remover is usually acetone (just don’t get the acetone free versions!). Didn’t know about being able to melt the edges back down with it. I’ll have to remember that. It drives me nuts when it starts peeling too early.

Thanks guys. Norm, what’s the name of the pharmacy in Wellington? Of the pharmacies I’ve visited so far, I’ve got two "huh?"s and one “try a theatre supplies company” :slight_smile:

The Life Pharmacy in the James Smith Building?
They’ve got a whole heap of theatrical grade stage makeup.

Does anyone know of anywhere in Auckland that sells this stuff?

I got mine through Kara, refer topic http://diatribe.co.nz/t/march-makeup-tools-and-accessories-order/7381/1
Her website paintedpeople.co.nz

I got some from first scene but they only have it in sometimes, might be worth ringing them first (If Kara doesnt have any :wink: ).

I had a look on Kara’s website (I assume that things she has in stock are on there), and I need it for the wild west weekend so before her next order would get here. I will try first scene.

I can bring mine along if you like :slight_smile: I’m playing in the larp as well

That would be awesome! I just need a scar on one eye… I might try first scene anyway as it may be handy in the future… and I know its expensive stuff

So I’m getting a bottle from Kara, but I’m not sure I’ll have time to experiment, so it would be awesome if I could get some help applying it, looking at you Liz :smiley:

Heehee. We can experiment on Saturday. But honestly, it’s the most dead simple stuff to apply. :smiley: Easiest special fx stuff ever.