How do you make a fake wound that looks real?

A fake wound only starts to look real when the material seems to become one with your skin. Blend the edges out so thinly that you can no longer see where the material stops and your own skin begins, and give the surface a texture that matches the skin around it. Only then do shape, depth and colour create the final wound effect.

The quickest route is a ready-made wound. You apply a 3D transfer with a little water and a sponge, and you fix a latex prosthetic in place with skin adhesive. That takes minutes, and you will find them in prosthetics and fake wounds.

Making the wound yourself with special effects wax? This is the order to work in:

Adhesion. Apply a thin layer of skin adhesive and wait until it turns clear.
Building up and blending in. Knead a small amount of wax until it is soft, press it onto the adhesive and use a spatula to draw the edges out thinner and thinner, until you can no longer see or feel the transition to your own skin.
Shape and skin texture. Create the cut or opening, break up the smooth wax with a stipple sponge and lightly powder everything with setting powder.
Blending the edge into your skin tone. Correct the colour difference between the wax and your skin in thin, transparent layers using cream make-up or alcohol-activated make-up, and let the colour run slightly onto your own skin.
Colouring the wound. Work from red to dark red inside the wound, with a tiny amount of black or dark brown in the deepest parts. Around the wound, use muted red, purple, blue and yellow for irritation or bruising.
Blood last. Only add fake blood once the colour work is done, and use too little rather than too much.

Prefer to work with a different material? With liquid latex and thin layers of tissue you build up a second skin, gelatine is softened with heat, and Sculpt Gel moves with your skin. Further down this page you will find the full explanation step by step, including placement, safety and removal.

For step-by-step photos, read our tutorials (in Dutch) on making a wound with Nose & Scar Wax, wounds with latex and fake blood and a graze in ten minutes.