King Lear - Done and dusted! Photos up!

Pixiebelle

Pixiebelle

Member
Hello everyone!

I stumbled across this site when searching out tips on colouring foam latex prosthetics and thought that this may be a good place to pick some brains.

I am in charge of the makeup for our production of King Lear next month. This involves 'the blinding of Gloucester' which is a lovely jubbly eye gouge and associated gore.

I have purchased this prosthetic which I am planning on pre-colouring.

gloseyes.jpg

The tricky bit is this: I have 1 minute 20 seconds between him coming off stage and needing to go back on with this makeup done. Impossible? I hope not! I have some Makeup International medical adhesive which dries spectacularly fast, so getting the thing on his face isn't a problem.

What I am looking for are some hints and tips on making it look as good as I can in the time that I have. (Me being me, I wanted to take the opportunity to really gross the audience out rather than just going for a bloodied bandage!) Also, this way, he will still be able to see where he is going through the nylon.

So, in summary (sorry for the rambling post!) I would love to know
a) Can I attach the nylon to the back of the foam latex with the medical adhesive?
b) This needs to be used for 5 performances so I would love to know how to colour and set and keep it looking fabulous.
c) Tips on blending the mask in so it isn't so obvious on the actor's face.
d) Best products to use for colouring - I have read that sealing with castor oil then using general greasepaint is ok. Any thoughts on this?

All in 1 minute 20 seconds!

Thank you so much, in advance, for your help. Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it :D
 
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Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

That's a pretty short apply time to get the edges laid right, even with the precolour - but I'll leave that to people more experience than myself.

The nylon would stick to the prosthetic with the adhesive, but I think it would be better to use latex to pre-apply the nylon to the mask, otherwise when it comes to removing the appliance, the nylon could separate too.
Latex will stick to latex, so a little liquid latex would bond the mesh in place regardless of the adhesive & remover.
Oh, and check the nylon isn't too thick/dark for the stage lighting conditions! ;)

Personally, (as a non-theatrical makeup dude) I would go with making the prosthetic into a bandit / Lone Ranger mask, and wrap loose, scrappy bandages around the edges (smothered in a nice gel blood) - but keep the eyes exposed.

Kinda like the bandage mask of Darkman, with a little Johnny Depp in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. :)

Hmmm... Actually, if you had a good fit to the actors face with a stiff plastic 'masquerade' mask (or a vacform of a plaster cast of the actor), you could attach the prosthetic to that, trim the top edge down to just below the actors eyebrows to hide it, paint it to match the actors makeup, and hide the lower edge with a thick jelly blood down the face. Held in place with the classic elastic round the back of the head method. :D

Maybe have the actor doing the 'gouging' sneakily slip the appliance-mask on Gloucester - imagine the reveal to the audience!

You could even do that without the prosthetic - a tissue paper & latex buildup on the 'bandit' mask around widened eye holes, the rest as above.

Coz.
 
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Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Pixiebelle said:
The tricky bit is this: I have 1 minute 20 seconds between him coming off stage and needing to go back on with this makeup done. Impossible? I hope not! I have some Makeup International medical adhesive which dries spectacularly fast, so getting the thing on his face isn't a problem.
Click to expand...
If the actor already has makeup on his face, then you do have a problem, as it will interfere with any type of adhesive from working, and you will use up that 80 seconds just cleaning up his face.
Consider using another actor/double (made up and ready to go) for the "after" part?
Please let us know how you work it out!
Live theater... The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd!
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Here's a thought...

Consider cutting off everything but the gore from that prosthetic (though I think you'd be better off making your own, this serves to explain the idea a little more clearly). I don't think you'll ever be able to convincingly blend the "skin" of the prosthetic into the skin of the actor, but you won't have that problem if you just have the "insides" to stick on. The idea is that you'd have two little rings of gore with the nylon (which you might consider coloring up some, so it's more of a socket and less of an endless black void) in the center of each. He comes offstage, you quickly wipe off the makeup around his eyes, pat dry, and have the "monocle" appliances pre-applied with glue, so you just stick them in place, touch up makeup around the gore as needed, and send him off. No edge problems, no skin matching.

The sculpted cuts around the main gore area on that prosthetic won't be missed, since you're in a theater. If you like them, you can paint them on his real face after popping on the gore-monocles.
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Hi chaps,

Thank you so much for your input. I must admit I had considered just trimming it down to the lumpy eye bits and going with those as opposed to the whole mask. I spoke to a makeup supplier this morning about Rubber Mask Grease and she said there's no way it will work in 1min 20. I guess we'll see, won't we? Not only are we on a stage, we are an outdoor production!

Bloodied bandages are my reluctant Plan B but, as I said, I really want to gross some people out!

A reveal to the audience would be great... Ooh, my cogs are all of a whir!

As far as pre-colouring goes, would RMG be the best thing to use? Or a castor oil, grease paint mix? I think the latter will be slightly more inexpensive (I am on a budget!) but would it be lower quality? I won't need a vast amount, especially if I trim it down, and there is some bloodymarvellous blood being applied too.

Also (sorry!) is it unrealistic to hope this mask to last for 5 shows and a practice run?

Thanks again!
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

OK, I think I can help.
The second the actor comes off, hand him a baby wipe (plain, not oil or lotion impregnated) to get all traces of makeup off the eyes. You will use that time for applying the adhesive to the back of the prepared appliances (yes, get rid of the nose part, leaving two eye pieces.) Slap them on, and don't worry about edges. For live performances, edges aren't THAT noticeable - it's not like film, where every edge must be perfect. The closer you can cut the prosthetic to fit inside the actors eye socket, the less noticeable it'll be.
The key will be preparing the pieces in advance so they can be re-used. RMG should be fine for coloring the appliances, and I've been using grease with a drop or two of castor oil as a sub for RMG for 15 years. Make sure to use a good medical adhesive remover, and the prosthetic should be re-usable. Remember that blood will discolor things, but a fresh color of grease over the pre-painted piece will prevent the blood from getting the piece too pink.
Re-use should be no problem if you keep the back clean.
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Splendid, thank you!

I am heading over tomorrow to fit the eyes to the actor. I am stupendously excited. :D
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

You might consider using PAX paint. If you pre-paint the appliance with PAX, you'll find it is much more durable than RMG. If you makeup the actor with PAX, you might be able to apply the appliance directly over the PAX makeup without removing it, using Pros-Aide adhesive. I think that Pros-Aide should stick to Pax (as Pax is mostly Pros-Aide anyway). And you use Pros-Aide like a contact cement, so the adhesive can be pre-applied to the appliance and ready to go. Would need to experiment with all this a bit, but in theory, it would work. The biggest issue with all of this is removing the appliance and re-using it. Pros-Aide adhesive is strong stuff, and some solvents like Isopropyl Myristate will swell and ruin the foam latex. Other removers/solvents might work better. One of the best places to get any and all of this stuff (and probably some good advice on using it as well) is the fx warehouse: FX Warehouse Inc. 215-423-5300

Keep us posted on your efforts!
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Hi! *waves*

A small update. I have ordered some liquid latex to stick the nylon to the eyes. I have snipped the eyes down and will be popping them onto the actor's face as soon as he comes off stage. This may be fiddlier than anticipated but I am having a practise run on Friday.

I have decided that red (maybe deep red) nylon will be better than skin coloured. I am venturing off to town to find grease paint today.

The doorbell went this morning and my blood and blood bags have arrived!

blood.jpg

bloodhand.jpg

I didn't count on quite how small the actor's eyes are! I know, that's crazy but I thought they'd fit nicely in his sockets but it looks as if they will sit in his brows. He's worried about how much eyebrow he will have left by the end of the run but as I am not using latex to attach the mask, only adhesive and remover later, he should be ok. :p

Here are the eyes after trimming the excess away. Next step is to paint them up.

eyes.jpg

I really hope this works on Friday...I have a plan B but don't want to have to use it! :D
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Made some progress today. Yesterday was...a pain in the ass. I have trawled all over town looking for greasepaint. The two fancy dress places that don't stock greasepaint tried to sell me stuff saying it was and the one place that DID sell it told me they didn't. He suggested acrylic paint and I had read somewhere else on here that that would potentially crack when the actor wears it. So, I trudged about town getting nowhere and decided to go back to the place that said about acrylic and what did I find? Sodding greasepaint. Doofus.

Anyway, they only had brown, red and blue so I got them all and bought some castor oil and red tights today.

First off, I backed the eyes with the red tights:

eyesfilled.jpg

I then, after painting on the off cuts of the mask, had a pop and painting the eyes themselves. Now, the audience will be a fair way away from the actor so hopefully the effect I'm going for will work. (Bruised and bloodied - fake blood will be added to the actor's face when the time comes)

eyespainted.jpg

I may have another look at the colouration once I've left it overnight.

Any thoughts so far? (Be gentle!) :p
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Hey! Thanks! Great minds think alike - I have medical adhesive in my bag. Just had a quick test run and it looks ok!

I just can't decide if the inside looks better red or black. (The black isn't properly fitted to it, it's just an example)

Also - apologies for the awful photos.

redinner.jpg

blackinner.jpg

I think the director wants some bandage involved too. I had a vision (pardon the pun) of the character coming back on with nothing but bloodied eye holes. Ah, well.
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

Here's another update: I have re-backed the eyes in black - I think it will have more dramatic effect that way.
Also, the bandage won't be attached to the eyes (phew!) but draped about as if the actor has taken them off of his face.

blackeyes.jpg

Having a practice tomorrow :D
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

I am so excited to have a go at applying these to the actor this evening!

Today, I have prepped the bandages he will have on, as if he as pulled them down from his eyes.

bandage.jpg

That's gotta hurt!
 
Re: King Lear - Advice sought!

So! The play opened last night and it is going well. The eyes have been used three or four times now, as I practiced a couple of times and then for the dress rehearsal and opening night last night.

Almost had a disaster when I applied them last night. Put them on, smeared blood on his face and knocked them as I did and they flapped off. Cue massive panic as it turns out I have about 1 minute all told to do it and I was convinced they were going to fall off on stage but they didn't - phew! I am hoping to get some photos so you can see how they turned out.

As well as this, I am stage manager and doing all of the other makeup so it's a busy week but I am really enjoying it. We ended up using plums for the actual eye gouging scene and the audience made several disgusted noises during it, so it seems to be working well. Hurrah!

Hopefully, photos to follow. Thank you all for your advice and help within this thread, I couldn't have done it without you!
 
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