Foam Gelatin Recipe
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Foam Gelatin Recipe

==by Niphredil

Sometimes it is hard to locate foam Gelatin and you need to make it yourself.  I used a recipe I found at a local site, http://www.msfx.hpg.ig.com.br/sugmat.htm .  It works well.  I have translated and added some extra comments:

Ingredients

  • liquid glycerin
    • available at any drugstore
  • powder gelatin, colorless, flavorless
    • used for cooking. Use the powder gelatin, not the one in sheets. Ask some cook. I found it at my local supermarket, nothing fancy
  • water
    • you know where to get that
  • coloring powder
    • Anything that gives color and can be solved in water, like watercolors, gouache paint, or latex paint coloring powder
    • Except from a makeup interview with Taylor
      • '...coloring the gelatin pieces to maintain their fleshlike translucency demanded a deft touch. "We used really fine washes with acrylic paints, as well as some tatooing inks," Acevedo says. "Most pieces were tinted 20% lighter than the actor's skin tone, and we would paint them to match their actual color, once it was applied." '
        •
      •  

Amounts

1 measure of each. Cup, spoon, glass, bucket, you choose. I used one soup spoon of each, even had some left over:

  • 1 measure liquid glycerin
  • 1 measure powder gelatin
  • 1 measure water
  • Just a pinch or two of coloring powder ( to get the color you want)

Here we go

  1. mix them all together and put it into the microwave oven for about 20 seconds, at minimum power.  Just long enough until it all melts.
  2. Pour it into the mold. (Remember that the mold must be lubricated with vaseline or something like that so you can separate things later.)
  3. Put the filled mold into the freezer (yes, the freezer, not the
    refrigerator part of it) for 30-40 minutes. Take it out and gently separate mold and ears. Tadaaahh!
  4. To glue the mold on your ears, use those creams that are used to glue fake teeth (yes, the one your grandfather uses. True!). Pass a bit of water on your skin and on the fake ear and paste it on. Stays quite well.

Extra tips

  • If you have no microwave, use what we call here "mary-bath" or "double boiler".
    • Put one pan on the stove, filled with water.
    • Put another pan into the water-filled pan, with all the ingredients.
    • When the water in the lower pan heats up, things
      in the top pan will start to melt.
    • Stir gently until it is all molten, and then pour it into the mold.
  • If the ready ear is sticky, dust it gently with talcum powder.
  • You can always reuse the remaining gelatin. Mine is currently being kept in the refrigerator.

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This page was last updated 04/22/08