Halloween Costume Guide: Bloodied Clothing

Blood is one of the great images of Halloween horror costuming. But as much as I like running around bloody and resembling the latest victim from a slasher film, cutting myself to use my own blood is a one trick pony that usually ends in a hospital visit, realistic theatrical blood is a sticky mess to apply, and cheap Halloween prop blood tends too look like pink Kool-Aid when applied on clothing. Fortunately, I managed to circumvent the biological, sticky, and aesthetics of those conventional techniques and developed a long-lasting bloody costume for Halloween thanks to fabric paint. Fabric paint allows you to decorate clothing in any painted design imagined. To develop bloodied clothing, all you need are five items:

-Red brushable fabric paint.
-Brown brushable fabric paint.
-A small paintbrush.
-A dish.
-Intended clothing to paint.

In a dish, apply a generous dollop of red brushable fabric paint. Scarlet is bright and deep enough for a blood base. Then on top of the red paint, drop a small amount of brown paint. The brown will darken the red and add a hint of organic color usually associated with blood. Ideally, a five to one ratio of red to brown paint will be enough for a rich blood color. Mix the two paints with a paintbrush until uniform.

Now spread your intended clothing-white clothes show up best-on a flat surface. Dip the paintbrush into the paint mixture and apply it onto the clothing. Any form of blood splatter is left to the imagination. Flicking the paintbrush into the air towards the clothing will apply droplets of blood. Painting filled-in circles onto clothing will simulate puncture or gunshot wounds. Punching dime-sized holes or burning a cigarette through the clothing will further add to the puncture or bullet holes. Painting the blood to flow downward along the clothing will simulate blood flowing from the wound. If feeling particularly gory, dip your hand into the paint to stamp a bloody palm print onto the clothing. Only your imagination can limit the degree of bloody designs applied to the clothing. And with blood splatter , there is hardly any error in the application. If a bit of blood paint happens to be in an odd place, simply add more to it to make a new wound. Once finished, allow the paint to dry for 24 hours and wait 72 hours before washing. Actual waiting times will depend on the brand of fabric paint used. Follow the washing instructions of the clothing to keep it clean.

Depending on your intended costume, you can play the bloodied victim or the bloodied murderer. Now pick up a few prop weapons that most likely caused your costumed wounds to complete the look. Have a happy Halloween.