Having built a skull fountain, we needed some nice blood to pump through it.
There are numerous recipes for fake blood out there, but most of them share two defects:
- the fake blood is thickened with corn syrup or other bug-attracting foods
- the fake blood is transparently red, and lacks the milky opacity of real blood
We have devised a unique formula for fake blood that looks more realistic, without drawing bugs.
Ingredients
Water Pump Lubricant
This is automobile water pump lubricant. You are supposed to add it to your radiator water, where the water-soluable oil lubricates the pump from within.
We use this water-soluble oil to give the blood a milky opaqueness.
The brand doesn’t matter; we just happened to find Prestone. It cost $1.99 a bottle (October 2002).
You can get it at any automotive parts store.
Hair Styling Gel
We decided to thicken the blood with hair styling gel.
This 38 fl. oz. tub was $.99 at the 99-Cent Store. It is made by Aaron Industries, Lynwood, CA. It comes in different strengths, we got the strongest.
The ingredients that make it gloppy are Carbomer and PVP. It contains a preservative, too (EDTA).
Any water-based styling gel that is available in quantity for cheap will probably be fine.
Hand Sanitizer Gel
We didn’t want the blood to go bad, so we added an antibacterial agent: an instant hand sanitizer gel.
The active ingredient is ethyl alcohol, 62%. It is gelled with Carbomer.
Any water-based hand-sanitizing gel that is cheap will probably be fine.
Food Coloring
You will need a lot of red food color. We recommend buying it at a wholesale grocery in pints. We later bought a 32 fl. oz. bottle of “double strength” red.
We just happened to have three of these smaller bottles around.
You will also need a little blue.
Formula
WARNING: This blood formula is not edible!
We will be making 1 gallon of blood…
| quantity | ingredient |
|---|---|
| 19 fl. oz. | Hair Styling Gel |
| 4 fl. oz. | Hand Sanitizer Gel |
| 4 tbs | Water Pump Lubricant |
| 7 tbs | Red Food Coloring |
| 9 drops | Blue Food Coloring |
| To make 1 gallon | Water |
Notes:
- You might want to adjust the color a little, to your taste. Perhaps a bit more blue?
- David suggests that the same basic formula, with different coloring, would make a good pus. Yuck!
WARNING: This blood formula is not edible!
Procedure
Find a helper who doesn’t mind getting slimy.
We started with opaqueness and color, then added thickener. This is because we were experimenting.
In retrospect, it would be better to start by pouring all the gloppy stuff into the jug first: styling gel and sanitizing gel.
Add about a quart of water and shake vigorously to dissolve the gel.
After the gel has dissolved, add the rest of the ingredients.
Test Results
I have never put out the full skull fountain for Halloween. I always run out of time every year while setting up, and to date, this has included the fountain.
I have tested this formula in a large jar using a small Harbor Freight (66 gal/hr) fountain pump for days on end. The blood looks good – no foaming or other odd behavior. There was no visible ill effect on the pump.
Even the test jar looks like it would make a decent prop!
Be aware that this formula is not as thick as you might think from the gloppy stuff that goes into it. The glop gives it a little “body”, but the liquid is still very watery.
I suggest that you give it a try. I think that you will like it!
Does It Stain?
Very likely. Especially likely to stain fabric and other porous materials.
This is a chip of cast plaster skull. It has been soaked in Thompson Water Seal, allowed to dry, and then dipped in the Fountain Blood for a few minutes.
You would think that the Water Seal would protect the very porus plaster from soaking up the colored liquid.
Some parts of the plaster have turned pink, other parts bead up and shed the blood.
Here’s the skull fragment after sitting in the blood for a couple of days.
Note that there is more color on top (that was not immersed in the blood) than on the bottom, below the waterline.
What most likely happened is that the blood wicked up into the upper section, evaporated leaving the color behind, and then more wicked up and evaporated. David calls this “Skull Fragment Chromotography”. 🙂
Here’s the skull fragment after sitting in the blood for a couple of days.
Note that there is more color on top (that was not immersed in the blood) than on the bottom, below the waterline.
What most likely happened is that the blood wicked up into the upper section, evaporated leaving the color behind, and then more wicked up and evaporated. David calls this “Skull Fragment Chromotography”. 🙂
I suspect that two more coats of water seal would keep the plaster from turning pink, but no guarantees. If there is even a tiny crack in the sealant, the dye will be “wick” up into the rest of the plaster.
If you want to avoid stains, make sure the the object itself is nonporous – don’t rely on coatings for protection.
Is It Safe?
This fake blood formula is not intended for consumption by humans or animals!
If you want something for theatrical use, to dribble out of your mouth, go with one of the traditional formulas intended for that purpose. Better yet, buy something that is certified safe.
The real question here is – “will it hurt you if you accidentally get a little in your mouth?”
The ingredients are pretty simple. The nastiest thing in there is the Water Pump Lubricant. The label on our bottle says that it is harmful or fatal if swallowed.
I don’t doubt that drinking the whole bottle of lubricant might be harmful. But this formula only uses a small quantity of the lubricant and dilutes it in a gallon of blood. So the amount of bad stuff that you get from accidently getting a little in your mouth would be very small.
But what about pets and domestic animals? (The cats in my neighborhood like to drink out of the fountain on my deck – even when the water is not particularly fresh.)
Since you can’t always control what is going to happen when you are not around it is possible that an animal will drink a substantial quantity from your bloody fountain. If you think this is likely to happen, I suggest adding something to the formula to make it taste nasty!
My first thought in this area was a cup of salt. But then again, wild animals often don’t get enough salt and some people put out lumps of salt for them to lick. So that’s not a good idea.
I think that if I had this problem, I would go to a pet store and get a bottle of the liquid that you use to keep pets from chewing on things – and dump that into the blood mixture. One such product is called Grannick’s Bitter Apple. (No, I haven’t tried this.)
Reader Feedback
Some Wolfstone readers graciously shared with us the results they had using our fountain blood formula.
Robert Beech
I used your blood formula in my new fountain this year. I wanted to tell you that it worked GREAT! Very opaque and disturbingly real.
Enclosed is a photo.
Thanks.
Rodneypope
Just wanted to say thanks for your fountain blood recipe. I searched and searched for a blood solution for my tomb stone and I finaly found your fountain blood recipe.. Thanks Rodney