The Zombie Mouth

  

This past week I decided to do a small project in creating a zombie exposed mouth. In total, it took about three days to go from starting from scratch to application on the face. This wasn't a look that was inspired from seeing any pictures, I just started out with a blank mind and this is where it lead too.

How I did It

 I started out applying liquid latex in a circular rectangle shape on my current boyfriend Matt the Mannequin's cheek. This helped me get an idea of the size and the areas that were going to be "exposed" of the face. Once that was outlined with liquid latex and the first layer of tissue paper applied I moved on to what were going to be the teeth. A sturdier material was needed rather than just folding up tissue paper, so I utilized resources and used cut up cotton wool buds, as shown below.

 The remaining "bud" of the stick was dipped in liquid latex and then coated in tissue paper to get a more tooth like shape. Once the mouth had dried I was able to move onto applying the teeth into position.

 The stick of the cotton wool bud was needed to be cut down too allow for better placement as I wasn't sure there would be enough room for both top and bottom teeth but I managed! The thicker outer layers of the tissue paper helped to lodge the teeth in place. Once both rows of teeth were set in place, I went over with layers of individual tissue paper to create the illusion of gums and neaten the mouth out. I used Mehron's prosthetic sealer to run over the piece after the painting was completed, just to make sure everything stayed in place, and then ended up with this after it was ready to be pealed off.

 The gums helped to create a more realistic look for the teeth and seal them in place. I didn't want to glue the teeth down to the back of the latex as it would be too rigid and therefore give a lack of realism. Mehron's stage blood was used to coat the bottom and tops of the teeth, it has a very thick and sticky formula which helps with preventing dripping as well as giving the illusion of older blood.
 Before applying to the face, the backing of the latex was cut out leaving only the top, bottom and end "gum strip" available for face application. This was achieved by minimal liquid latex (careful if you have sensitive skin and always test first to see if any allergies are present) and scar wax to give the effect of an "open" wound.

  Excuse the bored look here, I was concentrating on trying to take a good photo! I then used a combination of Snazaroo fake blood and Mehrons stage blood to coat around where it should be. On the left half of my lips I used a Topshop lip bullet, as I am yet to know the safety issues with consuming fake blood! To complete the look, I used a sponge up the left half of my face, some blood dripping around the mouth, and a more separated sponge to create a graze on the right hand side of the face. Here are some more views of my work:

 What I Would Improve
 
 If I were to recreate this look, I'd take measurements from my own face first as I feel like the placement of the teeth could be a little bed. I also feel that greater care would need to be taken in showing the transition from my actual lips to the open mouth as it's too obvious in pictures that it's stuck on.

Similarly to this, the teeth either need more blood run around the upper gums or to be more firmly stuck in. To allow for more flexibility, the back curve could have been cut out and replaced with scar wax.

Conclusion
 I am really pleased with this way turned out for starting from scratch, and if I were to do ever recreate this look I'd put more effort into making it individual and flexible for those who I'm applying it on. Further make up, such as contact lenses and maybe a neck bite could really help with the scary zombie look!