Syringe in the Eye Halloween Prosthetic Effect

Syringe in the eye Halloween prosthetic. I came up with this idea and built this prosthetic myself. I hope you guys enjoy it! :) This is a great effect for startling people on the street, or anywhere, on Halloween. This isn't exactly the "safest" effect, so please don't drive with one eye, and be careful walking around. I wouldn't want you to actually lose your eye this way.

You will need
-liquid latex
-masking tape
-spirit gum
-toilet paper
-plastic needless syringe
-scotch tape
-needle
-lighter
-wax paper
-makeup in various shades of a bruise (purple, blue, yellow)
-Halloween store blood
-clown red Halloween store makeup

The first thing to do, to make your own prosthetic, is to pour out  some liquid latex onto wax paper. Estimate a circle that will be slightly larger than your eye socket. You will want the prosthetic large enough to glue to the boney area of your eye socket. If you eye ball (pun intended) measurements like I do, you may want to make a few test pieces and allow them to dry before you make your final prosthetic. The photo posted shows one of my test "discs" and my final product. I added a small piece of foam to it to look like a section on bone but this step was useless in the overall effect so ignore the small white disc.

Once you have an idea for how big to make your prosthetic, pour out your latex and allow to dry about half way. This will take a couple of hours if left at ambient conditions. Once your latex is about half dry, take your plastic needless syringe (with the plunger removed) and place it into your pile of latex. It doesn't have to be pretty or perfect, just get it in there. Use whatever items you have lying around to prop up the syringe at an angle as it is drying. You will need to prop up the syringe to get an angle so that a portion of the syringe body is also in the latex for added stability (approx 45 degrees).  Over the next few hours as the latex continues to dry, occasionally take some more liquid latex and build it up around the syringe tip. Once it has dried, you can remove your prosthetic from the wax paper. Make sure that the syringe tip is blocked off by the latex so no liquid or air can leak out. You can always add more latex to seal off the tip of the syringe or to build up around the syringe for stability, if you need to.

These are disposable syringes that can be found through medical supply shops. REMEMBER, you don't need the needle so make sure you just purchase the plastic syringe.

Next we will want to add "blood" to the syringe. I did not want to use the Halloween store bottled blood for this since many organic solvents are not compatible with latex and the main ingredient in fake bottled blood are glycols. Instead I just used red food coloring and water, since I knew water would be compatible with latex and should it break, I wouldn't get an eye full of glycol.

With the tip sealed off by the latex, the plunger can not be pushed down without breaking the seal. To get the plunger at the height I wanted with my "blood", I took a needled and heated up until it was red hot. I then poked a hole in the side of the plastic syringe. (you can see the tiny hole in the photo at about the 1.4 cc mark)  I filled the syringe with my "blood" and depressed the plunger, allowing any excess liquid to seep out of the hole. Once I had the plunger at the height I wanted, I took a piece of clear scotch tape to tape off the hole so my "blood" wouldn't leak out.

Notice some of the latex that is built up on the back side of the syringe to add to the stability of the prosthetic.

Next, put the prosthetic up to your face and see the best way that it will fit so that when it is glued, it is glued to the bony portions of your face. I used a lip pencil to outline the area I would be putting spirit gum to glue down my prosthetic.

Using spirit gum, I glued down the prosthetic to the bony portions of my face. You do not want this stuff in or near your eye, so be sure to put the glue on the bone of your face. To help secure the prosthetic to my face, I took small portions of masking tape and tapped down the edges of the prosthetic to my face. I mostly used the tape on the top portion of my prosthetic since that area was the most stressed, carrying the most weight. This thing will start to feel heavy on your face.

After taping it down, I then took thin layers of toilet paper and more liquid latex, and "glued" the toilet paper to my face just outside of the masking tape. You will want portions of toilet paper that kind of hang down and flap, like loose skin. The fake blood added later will give a little more weight to the toilet paper and give it a more realistic look. Some of it may wad up on your face, that is fine too. I found it helpful (although not necessary) to use some cheap artists brushes for this. You can't get this wrong, so have fun with it.

Last it is time for the finishing touches.

After applying the toilet paper to your face with the liquid latex, allow to dry and get out some purple, blue, and yellow toned eyeshadows to give your face that "bruised" effect. Using your finger, or artist brushes, take the colors and just pat them around on the areas just outside of the latex and toilet paper. You can't get this wrong, bruises are irregular and colorful, so have fun with it.

Next, I took "clown red" and using an artist brush, I applied it to the portion of the prosthetic that was directly over my eye. You don't want your prosthetic to look skin colored, you want it to appear inflamed and meaty. It doesn't have to be dark, just enough to take away some of that flesh colored look.

Last, it is time to add the fake blood. Anywhere and everywhere is good. If you want "drops" of blood, I suggest also buying the thicker coagulated blood found at the Halloween store.

I hope you guys enjoyed. I am not the best at explaining things, so if you have a question, let me know. Happy Halloween!