|
 Who
was Bloody Mary?
The ghost story of Bloody Mary is an urban legend where the horrifying image
of ghastly and blood covered woman appears in a mirror when her name is called three times,
usually
as part of a scary dare. This is but one and probably the most common
way to summon her.
The person making the dare says something
like:
"I dare you to look in the mirror and say
Bloody Mary three times..."
The person accepting the dare looks into a
mirror in a darkened room and says "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary.
Blo...."
Sorry, we aren't going to press our luck
here. You get the picture!
As one version of the story goes, Mary was a
beautiful young woman who often admired herself in a mirror. After being
involved in a horrible accident that left her face grotesquely scarred,
she took her own life in front of her favorite mirror and was trapped
inside the dark world that exists behind all mirrors, bitter and angry
forever.
The terrifying consequence of seeing her in
a mirror include having your eyes being ripped out because you had the
nerve to look at her, your dead body being found with bloody claw marks
on it, being pulled into the mirror to be trapped with her forever,
being driven completely insane or simply to drop dead from utter fear.
Since the legend seems to have begun sometime in the sixties, we always imagined
that she was from the forties or fifties, and would be dressed in
clothing from that era. A blood covered white or off white dress seems
to be the most common visage of her.
Off the Shelf Bloody Mary Costume
The "Carrie Halloween Costume - Prom Nightmare" available at
most online costume stores and works great as a Bloody Mary costume and includes a
white gown already covered in blood, a long blond wig and under slip
built into the dress. All you need to do is add face makeup and more
blood and you're all set to go.
Homemade Bloody Mary Costume
First you will want to go though your old clothes to see if you have a
white dress that you don't mind covering in fake blood. If not, head to
your local thrift stores in search for an appropriate dress.
Applying fake blood is simple, but will ruin
the dress forever. We
used blood red acrylic craft paint that had been watered downed to add bloody streaks to the dress.
Use latex gloves on your
hands to keep them from getting stained. You can use a sponge
applicator, soak it in the watery paint mixture and just start splashing
and dripping it all over the dress. IF the mixture is not too thick, you
can also use a spray bottle to spray the dress with "blood" and then add
thicker splatters al over it. Either method works well. Once applied, the dress should be placed on a hanger and hung outdoors to dry completely.
Bloody Mary Makeup
 Since
Mary was supposed to have been in an accident that scarred her face, you
can add few couple scars. All the makeup used and scars are available
from the
Costume Kingdom. You can create them from flesh colored scar putty
or use one the many latex pre-made scars available. Attach with spirit
gum (a glue for prosthetic pieces) blend the edges onto the skin with
putty. Now it's time to apply full makeup!
Bloody Mary's exposed skin should be deathly pale and her face
sullen in appearance. We mix a tiny
amount of black
greasepaint with a larger amount of white to get a slightly gray color. Using
a latex makeup sponge, we apply the makeup to all exposed skin including the face, neck,
chest, arms and hands, until they are completely
covered and well blended in.
Next, using a stippling brush or sponge, we apply a
slightly darker shade of gray makeup under the cheek
bones, on the temples and around the eye sockets to give a shadowed, sunken
look.
Then we use a mixture or
red, a little black and a little brown to create the sickly reddish
bruised color shown above. It is used around the eyes to give a more
realistic look of sickness, lack of sleep and death. In reality, dark
circles around the eyes are actually caused by blood under the skin.
That's why they sometimes look bruised.
Lastly, we
pat on a very light coat of translucent face powder to all
makeup covered areas. Don't rub the powder on or you will smear the
makeup. Use a powder brush or the flat powder puff and gently pat the
powder into the makeup. To remove any excess, blow it off. You don't
want to touch the face again.
Now its time to add some
blood, after all her name is Bloody Mary! We use Don Post brand Stage
Blood for this because it has a true blood color and consistency. It is
also easily applied from its squeeze tube. Blood dripping from under the
eyes and from the mouth finishes the effect.
Do not allow any of
the blood to get in the eyes or on the eye lids. If you use blood in the
eye area, make sure that it's about a quarter inch below from the bottom
lid. Since you already have a reddish makeup around the eyes, it won't
be noticeable. Just use a cotton swab if you want to blend the blood
flow line in a bit. And remember, fake blood can really stain! So test
on skin first. Do an inch square of grease paint, powder it down and put
the blood on it. Let sit for a while and then remove it all using cold
cream to see if it comes off. The layer of grease paint may help in
keeping the fake blood from staining the skin.
|
