{"title":"How to Make Fake Blood","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/crafts/how-to-make-fake-blood","category":{"slug":"crafts","name":"Crafts"},"creator":{"name":"RealFakeBloodFilms","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaDgdlMEURoRxh7fk8MwWNQ","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3nOQxRBas"},"tldr":"Make fake blood from corn syrup and food coloring for a few dollars. The blue drop that sells it, plus gel and clotted variations for Halloween.","totalDurationSeconds":313,"difficulty":"easy","tools":["mixing bowls","spoons","craft sticks","paper towels","small cups"],"materials":["corn syrup","red food coloring","blue food coloring","dish soap","cornstarch","cocoa powder","chocolate syrup","non-dairy creamer","unflavored gelatin","petroleum jelly","cotton balls"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Pour the corn syrup","text":"Pour corn syrup into a bowl. A three dollar bottle makes plenty, and a gallon runs about thirteen if you are doing a whole cast.Set up a second bowl of water with a rag in it before you start. You will be washing your hands every couple of minutes and you want that within reach."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Stir in the red","text":"Add red food colouring and keep adding. It takes far more than you expect before corn syrup goes properly dark.Stir downward rather than round in circles. The colouring sits on top of the syrup and a swirling motion leaves a red layer floating on a clear base."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: Add one drop of blue","text":"One drop of blue. This is the step that separates convincing blood from cherry syrup, because real blood is far darker and browner than pure red.A little green or yellow does the same job. Whichever you use, go one drop at a time and stir fully between each, since it shifts the colour much further than it looks like it should."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Test on white and on skin","text":"Smear a streak on a paper towel and another across the back of your hand. Thin and spread out is how it will actually be seen, and it always reads lighter than it looks in the bowl.If it pulls into beads on your skin instead of lying flat, stir a small squeeze of dish soap into the batch and test again."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Add cornstarch for opacity","text":"The base is see-through. Cornstarch makes it opaque, which is closer to the real thing.Sprinkle it in gradually and mix as you go. Dumping a spoonful in at once gives you lumps that will not break up. Work with a small amount in a separate cup rather than risking the full batch."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Darken it with cocoa powder","text":"Cocoa powder takes the mix much darker, into old-blood territory. Fresh blood and blood that has been on a costume for an hour are visibly different, and this is how you get the second one.Chocolate syrup darkens it too and keeps more of the wet shine. Non-dairy creamer clouds it into a flatter, more stylised red."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Make gel blood with gelatin","text":"Mix unflavoured gelatin into a separate cup of the blood. It thickens into a jelly that holds its shape instead of running off.This is the one to use for a wound that needs to stay put. Runny blood is right for a fresh cut and wrong for anything that has to survive a night out."},{"number":8,"title":"Step 8: Try toothpaste and petroleum jelly","text":"Red gel toothpaste mixes in well and is edible, which is worth knowing if it is going near a mouth. Hair gel works but is stiffer and less workable.Petroleum jelly gives a thick congealed look. It needs dish soap mixed in or it will bead straight off skin."},{"number":9,"title":"Step 9: Lay the variants out and compare","text":"Put a sample of each mix on a white surface with a label next to it. Side by side is the only way to see what each additive actually did.Photograph the row under the light you will actually be using. Blood that looks convincing on a kitchen counter can look like jam under a coloured party bulb."},{"number":10,"title":"Step 10: Add cotton balls or tissue for clots","text":"Tear toilet paper into pieces and stir them through for clumpy blood. Pulled-apart cotton balls make stringier, nastier masses that tear and clump.Clear school glue is the third option. It goes chunky and jelly-like and dries more than the others, so it holds still once it is placed."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-08-24T16:40:53.416Z","published":"2026-08-24T16:38:58.219Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}