Blood, guts, and dismembered limbs covered the tables during the Art Club’s spooky prosthetic-making class. Members enjoyed getting into the spirit of the spooky season in a creative, hands-on way by learning how to create realistic fake injuries. 

  The club held the meeting on October 15th, teaching a graphic lesson on how to make hyper-realistic fake injuries with paint and silicone, and got to try making one themselves. The meeting was led by special guest Lillie Falco, a special effects makeup professional with over 20 years of experience. Falco has worked as a U.S. Military contractor for medical and emergency simulation training and many other agencies. Falco was kind enough to come down to Millbrook to do a demonstration for the art club. Falco brought in a display table full of her previous works as example pieces for the students to look at and touch.

  “The example prosthetics she brought in were scarily realistic,” Casey Okeefe, a member of Art Club and the National Art Honor Society, said, “It was a really interesting experience, I’m glad I got to do it.”

  After an in-depth beginning explanation, supply kits were passed to each table containing the silicone, a silicone additive dyed to the skin color of each person, some paints, and tools to add texture to the wounds. Each student who signed up for it and went got the opportunity to experiment with the techniques and make their own silicone wounds either on themselves or their partner. 

  Students were instructed to have an idea of what they wanted to make before creating the injury. Each person prepared their skin by wiping it with a sanitary wipe and then mixed the silicone and the dyeing additive to create the material to sculpt with. To get the best result, wipe the area of the future injury before mixing the silicone because the silicone sets fairly quickly after being combined. Students applied the mixture to the desired area and sculpted the silicone into the shape they wanted before letting it sit. After letting the silicone set, the students painted on bloody purples, browns, and reds to create the illusion of bloody bruised skin.

  Every member took turns creating a wound on their arms, shoulders, or even faces. Falco and the club’s teacher, Ms. Johnston, walked around and gave tips on how to get the most realistic wounds and took pictures of students’ creations. The Art Club ended up as a room full of bloody, bruised, and very realistic fake infected injuries after the meeting. It was an all-around relaxing but slightly morbid experience that was in tune with the spirit of the season.