Time to get Marked!!

   Evening!! Mark of Cain, that is. When my friendie Shaun was going to come to Pasadena I was going to apply it to him, but since he's not coming and I have bought everything for our cosplay, I don't feel too bad going ahead with Marking Huz, instead. Just a little snag, though...

   He already has a tattoo on the spot on is arm, and it isn't the Mark. I might be able to cover it with make up, but because he's in a wheelchair I'm afraid it's not going to adhere well through the day of pushing, pulling, service dog controlling, selling, setting up, taking down and more. It will be avery long day (I'm guessing if we're lucky it will be 6:30am to 12-1am every day for three days in a row.) So we decided I will just apply it to the top of his tattoo and just have ot deal. It may ever be cool since his tattoo is fairly dark and may stand out more brightly. 

   I watched a couple of YouTube videos of different techniques for applying liquid latex to make a scar or brand because that's really what the Mark looks like, it has a 3D bump to it like a brand. After a couple of less successful ideas, I decided to look for the Mark tutorial. There were two that I saw, one where you paint it on a flat surface and peel it off to apply, and one where they apply directly to the skin. 

   It looked much easier this way, so that's what I"m doing. After I found where I stashed the make up I bought a couple of weeks ago I am able to try it out. I'm a little less than halfway through, but I wanted a moment to get my YouTube music channel back up and running and comment here. 

   Okay, so I got all of the layers of latex on, about 5 before I decided to call it quits. Not because I felt that was plenty, I'd like to do 10-12, but I felt like I don't want to waste the latex. I do think for Friday and Sunday I might well do the Mark on myself just because I love it. I wanted a tattoo, but my job is really conservative so I'd have to cover it. Waiting for the latex to dry so I can paint it. I'm hoping Huz will still be up so he can tell me what he thinks. (He was awake, surprising at 2am) and he approved of my Mark. Other than I did the wrong arm. But that was because it's a test and I'm mostly right-handed. I'll learn to do it with my left by the time the Con rolls around.

The bottle of liquid latex I got at the costume shop. Kind of small, but I'm not sure how often I'll use it so I guess it won't matter for now. Maybe invest in a bigger one for less if I feel like I want to keep doing this.

They drew the mark on the skin first with a lipliner, so this is an old one I had hanging around. I don't use lip liner anymore so I had to dig for it, but it worked.

The color of the liner, in case you care.

The bruise wheel I bought from  the costume shop. The colors didn't represent well. There's a yellow, chocolate brown, bright red and eggplant purple. I used brown as the base and then added red. I just used my fingers because this is only a test, but I would use a brush if I had one hanging around.

The (mostly) blank canvas. I have a tattoo on my arm too, but it's down by my wrist so I have this nice, white canvas of skin to work on.

I sat and looked at some images of the Mark to get an idea of how it looks. Most people move the "teeth" further away from the curve, but I think they're actually supposed to be closer. Not the greatest, my liner pencil needed sharpened but I was being lazy. Some people also draw the Mark more straight lines, but I think it's more curved, like the Nike Swoosh. So that's what I went with.

The first layer of latex is down. I used a q-tip to apply it, but it left little stipple marks. I should get a brush to use, since it will hopefully give me the smooth look I'm wanting. I just have to find some I don't care about because it will die.

About 5 layers. I stopped here because it's a test, but I will keep going when it's time to actually do it to about 10-12 layers.

Painted and sealed!! The sealer is to protect the color on top from getting smudged, which is a good idea when you're wearing something in a spot like that you're going to be hitting constantly. Especially since we're going to have so much going on with the Con.

   Alright, so I'm quite happy with that. Another one or two practices and get a few more materials I need to really do it right and I should be all good!! Okay, it's late so I"m gong to go to bed. I'll keep posting pictures as I improve my Marking ability.