"Glitter and Gore" Stage Makeup Class at MoPop Museum

We had a unique opportunity to participate in a Halloween inspired workshop at the MoPop Museum called "Glitter and Gore," which was all about stage makeup and costuming. The class was fantastic, we learned several tricks of the trade about how to create depth and texture to make a character really stand out.

Here we are, a clean slate, ready to go!

Two ladies, Kim and Amber, who specialize in makeup and special effects taught us as much as they could in the time provided. We learned about the contours of the face, how to shade color to accentuate different features and how to layer on colors to add depth. It was a great lesson, and then the fun part started as we got to experiment.
 

Mixing up gelatin to create a wound.

Application - the fun starts...but plug your nose, it smells bad until it dries.
 (Kim suggested adding essential oils to mask the smell.)

Looking good, now all we're missing is the blood.

Since this was a Halloween themed workshop, much of the instruction was about how to add makeup and accents to enhance a costume. Kim specialized in the gore side of the theme. She had great techniques to share using gelatin as an additive for wounds, scars and burns. It was a lot of fun to play with, especially as we began to add the makeup to look like bruises and scar tissue. Zoey was especially excited when Kim brought out her own bottle of homemade blood.

Kim was a great personality to meet, you can tell she loves what she does.
Here Kim is helping Zoey add blood to her arm wound.

Though this was based on theater productions, Kim also shared other ways she uses her talents. She recently helped the fire department with a training exercise. She fixed wounds and burns on victims to be in the training to simulate real life trauma. She even explained how she made glass looking shards out of crystallized sugar to simulate glass being stuck in a wound. I was fascinated by this and really enjoyed the creative use of makeup.

Zoey's final product. I love it! It looks like she's being stuffed!

She had so much fun. 

So did I! It started with a small wound, but somehow it kept getting bigger
until it covered up my entire arm. It came out better than I thought it would.

I think it came out well. Zoey did the bruise on my face, she picked up on the skills very quickly.

As I shared these pictures on social media, I was very careful to put *Fake - stage makeup* in the title. The fact that a couple people still felt shocked at the gore made me feel really good because that means I learned something along the way. It was so much fun, and there's really a lot of give with the techniques, which is good for beginners like us. They gave us good tools, creative instruction, and lots of time to experiment. It was a great experience for both of us.

Adding a few last details.

A huge benefit to taking the Homeschooling class is a day pass to the MoPop museum exhibits. Zoey loves the Sound Lab and the Indie Game rooms. They also encouraged us to investigate the Horror exhibit for inspiration for our costumes and makeup for Halloween.

Zoey in the vocals sound booth

Zoey playing "Little Nightmare" in the Indie Game room.

Zoey also had one of her homeschool friends in the class with her. The girls had a great time hanging out while getting inspiration in the Horror exhibit. I thought it was creepy and Zoey thinks it's cool.

Zoey and her friend Kate checking out the coffin in the Horror section.

It was such a great afternoon. Days like this make me really glad that we homeschool. There is an entire community surrounding homeschooling and we are just getting our feet wet. We experienced so many great things, not only about makeup and costuming, but also about the body and way to use your knowledge in ways you wouldn't expect. Plus, it's fun!