Technical - Theatrical Ageing /Creping of the Skin

Health and Safety: If using a model place apron around the neck to protect clothing. 

Always ensure to run a client consultation to check for any infections, allergies or contraindications.

Wash hands thoroughly before touching the clients face.

Allow liquid latex to breath before applying

Products Used:

- Cleanser, toner and moisturiser

- Supracolour Palette - White, Mixing Green, Yellow and Red = Brown

- Thin Liner Brush

- Disposable Mascara Wand

- Non Latex Sponge

- Sectioning Grips

- Liquid Latex 

- Barrier Cream

- Stippling Sponge

- Plastic Bowl

- Kryolan Foundation Palette

- Foundation Brush

- Hairdryer

- Fixing Spray / Translucent Powder

- Powder Puff

Process of Theatrical Ageing

1. Place an apron around around the model to protect clothing.

2. Cleanse, tone and moisturise the face to ensure all makeup has been removed. 

3. Mix the Green, Yellow and Red from the Supracolour palette to create an appropriate brown shade to contour the lines of the face. 

4. Get the model to perform exaggerated expressions such as frowning, raising the eyebrows, pouting and smiling and fill the natural creases with a line of the brown supracolour using a thin brush.

5. Using a clean finger blend out the lines to create a more natural looking fold in the skin. 

6. Reapply supracolour into the creases to enhance the appearance of wrinkles.

7. It may help to look at the client through a camera first to see if more definition is needed. 

8. Taking a disposable mascara wand rub white supracolour through the ends of the brows and lashes to give the appearance of greying.

9. Using a stippling sponge and red supracolour, gently stipple onto areas such as the chin, nose and cheeks to create the illusion of broken veins. 

10. Apply a fixing spray or translucent powder once finished to hold the makeup in place (optional).

Evaluation

I feel that the process of ageing the skin in this way went well as it is a more artistic approach to theatrical effects makeup than using substances such as liquid latex or prosthetics. Although I was happy with how the makeup turned out in regards to making the model appear older than her actual age by far, I was told that for theatre the makeup would need to be far more dramatic to be seen properly by the audience despite being visible on camera. Personally the falseness of the ageing makeup is something I found difficult as you cannot afford to be delicate and subtle for the purpose of stage, instead the makeup needs to be very exaggerated. In future I know to enhance the natural creases of the face more and will probably use a darker shade of brown to achieve deeper visible lines and wrinkles. Overall however I was satisfied with how the makeup turned out. 

Process of Creping the Skin
1. Ensure the hands/area of skin that you are apply the latex to is clear from any dirt or cosmetics.
2. Apply a barrier cream to the area and work into the skin.
3. Pour the latex into a bowl and allow to breath for a few minutes.
3. Using clean hands stretch the area of skin where the latex will be applied.
4. Taking a latex free sponge dab a thin layer onto the area of skin. 
5. Allow to dry keeping the area stretched (a hair dryer can be used on the cool setting to speed up this process).
6. Apply a few layers ensuring there is no visible seam between the latex and the skin. 
7. Taking a foundation that matches the area of skin apply over the latex using a foundation brush to remove the visibility of the latex.
8. Powder or spray with a fixing spray if necessary. 

Evaluation:
Using liquid latex was a new experience for me as I had never used it previously, the first thing I noticed is that it smells vile and that really put me off using it on someone especially near the face. After airing the product this did reduce slightly however it still wasn't pleasant. I think it is cleaver how the latex causes the skin to wrinkle once stretched however this was a difficult thing to achieve on youthful hands as the skin is well elasticated and therefore doesn't stretch as far. Another problem was getting the foundation to match the skin tone as how it appears to the eye is not how it appears on camera therefore I will have to develop this better as the foundation seems to change tone on the latex.