Thread: Forensic Investigations Fake Blood Recipes

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HI everyone,
I just found a site with a bunch of blood recipes used by Australian Universities for training Forensics students in blood spatter analysis so they must be pretty realistic looking. I haven't tried any yet myself but I am really interesred in the arrowroot powder one because I am looking for a recipe that isn't too sticky and doesn't stain horribly. I'll be trying the arrowroot and oil recipes tomorrow and I'll post the results but for now I thought I would just post the recipes for anyone who is interested.

Teacher Background Information
The following recipes have been collected from a
variety of sources. The aim is to make fake blood that
has similar viscosity to real blood.
A number of the recipes use corn syrup (a popular US
brand is Karo that can be bought at specialty stores)
however corn syrup can be substituted with golden
syrup.

Fake Blood Recipe 1
You will need:
175g cornflour
75mL water
175mL golden syrup
3 teaspoons red food colouring
1 teaspoon green food colouring
container for mixing
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
Method
Mix corn flour and water together in a bowl or jug.
Add the golden syrup.
Add the red and green food colouring. You
will need to play around with the quantities
of red and green food colouring. Adding
more red food colouring will make the blood
more pinky and adding more green will
give the blood a more browny colour.
http://www.planet-science.com/outthere/index.
html?page=/outthere/planet_goth/tricks_02.html

NB:
Blood appears red because when white lights falls on it,
it absorbs all the colours in sunlight except red, which it
reflects. Red food colouring is much more of a pinky colour
than blood so you need to add green to remove the pink
tinge.
Green food colouring absorbs all colours apart from
green, so when mixed into the red colouring it absorbs
some of the red light that was previously been reflected.
This makes the blood mixture darker and the colour
‘dirtier’. Instead of a bright clear red, it becomes a sludgy
brown. By adding only a little bit of green to the red food
colouring you should get just a brown tinge to the blood.

Fake Blood Recipe 2
You will need:
160mL corn syrup
80mL water
44g of cornstarch
15mL-25 mL red food colouring
2-3 drops green food colouring
container for mixing
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
Method
Mix the cornstarch thoroughly with the water.
Add the corn syrup. Mix well.
Add red food coloring to the mixture
using only 3 teaspoons at first.
Then add a couple of drops of green food
coloring to take the “pink” edge off the red
coloring. If the mixture is too light, add one
or two teaspoons more of red food coloring.
Add an extra drop of green food coloring
if the mixture gets too pink again.
*This makes about 1 cup of simulated blood.
http://www.cctt.org/cctt/cgli/9062_9246.as

Fake Blood Recipe 3
You will need:
100mL corn syrup
25mL water
10 drops red food colouring
container for mixing
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
Method
Combine the corn syrup thoroughly with the water.
Mix well.
Add red food colouring drop by drop.
Oller, A.R. 2006 Medium velocity spatter creation
by mousetraps in a forensic science laboratory. The
American Biology Teacher, 68(3): 159-161.

Fake Blood Recipe 4
You will need:
2 fl ozs ivory dish washing liquid
red food colouring.
container for mixing
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
Method
Pour a couple of ounces of the
ivory liquid into a bowl.
Add food coloring and mix thoroughly.
www.meti.com/downloads/rec_dis.pdf

Fake Blood Recipe 5
You will need:
canola oil
red coloured sugar crystals – purchase
from the cake decorating section
measuring cyclinder
150mL beaker
mortar and pestle
Method
Grind the sugar crystals into a fine
powder in the mortar & pestle.
Measure 40mL of the ground sugar
crystals into a dry measuring cylinder.
Pour the sugar powder into a beaker.
Add oil to the beaker containing the sugar powder,
while stirring, until the volume reaches 100mL.
My Blood, Your Blood

Fake Blood Recipe 6
You will need:
16 oz. White corn syrup (Karo syrup - this is a US
product, but adding golden syrup does the job
just as well, alternatively just mix sugar and water
and reduce on the stove until it becomes syrupy)
1oz. red food colouring
1oz. washing detergent
1oz. water
2-3 drops blue food colouring
condensed milk
container for mixing
Mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
Method:
Mix together the corn syrup with
the food colouring and water.
Add some condensed milk to makes it less
transparent and more like real blood.
Adding Liquid Washing Detergent to any recipe
will ensure that the blood washes out easily.

Fake Blood Recipe 7
You will need:2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
red powder paint
coffee granules
water
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
beaker
bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat
(or other heating device)
Method:
Add 2 teaspoons of arrowroot
powder to heating water.
Add a small amount of non-toxic
paint powder (red) and stir.
Prepare the coffee concentrate by adding a
small amount of water to coffee granules.
Add a tiny amount of the coffee
concentrate to the mixture.
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/blood/blood.html

Fake Blood Recipe 8
You will need:
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
3 or 4 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red food coloring
2 drops yellow or green food coloring (optional)
container for mixing
mixing implement (spoon, stick etc)
tissues
Method:
Mix the cocoa powder thoroughly into the
water before adding the other ingredients
- it may help to use warm water.
After adding the rest, blend the concoction
well, and then wait for it to settle a bit.
Either skim the bubbles & chocolate scum off the
top with the edge of a tissue, or pour the mixture
into another container. The longer it sits, the more
the cocoa tends to settle to the bottom, which
oddly mimics the effect of real blood separating.
If you splatter this mixture onto cloth,
it makes neat two-part marks that dry
into pretty convincing bloodstains.
If you let it run from a victim’s mouth and then
let it dry, the blood darkens and cakes to the
skin in much the same way real blood does.

Hope this helps someone

~Kelz

Wow can't wait to hear the results of your test!

Here's a link to a video I made of the Arrowroot recipe
I think it's my favourite blood recipe that I have tried to date

YouTube - No stain, non sticky fake blood recipe

I tried the oil one as well but I hated it. It looked alright but I can't stand that oily feeling

Wow, thanks for sharing your results. Would red acrylic paint work instead of the face paint? Not sure where to find there here. Did you try the recipe with the dishwashing detergent yet? I was most curious about that one.

MsM

No problems
using acrylic paint should be fine, I used face paint because it's what I had but acrylic should work just the same.
I have tried the detergent recipe in the past, it works rather well, it ends up nice and transparent. But you have to be careful when mixing and applying it because it will froth up if you are too heavy handed with it.

thanks

MsM