fake milk - help!

[robert morley]

Why does no one let you know how it went? a little thanks is all it takes B-)

[dgander]

Perhaps that "school type" non toxic white paint mixed with water would work well...

 

From washing out sponges with it in I remember it produces loads of white milk looking solution and it doesn't smell much either.

 

This may be quite similar to what lightnix meant though.

[Suzette]

Just wondering if anyone who needed fake milk previously on this topic actually found a working solution? Same situation - need to throw milk over an actor - don't want it to stink on stage and needs to be easily & quickly washed out of costumes.

[Jram]

It'd depend entirely on context, but could you use a piece of white material - silk, for example - that would look like liquid as it is thrown from a bucket, but which can easily be gotten rid of?

 

Obviously there is scope for humour, but whether it would work in a serious or semi-serious context...

[Suzette]

Small studio - naturalistic play ... needs to be liquid... anyone else????

[WiLL]

Actually, that Raki, Pernod or Ouzo (it's all the same stuff really) idea is pretty good. The amounts you need are pretty small, so I don't think the alcoholic content will be a big issue. If the theatre is small, the smell of aniseed might be a problem, but it's the best suggestion I've seen so far.

 

 

If you don't like aniseed, I happen to know that Cointreau has the same effect. I learned this when 'topping up' the bottle after a discreet swig as a young teenager from my parent's booze cabinet. Can you say grounded? :)

[Wuddy]

How much milk and will it get into the eyes of the actor?

 

I would suggest suitably thined down brilliant white emulsion, not one of the vynil variaties but old fashioned water based emulsion.

 

And treat the costume with one of the proprietory stain repelent treatments like Scotchguard or even spray the costume with a silicone spray.

 

That way little of the fake milk should stick and what does should be easily removable.

[SammySG]

I'm doing a production where the actors get the milk poured into their mouth so it needs to be edible. We can't use real milk as they're vegan so was thinking of using coconut milk as a substitute does anybody know if this cleans out of costumes easily as it will undoubtedly end up everywhere.

[ImagineerTom]

No specific experience of coconut milk but one tip from the fx world is that you can dilute milk with a surprising amount of water and it still looks like milk on stage so whatever you use dilute the heck out of it to reduce any impact on costumes.

[sunray]

At school we had this requirement and very quickly found the smell of milk in wooden floor is wrong. Our solution was quite surprisingly 'Marvel' milk powder. There were several others available at the time but Marvel was the first to look right and not need loads of it. Another came close but settled very quickly in cold water

[schimpy]

is there like white food coloring? might be a fun thing to try ** laughs out loud **

[GaryNattrass]

I once visited a company in the North East called Tioxide and they made the pigment that was in most paints and other materials.

It was titanium oxide and I found this source on e-bay so it may be worth a try: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401924888661?var=672483654402&hash=item5d94971855:g:fDAAAOSw9odfT6DY&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4PI2nA45pxofGa2p%2B78nHhQuMFZD2q0XacQ8LTb%2FrRC7CFkTLZ2R4zQidGT1TP%2FxGJsrJ8T1UqXhVHgHcpp0nUgOOjNjHgASjdlm9NOBTTw2OxuV%2FGUCNMmiRdPse91Q%2BRyv%2B9YncyrSUiaWSj7UIG2bEDjVa1lKbxQxe4y2QC0tEf9%2FTFYB8fgtJQueLUp0lqKUQuPOVYkF5f1p278sDl2qSsSOFAtOuH%2FKCcZcHOxsq93trGjUjUtG0w59pVrBkZ57qB0fPSboOCIXmiwq0zRSnW7oPNlfV18cPf0fgHd%2F|tkp%3ABk9SR9LtycORYQ

[J Pearce]

Worth noting that titanium dioxide is not considered food safe in some jurisdictions. I'd be doubly careful about any chemical sourced from eBay if there was a chance of it entering an actor's eyes/mouth etc.

[Bryson]

If the TiO2 is 99%+ pure, then it's considered food safe in the UK, but not currently in Europe.  

 

(BTW, A family friend worked at Tioxide in Immingham for about 25-odd years.)

 

[ImagineerTom]

As with so many things in effects- precisely what you want to do with the object will define what solution or technology you should use. If it just has to look like milk (and whilst not drunk is at least relatively safe to get on skin / eyes / mouth) the goto in the industry at the moment is “milk tex”.