I need to know how to "fake" scratches...My friend and I are planning on playing prank. It needs to look real.

Question

we want to have the scratches on the face, hands and possibly arms. Does anyone know how to fake this but make it look real? I would need a detailed answer in order to replicate.

Answer 1

It depends on how close the examination is going to be and how bad and old the scratches are to appear to be. Basically you need spirit gum or latex, red makeup and black makeup coloring with a fine brush.
Spirit gum gives a somewhat stiff base while latex (which goes on whitish and dries clear) gives a more flexible base (some people are allergic to latex.) The purpose of either of these is to give something to be damaged skin, so it is painted on in a long narrow line of the scratch and then modified and decorated to look like a scratch. Modified means that you use a straight or safety pin (not as sharp as a needle) to lift a spot as a bubble of drying skin and to flake the edges as in torn skin. Decorated means adding the color tones to make it look real. It certainly helps to have color photos of real scratches and injuries.
The red and black makeup are for the blood, fresher and dried on the scratches, so you probably will not need much black and may want a couple of shades of red. If you want some drip, you need some glycerin colored with red food coloring modified with green to darken it or with beet juice.