Hearts Bursting with Pride

Hey everyone, we have some really cool, and gross, stuff to show ya!

First things first if you ever need coffee and you are in the downtown Halifax area, check out The Ville Caffeine Bar! They have wicked coffee and the staff are beyond cool.

The owner approached us about helping with a photo shoot for Pride week under the theme of "Hearts literally bursting with Pride". We loved the idea so our cheif creator, Paul Beranger, got to work in the studio to help bring her vision to life. Below are the steps he took for this creation.

We warn ya this one gets a little graphic!

So the owner wanted it to look like her heart was torn from her chest so we need the appropriate wound that would represent that. This was all done with cotton and latex with a little bit of splintered wood to simulate broken ribs then painted and cleared coated. I always use clear coat nail polish to give things a wet look.

Here are all the tools I will need to make a real looking heart that can shoot blood/and or glitter. Cotton and latex can be really fun to work with once you understand how to work with it. Done properly it can give you an amazing fleshy quality if painted right

First thing, if you ever build anything you need a good reference picture and you need to have it the appropriate size. I didn't want to end up with a heart that was too small, or too big. When replicating something real it is a good to be a stickler for details. I started with carving the basic shape I needed out of foam.

Next thing is adding the hoses for the squirting effect. I lined it up to my reference pic and added the hoses to line up with the aorta, arteries and the superior vena cava.

After everything is in place, the whole heart is covered in cotton and latex and further sculpted to get the aorta and arteries. I always find that cotton and latex looks super messy at first but when it dries and is painted looks amazing.

The wound is done with cotton and latex, built up on a flat surface with bits of wood for the ribs. Having a physical wound made it quick and easy to get things going for the photo shoot, instead of having to build one on the spot with makeup effects.

The finished heart painted, clear coated and looking pretty gross.

Bursting with Pride!

Now we put it all together...

And here is the final result.

A big thanks to everyone involved. This project was a quite bit different fomr past ones, but it was a lot of fun! Remember, next time you are in dowtown Halifax, swing by The Ville Caffeine Bar!