Theatrical Old Age Kit Instructions

Posted 896 days ago by

Theatrical Kit Instructions

These instructions are generic in that the specific shades of foundation, creme liners, pencils, and crepe wool may be different than the ones you have. However, the techniques mentioned will be the same regardless of the specific colors you are using. When creating a character, you will always have an overall foundation color, one to two darker shades for creating hollows, wrinkles and shadows, and one to two lighter shades for highlighting.

Note: If you are using this instruction sheet in conjunction with one of the small student kits, you will need to pick up some Crepe Wool, Spirit Gum and Remover, and a good pair of scissors to accomplish any kind of beard laying or crepe wool application.

Household Tools Required & Optional:
Sharp Pair of Scissors-Required
Steam Iron & Ironing Board-Optional (for the hair application)
Hair Dryer-Optional

Before You Start: Your makeup should be applied in a clean, well lit area. Give yourself plenty of room, and arrange your materials neatly in front of you. If you are doing the makeup on yourself, make sure you have an amply sized, well lit mirror. Wear old clothes: making up can get messy! Makeup should always be applied to clean skin, so wash your hands and face and you are ready to begin. Make sure to read through all instructions thoroughly before you begin.

Time Needed: 1 hour. Application of additional hair, etc., will require more time.

Please Note: If you have any known allergies to any of the listed ingredients of any of the components of this kit, do not use that component. Select a shade or item from your dealer’s stock that will give you a similar effect or serve a similar purpose but does not contain the ingredient to which you react.

Old Age Makeup: Male

Figure 1: Using a Liquid Latex Sponge Wedge, apply foundation in the color Old Age. Apply to the entire face as shown.

Coat the skin evenly with a thin layer. This is your foundation; your bottom coat upon which you will build the character’s features like highlights and shadows. Make sure to cover all exposed skin, including ears, neck and into the hairline.

If you are putting makeup on someone else, always approach the eye area gently and with warning. Have your subject close her eyes when coloring the upper lid and below the brows. Make sure their eyes are looking up when you applying makeup below the eyelid.
Figure 2: Using a brush, apply the shade Plum into the temples, hollows of the cheeks, nasal fold, under the eyes, the forehead wrinkles, neck wrinkles, chin or deep recesses.
Figure 3: To create a highlight, apply Light Highlight with a brush to the high points of the face such as the cheekbones, the fleshy part of the cheek outside the nasal fold, the middles of the forehead wrinkles, the point of the chin, the forehead above the brow, and the intermediate areas between neck wrinkles and lip wrinkles, and crows feet at the edge of the eye.

To create shadows, apply Deep Plum to the areas made in Figure 1 to create the crows feet and some additional lip and neck lines. Apply Deep Plum to the eye bags and create the bridge of the nose wrinkle set. Remember–for every shadow, there is a corresponding highlight, sometimes two.
Figure 4: Softly blend each wrinkle to ease the stark nature of the drawn-on highlight and shadow lines. The more realistic and close-up you need to be, the more attention you must pay to careful blending. Once the blending is complete, load a puff with translucent setting powder. Sprinkle a small pile of the powder down the middle of the puff. Fold the puff and rub the puff’s sides together until the powder is substantially loaded into the velour of the puff. Using a gentle but rapid motion, work the powder deliberately across the face, one section at a time. Reload the puff frequently to avoid excessive “offsetting” of the makeup onto your puff. When the makeup is fully set, the makeup will be touchable without any coming off.
Figure 5: Using your Stipple Sponge, load the Maroon shade onto the sponge lightly and then stipple broken capillary effects on the nose, at the upper cheeks, and a few across the forehead and elsewhere if desired.

Using your brush or a fingertip, dot a few age spots across the forehead and down the cheeks using the lining shade in Plum. Intensify any wrinkles that need to be more prominent with the lining pencil in Medium Brown.
Figure 6: Dip the Hair Whitening Stick in water and apply directly off the stick into the hair. Before the hair dries, comb to desired form. Repeat the same process for the eyebrows. You may also wish to use a toothbrush or an eyebrow brush in this coloring opposite the natural direction of the eyebrow hair’s growth. This yields a gnarled, old age look for the eyebrows.
Figure 7: Add costuming and you’re ready for bingo.

Tip: Check out our tips on beard laying for applying facial hair: Beard Laying Tips.
Old Age Makeup: Female

Follow the same process that was used for the male in the above steps. There will be a few differences: The structure of the face will be different and the severity on some of the wrinkles will be different.
In the final figure, a bit of lipstick has been added so Granny is ready to hit the town or join her friends with bingo. A wig was also used in place of a hair whitener.

Costume and Accessory Tips: Old age makeup and costuming are commonplace among theatrical productions worldwide. The costuming truly varies depending on the character being portrayed: glasses, hat, wig, shawl, pipe, handbag, cigar, suspenders, slippers, newspaper, magnifying glass, and a wide variety of other clothing.

Disclaimer: Graftobian Theatrical sells all products in good faith for professional use, but can assume no responsibility for the deliberate misuse of cosmetics and/or other products. In other words, please read and follow all instructions carefully to avoid problems or injury!

Removal: Our make-up is most easily removed with make-up remover or Cold Cream Make-Up Remover (not included). Once all make-up is carefully removed, gently wash with soap and water. The hair coloring washes out very easily with warm water and shampoo. In fact, since the stick is soap-based, it will substantially wash out with just warm water.

Other Graftobian Products: Graftobian is a manufacturer of all sorts of make-up. From novelty soap-based Face Painting Make-up called Disguise Stix®, to our Graftobian® Colored & Glitter Premium Hair Sprays and Gels, to our complete line of Professional Graftobian Theatrical Make-Up and Accessories, Graftobian has it all! Ask your dealer about the other fine Graftobian products