Making a Bleeding Ballistics Gel Head

Ever wanted to practice shooting on a 3-D target? Ever wanted to make a home-made ballistics gel head that bleeds just like in the YouTube series "Zombie Go Boom"? Well here's your chance! If you want to use a mold for the head, you can. If you do use a mold instead of a pot, remember to pour the gelatin inside the mold after melting it. Have fun

The materials needed for this instructable consist of: Dollar Store skull, unflavored gelatin, 2 plastic bags, water, red food coloring, pen, exact-o knife, pot, stove, hot glue gun, Duct tape(optional),something to stir with, and a fridge. I bought almost all the supplies from the dollar store and Winco. The amount of gelatin I used was 16 ounces, or 32 packets. However, this was not enough to cover the whole skull. For every 28 grams, there is an ounce, if you want to make your own mixture. Also multiply the ounces of gelatin being used by 2 to find amount of ounces needed for water. I used 4 cups.

Drawing the line is not required, but I did it anyway. Cutting into the skull, to put the blood bag in, is very dangerous. Please be careful when cutting.

The most effective way is to fill one plastic bag, seal the top shut with duct tape, then put that bag inside of an empty plastic bag that you ALSO seal shut with duct tape. This may seem excessive but I had the bag break on me 2 times with only one bag and a little bit of duct tape. When you finish with the blood bag, or brains, check to make sure there are no sharp bits of plastic inside the skull. If there are any, you can use sandpaper or you can cover it with duct tape, either way works. After checking, insert the brains slowly, then carefully hot glue the head shut.

This step is easy. Just don't drop the skull.

I used 4 cups and 32 packets of gelatin. This did not cover the entire skull. If you do want to use more than the amount I did, refer back to step two. First, pour the water into what you will be mixing the gelatin in. Then pour the gelatin mix in the water a stir with a whisk. The whisk helps break up the clumps. If you mix is a little dry, add water slowly and very little at a time. After it should look like mashed potatoes when you are done, but have a harder consistency. Put the gelatin in the fridge until it is noticeably colder than room temperature.

Even though you knew it would probably break you still got frustrated and stressed out when it did break. You should have used two plastic bags!

After gelatin is noticeably colder than room temperature, take it out of the fridge and put it on a stove. You don't want to use a whisk when your mixing while it is heating up . Just us a mixing spoon until it looks kinda like smooth Apple sauce. If your gelatin turn a clear, almost brown color, you will be fine. After you feel like it is done and all the clumps are broken up. You can insert the skull and let it sit for at least 36-48 hours. If you have a layer of white on top of your gelatin, don't panic, it is clear, and looks like ballistic gel underneath the layer of white.

Congrats! You finished! If you want to see a video of this ballistic gel bleeding head target being used, click here: I hope you enjoy!