Tutorial? You can read this description: It’s a regular zipper bought from a sewing store… Pick one long enough to get from your hairline to under your shirt collar, and preferably with big metal teeth and wide fabric that roughly matches your skin tone or lighter.
Prepare the Zipper: I coloured the fabric by rubbing/soaking fake blood into it near the metal, and flesh-coloured cream makeup on the outside to make it blend with my skin somewhat. If you lay it down on your face and it already looks like the effect is working, then you have a huge head-start for blending it later – ie you won’t even need to.
Liquid Latex: Using a brush, I painted lots of liquid latex onto my forehead and planted the zipper to it. Held it in place until it could hold itself, and slowly worked my way down my face, glueing the outside half of the zipper fabric to my skin with liquid latex. I had my head tilted slightly back during this process, and was just gluing the zipper down flush. After it dried, tilting my head forward made the flaps want to open up, pulling my cheeks with it and giving it that convincing look.
Any spots along the outside edge that are coming loose you can paint under with more latex and hold down to set again. The first time I did this effect, the zipper held from 9 in the morning until past midnight, including eating meals. You may find a spot eventually lifts loose, so maybe carry some spirit gum or latex (or even use white glue?) for backup.
Red “Blood Effects Gel” used for the inside; heat it up until it flows (but not runny) and glop it on straight out of the bottle, by wiping it everywhere and then adding drips and letting the drips run and set naturally. Don’t burn yourself (runny is too hot). When it cools it gets hard again and stays put, but still looks wet and goopy.
I dabbed extra blood makeup under the zipper flaps to cover over any blank spots, or you could apply more red gel using a brush. Getting it dark and red under the flaps helps, though you don’t want to damage the latex by poking around too much under there.
Final step (that I didn’t do) would be to blend over the outside edge of the zipper with wax, latex, an airbrush… whatever tools/expertise you have. BUT: the look is most effective when you don’t use too much (or any) makeup on the outside over your skin, focus on the contrast between the red inside and “normal” outside. People don’t see the seam if the colour roughly matches, they’re too busy being freaked out by the inside of the flaps and the bright metal zipper.
Zombie contact lenses really help make your real skin look unreal. A lot people were really confused about where the “mask” started and ended. Someone even touched my cheek (that has nothing on it at all) and recoiled.
Done to myself in about an hour. Made it up as I went, there’s probably better ways.
Best image of it ended up on Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/5676963/costumes/
Just a selfy taken that morning with my phone.
Post time: Jun-17-2017