This week's been all about blood and gore .. We started by applying scratches and grazes but quickly built up to burns, wounds and the application of prosthetic pieces.

A far cry from working in fashion and using makeup to make someone look pretty!

Rather than trying to be as neat as possible here, the more haphazard your work can appear, the better. I put this to practice on the burn I created. I tried to avoid any obvious patterns which help it look more real. My model for the day went home to show her father who is a consultant. I was very happy to hear it looked very much like a burn should do!

I also had a go at creating my very own eczema. Very itchy!

We also had great fun gonig through 'dirtying down' an artist. There are many forms of direct for various types of characters. It was great to learn everything from how to get stained/ingrained type of direct that can be found on a homeless person to the careful positioning of direct for a chimney sweep for example.

Later in the week we progressed into deeper cuts and gashes. It was great to find out that various different materials can be used from the very cheap to the more expensive. So if you're suddenly on a job and a wound is sprung on you, you can hopefully do one! I used wax, a manually mixed silicone and a silicone gun to create three different cuts. This was a very interesting exercise to see the differences in using the various materials. Here I've used the silicone gun ..

After all that, we were introduced to Probondo wounds (pre-made at Greasepaint) that can be easily applied to the skin and edges acn be blended very naturally .. amazing stuff!

I am very much looking forward to Halloween this year where a lot of fun is going to be had with my new found skills. Family and friends should also watch out on April Fool's Day ....

Until a few years ago, you could only get a really good bald effect on an actor by making your own bald cap - quite a laborious process that involved getting them in, taking their measurements, then building up layers of plastic on a head-shaped 'red block'. But these days ready-made bald caps have got so good, that all but the last few die-hards now buy off the shelf .. However, we think we may have found a way to convert them too!

We've recently discovered a vinyl bald cap that we loved so much we decided to sell it ourselves. These brilliant bald caps can achieve a really lifelike result and at least a couple of make-up designers who've tried them are now using them regularly. At the moment, the ones we're selling are clear (non-coloured), and although they're brilliant they do take quite a lot of colouring so we've asked a couple of people (including make-up designer Lucy Cain) to trial a new coloured one. Her feedback was that she'd prefer it a bit less orange, more of a cooler shade .. so we're in the process of getting some produced in a colour closer to a flesh tone.

Our students all use them too. This one was applied by Line Kolaasaeter - not bad eh? If you're interested give us a call: +44 208 840 6000.

So after a week off and much talk about Kate Middleton's makeup, I am back for Week 3 at Greasepaint! It's been another fun week with much learned. The techniques discussed by our tutors for the week (Shaunna and Jill) really go my creative juices flowing and built further on the technical precision needed working as a makeup artist in TV & Film.

Colour and tone was one of the topics covered this week. A very interesting task to get us to think in tones was to create a whole makeup look, even the base, with one colour of varying tones. The tricky bit was to try and make it look glamorous! Varying tones of blue, gree, purples, pinks and oranges were all picked by the class. It was an interesting walk to Tesco's for lunch that day as we decided to keep our colourful makeup on! I picked the colour pink and added black, orange and gold to get the varying tones that I wanted for the different parts of the face that I was doing.

Ageing for TV using only makeup was also covered - it's amazing to think how only very little makeup is needed to age a person or make them look tired and ill. The good thing, for now anyway, is that most of us can still run it off!

We had makeup designer Jeremy Woodhead come in to show us his great techniques for laying on hair. To achieve a more natural look we slightly curl the hair with very fine tongs. Before we are let loose on each other or an artist for that matter we had a lovely mannequin head to practice on!

We have also been given some homework to do this week. We have until June to knot our very own moustache. Philippa who was in charge of wigs, beards, moustaches and any other hairy bits at the BBC came in to show us exactly how to do this.

Philippa will be back in June to show us how to cut the moustache to size and dress it. Here is my moustache in progress ..... and expect an update soon!

Course tutors Shaunna and Stuart seem to have finally finished tweaking the content of our first Further Prosthetics course - for complete beginners as well as make up aritsts. During the first week, students and complete beginners will raise their game, with lifecasting, sculpting, moulding, casting and more .. but it's during the second week when this new course pushes the boundaries of what we've done before at Greasepaint. As well as an introduction to fibreglassing from Rob Whitehead, Holby City Designer Vicky Voller (who works alongside several former Greasepaint students) will be making skin and muscles to use in special effects. It's exciting to think that some of the course graduates will go on to specialise in this fascinating area ..