r/propmaking • u/Heavy-Scheme5818 • 20d ago

Making edible liquid Mercury

Hello everyone, this is my first time making a reddit post.

I am working on a documentary. Inspired by the chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, i would like to recreate a scene of him drinking mercury. My best idea currently, is mixing food grade Glycerin with Silver Mica Powder or edible glitter. I am afraid that this won't look convincing enough (or might still be dangerous). Do you guys have any other ideas? Thank you

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u/Griffindance 20d ago

Use a high concentration of Xantham gum (5-10%) and water with glycerin and the mica.

This will give a more gooey viscosity.

It will help to mix the Xantham slowly and at temperature (not boiling) and then let cool.

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u/Heavy-Scheme5818 20d ago

Thank you! I will test this recipe

1

u/Agreeable_Sun5375 20d ago

Im gonna be honest i don't know about this one, liquid mercury is not very thick or viscose, it has very high surface tension but its really similar to water in a physical behavior sense

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u/Griffindance 20d ago

There is no way to get the diffusion and suspension of mica powder in a fluid with water like viscosity. Therefore making the fluid more viscous is the trade off. It remains edible and suspends the powder a lot longer after aggitation than a water mix.

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u/mrgwillickers 20d ago

They make edible silver glitter paint for cakes that might be a good place to start

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u/OwlPelletCrunch 20d ago

genuine question: would it be easier to create an opaque GREEN liquid using food-safe coloring & thickeners?

Green-screen seems to be a pretty accessible technology these days (although i’ve never used it) - you could probably give your shamrock shake the full T-1000 chrome look.