So if I'm lucky, a special friend and I are going out into the boonies and we may find mud out there.
Looking for advice on how to makes this work logistically. First, I'll assume we can find a water source to clean up a little, but is there anything you prepare for the car? Line it up with plastic tarps maybe?
lchris001 said: So if I'm lucky, a special friend and I are going out into the boonies and we may find mud out there.
Looking for advice on how to makes this work logistically. First, I'll assume we can find a water source to clean up a little, but is there anything you prepare for the car? Line it up with plastic tarps maybe?
After doing this for years the best advice I can give you is no matter how many towels you have, it won't be enough!
If you find a place next to a river or other clean body of water then a bunch of towels and a bucket to help you wash off will work well enough. And if you care about your car definitely set aside some clean towels to put down on the seat before getting into the car. I never used tarps but that could work too.
If you don't find mud next to a body of water you can still make it work if you want to put in the extra effort of bringing gallon jugs of water with you. After a lot of trial and error I feel the best way to do this is pour the water in a container (a large bowl works well) then take a wash cloth and just wipe the mud off. As the water in the container starts to turn more into mud than water dump it out and pour in fresh water. When I first started mudding I would pour the water over myself and try to shower off but that just wasted a lot of water.
Oh and there have been several times where I walked fully clothed coated in mud onto a public beach to wash off in the ocean and the people on the beach didn't say a damn thing to me! So as long as you're not naked or trespassing have fun and don't worry about random onlookers, lol.
Guess it may depend on the mud and how much water is available. I've been covered head to toe in thick, gooey, creek bottom mud, but at least there has been some creek/river water near by to clean up.
Typically, I pack in a gallon of fresh water, some soap and a towel. Strip off the clothes I came in with, do the mud session. When it's over, use some of the creek water to get the worst of the mud coating off. Also use the creek water to soap up a good lather and scrub so any remaining mud is mixed in the lather. Then use the gallon of fresh water and carefully rinse head to toe. Towel dry and change into the clothes I came in with.
Sure, there may be a tiny bit of mud between the toes or behind the back, but no one would suspect anything at a casual glance, walking by on a street, etc.
(Edit - guess I should clarify, that is 'a gallon of water' 'per person' to clean up... so for me, most always 1 gallon is all I need.- lol )
When we do mud shoots, we take a full water-cooler bottle (18.5 litres, which is several gallons) of hot water per person in he van - it cools from hot to warm during the journey and shoot time. After the scene everyone strips off their muddy clothes and uses the water to wash the worst of the mud out of hair and off hands and faces. Then change into boilersuits or tracksuits, with wellies, all to keep remaining mud inside, and with waterproof seat covers on the van seats, drive back for a full hot water hose-down/shampoo/shower in the dungeon.
Been using the same van (bought new) for ten years this June, still perfectly clean and neat inside.
After my first visit to a local tidal mud spot last week, I think I may try adding some sort of soap to my bag on the next trip. I managed to get most of the mud off myself in the river, got muddy again up to the calves getting out, scraped that off with grass and rinsed with a 2 litre bottle of fresh water before toweling off and putting my clothes back on. This got me presentable enough to pass walkers on the way back to the car without any funny looks, but did leave some of that lingering mud aroma close up (I think the beard doesn't help).
I like getting muddy in just my underwear, which limits the amount of cleanup since I don't have to worry about cleaning off too many items of clothing. As for cleaning off myself (and my undies!), all of my mud spots are right near water (after all, mud is just watery soil!), and even if the water itself is muddy, you can sort of rinse off most of the gloppy, thick mud. Once you've got all of the gloppy muck off, you can take an old towel, or t-shirt, to sort of get the wet mud off. Then, I end up sort of air drying, and changing back into clean clothes so it's not too noticeable I've been covered head to toe in mud. I often put an old towel down on the car seat to prevent any of that dried/drying mud from getting everywhere (although frankly, sometimes that's inevitable!).
The one time (the last time) I decided to leave my clothes in the truck and trek to my mud hole in my undies I locked my keys in the truck and had to walk a 1/2 mile in my undies to a pay phone, (back before cells were more plentiful) to call AAA.
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