paper mache skulls, from start to finish. (IMG heavy)

well, sort of. I saw these paper mache skulls at Michaels for a couple bucks a piece, not only was I stoked because they are starting to put out Halloween decorations ( its only fair, because Im sure Xmas decorations will be out next month ...groan...) but because they are so inexpensive. They are a little small, but they make for a quick and fun project .

in the buff          





Priming them was easy because they were pretty smooth, but I definitely wanted to use a primer because I knew they would soak up some serious paint, and I was almost completely out of white.

rhymin' and primin'



These guys didnt have any hangers or any way to display them (other than sitting on top of something) so I bored a hole in the back of them ( with a knife, carefully ) and grabbed some copper wire and wrapped some of these creepy old rusty nails in it


I stole the wire and nails from David, thanks baby!
and fed it thru the eye so the rest of the wire was coming out of the hole, like so:

allupinya!  
and here is the wire coming out of the back of the skull, i gave it a good bit of length because I wasnt sure how big I was going to make the loop, plus the length I needed to wrap the loop.

thru...
...and looped

the wire is super pliable and was able to wrap it around the nail and into a loop with my fingers , but used wire cutters to cut it. I use my hands everyday so if someone didnt have alot of dexterity in their fingers I would suggest using a small pair of jewelry pliers.

Ok so all the prep work is done, they are primed and fixed so they can be displayed on a wall , no onto the fun part. Painting them. I did a couple pencil sketches on each one and kinda just went with it.

Honestly I wanted to put some more time into them but I needed to get them up and ready for the grand reopening/open house/ art show at Inksanity . I have a few more ideas for these, but Im torn between putting ALOT of time and effort and just kinda throwing something together. We have another show coming up in October so maybe I can figure something out to fit the next theme.

So here is one finished pair, make sure to throw some laquer on them to protect the outside and i wouldnt keep them anywhere damp, because they are paper and i dont know how well they will hold up.


I have two pair for sale at the studio, this pair and a flower type of design on the other set. I hope they get picked up, but if not, I certainly wouldnt mind hanging on to them. =)

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