[Flashback Friday] 96. Squash(ed) Skull & #224. Butternut Skull

Welcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Citizen Agent, Tatman, and myself, Azurafae, are taking turns counting down our personal favorite 17 skulls from the Original 365.25 Year. So please join us as we visit the archives and add our additional commentary on some of the original pieces.


Since Halloween is in 2 days, I figured I would treat you to two of my favorite gourd skulls.

#14.

96. Squash(ed) Skull

#224. Butternut Skull

I like seeing that these are skulls carved from squash which are in the same plant family as pumpkins. In Ireland, the original Jack-O-Lanterns were carved from turnips to scare away the mythical character Stingy Jack and general evil spirits. If you read the story, you will see why we call them Jack-O-Lanterns. The classic Jack-O-Lantern face is supposed to represent a skull, so of course carving more distinct skulls into squash or pumpkins is perfect.

Gourds are the perfect plant for carving. Their flesh and meat are easy to carve into and hold up well to detailed shaping. I like how the white one still has it's seeds. It's like peaking into a brain through the orbital and nasal holes. The choice of color is of course, very close to a natural skull. I like the butternut squash's elongated jaw. In a way it reminds me of Edvard Munch's "The Scream", but with finer details due to being a sculpture vs a painting. Noah is very good at carving fruits and veggies, so it was hard to choose my favorite, but these two were something different than the now traditional pumpkin carving, so I thought they would work best for today. They also give you a refreshing idea of what else you can use to carve your Halloween Jack-O-Lantern.

**Flashback Friday was a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.o. Each week during year 3.0 The Skullmaster posted the original skull along with some additional commentary in order from lowest to highest rated, with the #1 skull appearing in the last week of year 3.0, all 52 can be found here.