Queen Anne's Skull

Making skull art can be a family affair, and it turns out that Skull-A-Day friend and Mütter Museum curator, Anna Dhody, comes from a from a line of skull lovers. Her mother, Joanne Dhody, found a way to "tat" Queen Anne's lace into a skull for us to share.

The delicate petals seem to be an exact opposite of the hardened bony structure that we usually associate with the skull. Perhaps Joanne is helping us to remember how delicate our craniums can be. Life's breezes can be disruptive to our composure. Take this day to arrange yourself and find peace in your skull. Thanks, Joanne!

Day 181 Skull

Cassy Stranahan, has been working on a 365 (366) day project and often works from Noah's book 365 A Daily Creativity Journal. June 29th (Day 181) was skull day and here is what she did.She  arranged text in a graphics program and then put it through a Photoshop filter or two.

Doing a daily project is of course how Skull-A-Day was born. I love seeing other people's daily projects and the occasional skulls that come from it. This creation plays with letters and filters to create the skeletal shape. Playing with how you view a common item, will change your perspective on how you view the world around you. Art is a great way to unlock your imagination.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.9

Today's skulls are formed in rocks.

William Bearss, "found this tennis ball sized rock on Makinac Island, MI. at a site called Skull Cave."

Carl Hamm said "Here are two photos with skull shapes that I noticed in the sandy cliffs over the beach at San Diego's Torrey Pines Natural Reserve this past weekend  (June 23) while I was being given a tour of some cool beach spots in San Diego by a friend who just moved out there. They are incredibly beautiful cliffs, and apparently they change gradually over time so I'm sure many people have seen skull shapes (and everything else you can imagine) in these cliffs over the years. When I got up close to the sedimentary rock, I noticed how soft it is. Too often, places like this are damaged by careless people. Luckily, these cliffs at Torrey Pines Natural Reserve are protected and I hope they stay that way."

Keep sending those pictures in, we always love seeing what our skull hunters find. Anyone is welcomed to participate, it's fun and it's easy- if you see a simulacra skull, photograph it and send those pictures in to our submissions address with a little something about what it is really and maybe a little about you.

[CONTEST REMINDER] Win A Set of Spooky Books from Scholastic!

The contest is over, thanks to everyone who participated! Just a reminder that you have until only Wednesday night at Midnight (Eastern Time) to enter to win a wonderful set of spooky books from Scholastic (shown below)!


Follow THIS LINK (or click the bright red ad to the right) for details.

And of course you don't need to wait till the end of the contest to get your own Scholastic books check out their website for hundreds (thousands?) of titles and of course visit your local independent bookstores and libraries and ask for them there!

Appreciative Pyrography Skull

If these skulls look familiar then you might remember the work of Laura Bartholomew being featured on our blog before. This time she's back with a few more, one in particular being a work of appreciation for her good friend, Tim.

Wood burning art is still some of my favorite stuff. There's something so permanent and unforgiving about the technique that it closely resembles "tattooing" wood. The portrait is a great gift that is totally personal as well as awesome. I'm sure we'll have a few readers wondering if you take requests. Thanks again for sharing your stuff, Laura!

Wooden Skull Army

Artist Bruce Tuckey based in Newcastle, UK told us: “I had turned and carved a total of 55 skulls from sycamore and ash wood. The skull army were then assembled to form a sculpture based on Tibetan prayer beads, and are displayed in Elemore woods, Easington, Durham, UK.”
 

Major C says:

I guess when you can't hire enough skulls to make an army its best that you create enough to cover your shortfall.  I found your final sculpture to be quite interesting in the way that you have displayed it.  It invokes an image of a serpent almost as if you are warning the view with the skull image to lookout for it.  I also find interesting the juxtaposition of deadwood carved into skulls intertwining itself with the live wood of the tree you have positioned it in.  Thank you for sharing this amazing work with us.

[BONUS] 401. Skeletube Army

In honor of the 15th anniversary of the Art-o-mat project I created this army of painted vacuum tubes!

Since I needed to make a lot of them to swap with other artists at this weekend's Art-o-mat event in DC, I decided I needed to come up with a simpler idea than the complex painted tubes I'd done previously.

In this case I designed a simple skeleton which I painted in acrylic on the smallest tubes I had, ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 inches (approx 3.8 to 6.4 cm). Thanks to Joe The Tube Amp Guy who provided me with some of the tubes I used for this project! If you need your tube based gear fixed, he's your guy.

5 years ago I made a group of skulls as part of my original 365 project for the 10th anniversary of the Art-o-mat!

And last year I made a special edition skull for the 10th anniversary of the project in my hometown Richmond, VA.

Dia de la Abby: #77 Spicy Skull

I recently removed a few expired spices from my spice cabinet. Instead of immediately throwing them away, I decided to make paint with them. I sketched out a skull with pencil. With the spice paint, I painted this skull, flowers, leaves, and vines. I found that the curry was yellow, but the rest of the spices I used were brown. Next time, I'll work with a better natural color palette.


On Thursdays in the 6.0 year, I will post my own Dia de la Abby creations. On Thursdays in the 4.0 and 5.0 years, I posted my Dia de la Abby creations and occasionally tutorials with instructions on how I made my pieces. Hopefully you feel inspired by my posts just as I was by Noah's Skull-A-Day 1.0 daily project. Want to find me elsewhere, follow me on Facebook, my Blog, Google+ and/or Twitter.

Painted Clay Skull

Oliver Šin is "a painter from Hungary and I made this skull from clay, and I painted on it because I hadn't got enough money to buy a canvas, recently that's the reason why I've started painting on shoes and guitars too." This skull is titled, "Route in My Head to Paris"

I love that Oliver has the need to paint on something, and uses what he has already as a "canvas". The sculpture it's self is beautiful. I love that all the sloping details of a skull were carefully sculpted to form a realistic skull. For more of Oliver's work, head over to his website.

[CONTEST] Win a Set of Skeletal Scholastic Books!

[UPDATE: The contest is over, thanks to everyone who participated! The winner will be contacted directly] My friends at Scholastic have graciously offered to give away a selection of skeletal books to one of our lucky readers!

There's a wide range of titles for readers of every age, so if you've got little ones this is the giveaway for you! Click the titles to find out more about these books:

Skeleton Creek

Skeletons

Skeleton Meets The Mummy

Skeleton Cat

The Sleepless Little Vampire

The Hand Book

Bones

To enter the contest, just leave a comment below saying what classic book you would want to read to a friendly skeleton.


[NOTE: If you are reading this on Facebook or Google+, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in this contest.]


Don't forget to include a way to contact you (either an e-mail in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has a working e-mail link for you on it). Entries are only valid with this information.


You have until just Midnight Eastern Time Wednesday, August 1st to enter so don't delay!


NOTE: This contest is only open to people with US addresses, our apologies to our international readers, you'll have to sit this one out, but there'll be more contests for you soon...

And of course you don't need to wait till the end of the contest to get your own Scholastic books check out their website for hundreds (thousands?) of titles and of course visit your local independent bookstores and libraries and ask for them there!

“Grandad Skull”

Artist, and past contributor, from London, UK Wayne Chisnall sent us this brush pen drawing, he titled “Grandad Skull”.

 Torch C says:

I truly like how you broke with the traditional skull image with this piece.  It reminds me a little bit of the movie version of  “he who should not be named”.  It is so great to be able to feature some more of your work after all this time.  Thank you for continuing to be a loyal reader and for another wonderful submission.

Schrodinger's Skull

If Sy Gibbon ever has a cat then he will name it Schrodinger, and this is what his skull would look like. Different media and different angles of the same cat(I'm assuming).

Momento mori of a pet that has yet to be.  This is a wonderful homage to the feline species.  Plus, that sneaky little skull in the triple double version is totally cool.  Thanks, Sy!.

Skull Montages

Richard Smith submitted "a couple of montages I've made recently using flowers and stuff from around the house with some old skull jewelry I collect. I created these images with 100% via iPhone and apps."

Art is all around us, and can be created in unexpected ways with things we have laying around. The use of the artistic cell phone apps to photograph these creations, gives the images a soft filter that blurs what was used to create the skull. They remind me of daguerreotypes. It's interesting to see the progress of photography quality now have digital applications that create antique style images.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.8

Our own master skull finder, Noah Scalin, found these two skulls while traveling.

Noah, "Saw this fellow in a construction site during my recent Skull Appreciation Day visit to Philly."

Noah, "Spotted this cute fellow on my recent NYC trip."

Keep sending those pictures in, we always love seeing what our skull hunters find. Anyone is welcomed to participate, it's fun and it's easy- if you see a simulacra skull, photograph it and send those pictures in to our submissions address with a little something about what it is really and maybe a little about you.

Pot Head Skull

Okay, how many of you expected to see a skull with a giant doobie in his mouth? Not today, my friends. This bit of witty, pottery art comes from Andrew Bennion.

Even without the traditional skull on top this piece easily earns a place on our site. The spinal column of cups is smart and funny. This piece easily represents any lover of brewed beverages; so be it coffee, tea, or whatever you please, we tip our cup to you, Andrew. Thanks!

C-Rations: Έξι 7

This week’s offering is cheese

“Fahrenheit 275 ”, 1.5" x 3", melted cheese on tortilla chips

Monterey C says:

Some say that the true skill of an artist is knowing how to allow the material tell you what it wants to become.  I found that calling to be just the case with this piece. The round shape emerging from a river of melted cheese instantly called out to me.  With strange looks from the next table over I felt a little bit like Richard Dreyfuss a couple of quick shots and then the piece was gone. Sic transit gloria mundi

My weekly offering of original skull designs were posted on Mondays in year 3.0, you can see all of them plus a few more HERE . Knowing the personal pressures of a creating a piece each week, I tip my hat to the massive one-a-day project that was undertaken by The Skullmaster, during the original Skull-A-Day year.

Hopefully you will find some nourishment in my offerings, but if you need more nourishment, you may always Friend me or Follow me in their respective places.

Ceramic Skulls

Artist Joe Kowalczyk. from the California Bay Area wrote: “ I make ceramic skulls.  I have been doing it
for almost ten years now, and they have served me well in my glaze experiments/studies for other work I do.  Here are a few of my recent ones.”

 

Slow Cooked C says:

For experiments these pieces come out very well no one would ever know they weren't planned.  I enjoyed seeing this body of work.  Over the years I have been able to see artist's body of work over many piece and not just a single piece. It is wonderful to see your individual skull "style" and see some of the features that you place on your skulls that make them yours.  Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Christopher Columbus Skull Bust

Brandon Vickerd created this sculpture "by taking a bust of Chris Columbus and carving a skull into it."



 One of my favorite things to see in art museums are busts. They are a fairly common type of sculpture, but they are always highly detailed representations of real people. I like seeing this alteration of a famous person's bust into something more modern. The lacquered best helps the carved skull stand out. There is an eerie beauty to this altered bust that even the most classical art lover could appreciate.

Circle Skull

Niels Oosterhof in the Netherlands sent us this skull that he made.  He said: “I wanted to use only one shape to create the shape of a skull.”

99 Luft C says:

When I first saw this I immediately thought of that famous line ♫ With orders to identify, To clarify, and classify... ♫  It also reminded me a red blood cells which made me think of  Marc Quinn's “Self” piece. And finally of course Johann Schmidt, one of the most famous mono colored skull.  Thank you for submitting your artwork to us and allowing us to share your work.

CONTEST REMINDER: Win a Sourpuss Prize Pack of Skulls!

This contest is closed. Thanks to everyone that participated!


Don't forget, you have until Midnight TONIGHT Wednesday, July 18th to enter our current giveaway for two Sourpuss Clothing prize packs (one white skull set and one black skull set, for two lucky winners. If you haven't already entered yet, visit the original post here, or click the top sidebar ad to be taken to the post.





We recently received our own individual skull banks, and bowls. They are more fantastic in person. They are about half the size of an adult human skull and very shiny. They are ceramic with decals and hand painted glaze to decorate them. The ones with the top hats are the banks. The ones with the bows are the bowls.

Of course you don't need to wait till the end of the contest to get your own Sourpuss bank or bowl. Sourpuss Clothing's website is stocked full of amazing items to statisfy your creepy style needs. They are even offering a 10% discount for all our fans until the last day in August. Enter  SKULLADAY10 at checkout to get the discount.

Stonefield's Skull

Andy Stonefield was doing his part in the upcycling movement back in 2009 when he painted this skull with acrylic paint on a Duratherm board.

The world is our canvas when skull artists get creative with what they can find.  Almost anything can be used, and our submitters have made sure that this project is valid proof of that.  Thanks for sharing your addition, Andy!   

Stitched Sweater Skull

Holly Hann created a sugar skull applique for her best friend's cardigan sweater. This was her first and only attempt at embroidery.

For a first time doing embroidery, this is very nice. I like her use of some basic embroidery stitches to create an intricate design. Holly's best friend is a lucky person to have such an awesome hand made applique to adorn their cardigan. Hopefully, this isn't Holly's last attempt at embroidery. It's a tedious craft, but the results are worth the hours of work.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.7

Today's skulls hiding with beverages.

Julien Porcheron from France, said "I found that skull in a beer leftover after a party when I woke up... beer foam skull!"

Susan Scofield found a skull in the condensation on her margarita glass.

Keep sending those pictures in, we always love seeing what our skull hunters find. Anyone is welcomed to participate, it's fun and it's easy- if you see a simulacra skull, photograph it and send those pictures in to our submissions address with a little something about what it is really and maybe a little about you.

CONTEST REMINDER: Win a Sourpuss Prize Pack of Skulls!

This contest is closed. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Don't forget, you have until Midnight Wednesday, July 18th to enter our current giveaway for two Sourpuss Clothing prize packs (one white skull set and one black skull set, for two lucky winners. If you haven't already entered yet, visit the original post here, or click the top sidebar ad to be taken to the post.





We recently received our own individual skull banks, and bowls. They are more fantastic in person. They are about half the size of an adult human skull and very shiny. They are ceramic with decals and hand painted glaze to decorate them. The ones with the top hats are the banks. The ones with the bows are the bowls.

Of course you don't need to wait till the end of the contest to get your own Sourpuss bank or bowl. Sourpuss Clothing's website is stocked full of amazing items to statisfy your creepy style needs. They are even offering a 10% discount for all our fans until the last day in August. Enter  SKULLADAY10 at checkout to get the discount.

Skull Hombre

From the pulpits of Toronto hails Reverend Andrew Wright who brings us a "Breath of Fresh Air" design of a bad ass, mustached hombre.

That mustache could carry this post all by it's self, but I have to mention how much I like the additional pinstriping and the color selections.  Now I feel like buying some mustache wax and tequila.   Muchas gracias, Andrew!

A Pair of Skull Creations

Artist Lisa Vollrath of Ten Two Studios sent us a pair of Skull projects that she has completed.  The first is a sheet of sugar skulls that she designed. Followed by a winged tin shrine she made out of the base of an Altoids container.

Memorial C says:

A truly fitting tribute for that which you have remembered with your work.  I am quite impressed with your winged shrine, knowing the size of an Altoids package, you were able to pack so much detain in such a small area. The sugar Skull sheet reminds me of playing cards and with the natural looking pairing of designs I could see them easily for sale as Bridge packs. Thank you for submitting your art work for us to share.

[BONUS] Separated at Death: VHS vs DVD

I was definitely inspired by other artists when I was making my original 365 skulls and every now and then people spot things that may have been inspired by my own work. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't, either way I thought it would be fun to share and see what you think...

My friend Andrew, who works at my favorite local movie store Video Fan, pointed out today that the movie poster for the new release V/H/S seems related to this image I made in the store back in 2008...

339. Video Fan Skull (2008)

V/H/S (2012)

What do you think?

Spotted other Skull-A-Day lookalikes? Send em my way and I'll share in the future!

[CONTEST] Win a Sourpuss Prize Pack of Skulls!

This contest is closed. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Established in the year 2000, Sourpuss Clothing specializes in creating an ever-growing selection of original apparel, accessories and housewares for everyone from tattooed punks to zombie pinups. Most recently, they have created a line of Dia de los Muertos-themed ceramic banks and bowls in both black and bone colorways. Each has been hand-painted and decaled, and each measures 36cm around. On Sourpussclothing.com, pieces are only sold individually, but on Skull-A-Day, we are offering 1 lucky winner both the black bank and bowl as a set.....A SECOND lucky contestant will be chosen to win a set of the bone-colored bank and bowl.

These banks and bowls are great. I've been fortunate enough to see them close up. The ones with top hats are the banks. There is a coin slot cleverly placed at the top of the hat. The bowl are the skulls with bows. There is a large opening at the top of the skull.

Banks are great places to store small precious things. Bowls are great for eating out of, or using to contain other items. To enter the contest, leave a comment saying what you would store in a skull bank, and use a skull bowl for. I'd store my fortunes from fortune cookies inside the skull bank. The fortunes normally have wise advice, which will fill up the empty skull nicely. I'd probably put some icecream and a brain cupcake in the skull bowl, so it looked like I was eating gooey brains from it. What ever your answer is, make sure to leave a comment below, to enter the contest.


[NOTE: If you are reading this on Facebook or Google+, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in this contest.]


Don't forget to include a way to contact you (either an e-mail in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has a working e-mail link for you on it). Entries are only valid with this information.


You have until just Midnight Eastern Time Wednesday, July 18th to enter so don't delay!


NOTE: Sourpuss Clothing will pay for the shipping to the winner. This includes internationally as well as in the USA.

Of course you don't need to wait till the end of the contest to get your own Sourpuss bank or bowl. Sourpuss Clothing's website is stocked full of amazing items to statisfy your creepy style needs. They are even offering a 10% discount for all our fans until the last day in August. Enter  SKULLADAY10 at checkout to get the discount.

Birthday Skull

Cameron St.Gelais from Ormond Beach, FL created this Birthday Skull.

We all know that with each passing year, we grow older, and closer to death. However, there is still a lot of living to do before that day comes. Whether that day is next week, or 90 years from now, we don't know. Spend the unknown amount of time in between doing something you enjoy and celebrate your life, as if it was as amazing of a day to celebrate as the anniversary of your birth...your birthday.