Moose Antler Rings

Scott Middlehurst is the man behind these marvelous moose antler rings. I wish Scott had included where he was from, but I'm assuming it's somewhere that moose antlers are readily available. At any rate, I hear that moose can be pretty mean if provoked so maybe these are some seriously true symbols of danger. Thanks for sharing your craft with us, Scott!

We want to share your skull art! Be a part of the Skull-A-Day project. Details are HERE

"Mammoth Ivory" Skull Carving

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This year is off to a stellar start with a return from one of the most talented of skull carvers, Mark Noll. He's made generous contributions to our project before (here and here) and now he's back with his newest and extremely detailed "Mammoth Ivory" skull measuring in at 1 1/8"(2.8575 cm) tall.  Mark included several positional photos and I couldn't help but upload them to gifmaker.me to create the animated gif to display all of it's beauty.  Thanks for helping kick off 2014 in a great way, Mark!  I hope we all have on hell of a skulltastic year!     

Tribalistic Skulls

Scott Middlehurst is doing a impressive job of representing old and new techniques of skull art.  The first is an ornate wood carving, an art form as old as humans; the second is a digital image, a media as new as a few seconds ago on the scale of the history of the Earth and the Cosmos.  Both share equal qualities of grace and toughness yet seem to span millennia in their delivery.  Thanks for sharing both of them, Scott!

[BONUS] 412. Pumpkin Anatomy III: It's the Great Pumpkin!

After years of patient waiting The Great Pumpkin has finally been spotted!...

After carving a pumpkin with a skull and a pumpkin with a brain previously, I decided I really wanted to carve a skeleton pumpkin this year. I knew I would make the rib cage and head out of two separate white pumpkins, but wasn't sure if how to accomplish the arms. At first I was going to just leave them off. But when I was sorting through the haul from my family's recent visit to the pumpkin patch I discovered that I had two funky gourds that fit this bill perfectly, and required no carving! How's that for some creative serendipity? 

You can also see my original Skull-A-Day project pumpkin carving HERE.

Have you made your own skull/skeleton pumpkin carving, or heck, if you give this design a try this year, send us a pick to share!

Scott's Saturday of Several Different Skulls

Scott Middlehurst has been here before with this symbolic illustration, and now he's back with a diverse set of new skulls in all different mediums.

Scott knows how to keep his creativity flowing by switching up his game(love the hobo nickel).  He's a prime example of how even one person can do so many different works of the same subject.  It's almost like some kind of theme for a skull art blog I know of.......  Thanks again, Scott!

Tiny Skull Carvings

Save your pennies so that you might have a chance to trade them in for a nickel's worth of awesomeness from Mark Knoll.  Mark carves skulls, by hand, out of cow bone, antlers, wood, and even Indian head hobo skull nickels.   These tiny carvings are impressive to say the least.

These tiny skulls are carved from cow bone are only 7.62 mm tall

You must have an eye for detail when you're able to create such miniscule works of art.  That or a really good set of glasses.  Mark has been here before, and now he's back with an Etsy store in hand so you can get a nickel of your own.  Thanks again for sharing the great work, Mark!

Carved Coconut Skull

Scott Middlehurst carved a coconut "into a skull using my Dremel tool and some diamond points".

I love the rawness of this carved skull. That's probably from the wood grain of a coconut. That has to be a difficult and unpredictable wood to work with. The skull reminds me of a tribal mask. It also reminds me of "what if" stories related to being stranded on a deserted island. Surely, I would need to do something creative while waiting for rescue. Perhaps it would be making a skull out of a coconut...though without a Dremel to help.

Aluminum Gear Shifter Skull

A real life metal head graces our site today courtesy of Tom Powell of Ormond Beach. This gear shifter knob is made of 7075 aluminum alloy and is completely carved by knife and hand.

Looks like a nice and solid heavy metal head!

Sinister and shiny, this badass mofo is looking for a thrill and just like Ricky Bobby, he wants to go fast!  Thanks for the great submission, Tom!

Super Skull Carvings Saturday

These artfully crafted carvings are from Mark Knoll in Clearwater, Fl.  He's making amazing pieces both large and small that are all carved by hand.  Rings, ear plugs, and charms are some of the smaller items, and his larger pieces carry the same attention to detail.  I'll let these pics tell you the rest.

The caliber of craftsmanship is off the charts with these carvings.  I love the choices of wood in the naturally finished pieces.  Be sure to let us know when you have your site ready to share with our readers, Mark.  I'm sure they would love to see all of your stuff.  Thanks!

Skull Key Holder

Louis Cordova "made this key holder with a scroll saw and a Dremmel."

This past weekend, I went to New Hope, PA. There was a shop there that specializes in morbid and funeral antiques. One wall has many skeleton keys mixed in with old photos and funeral wreaths. Since seeing them, they've been on my mind, so it was nice to come across this piece in the submission box. I could see several skeleton keys hanging off of this skull key holder.


“Countdown To Halloween”
18 more days and counting...

[Flashback Friday] 5.2 - Petoskey Stone Skulls

Agent, Azurafae, and myself, Tatman, are taking turns reflecting on 17 of our perWelcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Citizen sonal favorite skulls from the previous four years of postings. So please join us as we visit the archives and add our additional commentary on some of the original pieces.

Petoskey Stone Skulls





I saw these excellent Petoskey Stone carvings at a street fair in Manistee, Mi. Tom Thompson is the creator who works with all types of stone carvings. These were absolutely beautiful for their super clean look of being newly polished and still appearing as ancient and mysterious artifacts turned up in some jungle from a certain explorer. I still wish I had bought one of these so hopefully he'll be returning to manistee this summer.


**Flashback Friday was a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. 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.

Carved Wood Skulls

Me: Would you like to see a pair of skulls today?
You: Would I!
Me: Yes they are...

First up is “d3f-ink” from Germany sent us an item they did: “Here is a little carved wood-skull I did on summer holiday in Sardegna, Ialy last year.”


Next is “silvercow” who said: “This is a thumb drive I carved using an oak slate from a pallet. The bow is coated with epoxy (tinted with red red). A wood burner was used to make the eyes. My art was inspired by a drawing I found on Skull-A-Day.”


Whittle C says:

I like the beach wood a lot, it fits so well with the surrounding almost as if it had been there for many years fading away. Speaking of fading... in the years since, the last time I tried to carve a nice piece of wood I slipped and was left with a nice scar on my thumb. It is amusing for me to see a piece of wood carved into a thumb drive. Thank you both for taking the time to submit your work for us to share.


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: Would a skull have a favorite type of wood? Maybe punk wood?

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you!
(Either your e-mail in the post OR make sure your profile has an e-mail link for you. If all else fails drop us an email to our submission address with your profile name. )

NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in the contest

Stone Skull Carvings

Sam Sutherland most recently submitted his amazing skull table, and today he's back with more excellent carvings. I liked all of these equally so I had to share them all. The first and third skulls are created from marble, and the second set(with two skulls) are macedonian limestone and conchuela limestone.







Stone carving is one of the most primitive and ancient art forms, yet it's still one of the most impressive. I really love the historic feeling you get even when a piece was just recently finished. The ability to create such smooth characters from the hard minerals is a talent that I could only hope to acheive...but for now I'll just continue being a blockhead. Thanks again for the impressive skull work, Sam!

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What kind of rock you would carve into a skull. Umm, are diamonds considered rocks? That would definitely be my choice!

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you (either an e-mail in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has an e-mail link for you on it).

NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in the contest

[BONUS] Skull and Stripes Pumpkin

Every year, my daughter's school has pumpkin event. Each class designs a pumpkin and a willing parent makes that design happen on a pumpkin. Last year, my daughter's class choose a dalmatian. This year, with out my prior knowledge, she advised everyone to draw a skull. They all did (I wish I had photos of all those skull drawings.) and choose their favorite. The winning drawing was sent home with my daughter and I got carved my interpretation of it. I don't know if it won the school contest, but I was satisfied that the class loved it. Like the other skull pumpkin I carved, I used wood carving tools on this one too.

I'm sure many of you made skull pumpkins too, so please submit them to us. Happy Halloween!

Dia de la Abby #21: Pumpkin Skull

Halloween is in 10 more days, so I thought a carved skull pumpkin was in order.

You all probably know by now how much I love Dia de los Muertos, but in case you don't, I'll fill you in. I'm not of Hispanic decent, but I love the meaning behind this holiday. Showing this level of respect and honor for our deceases relatives is not something that I was raised to do, but I feel I must, because with out them, I wouldn't be here. Whether I knew all of them or not, I'm fortunate that they helped form the person I am today. For this particular design, I chose a sugar skull design for the skull and decorated the remaining area of the pumpkin with flowers reminiscent of Dia de los Muertos shrines. For information on how I carved this pumpkin, see the tutorial.

Every week in the 4.0 year, I will be post my own Dia de la Abby posts as well as a tutorial with instructions on how I made my piece. Hopefully you feel inspired by my posts just as I was by Noah's Skull-A-Day 1.0 daily project. Need more of me than just a weekly dose, follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

Super "Skurving" Saturday

Canton man, Tom Adams, is back again with more skulls to fill your weekend. Tom was the creator of the "Skelebike" and other hardcore skulls from a past Saturday post 'here'. He's back in the shop with a new medium and he's here to tell us more about it. "I've been working with wood around here lately. Im showing a softer side of my work and as a bonus the slivers are alot easier to get out of my hands. The first skull is called crybaby. Notice the natural tear shaped knot under his left eye. This is made from an Ash tree that fell on my workshop last year."



This fellow is aptly named "Woody".



"This one is called "Eddie the stick" and is made from an antique softball bat that was warped."

It's good to see you trying new things, and doing them well, Tom. I like tor workwith wood as well, but I've never tried carving it. Your works make me want to get back in the garage and whittle the time away. Thanks for sharing these, Tom.

“Countdown To Halloween”
15 more days and counting...

2D & 3D Skulls

Rotorua, New Zealand is the home of Kiwi Sacha who is currently completing a bachelor of Art and Design. Sacha writes, "My main interest in creating my art are symbols of death. Most recently sugar skulls of the Mexican Día de los Muertos."

2D-Ink screenprint

3D-"Carved skulls of which 4 are made from Oamaru stone (local NZ stone from Oamaru) and 4 are replicas from a plaster of paris mold."

Dig those crazy colors, Sacha. The print gives me the feeling of a beach bonfire on a late summer night and those stone carvings are the wild bunch of the party. They say a rolling stone gathers no moss, but if one can sit still long enough then it has a good chance on being remodeled by you. Thanks for sharing!

“Countdown To Halloween”
19 more days and counting...

Petoskey Stone Skulls

On my last weekend living in Michigan my family made a trip to Manistee and visited the street craft fair in the downtown area. I made a most glorious discovery of these wonderful skulls carved by Tom Thompson. These are called petoskey stones and are recognizable by their unique patterns.





These were even more impressive in person. I want to thank Tom for allowing me to post his work here. If you are in Michigan and run across Tom and his stone carvings(he does more than just skulls) then prepare to be amazed. I couldn't pass up on buying one of his lower peninsula of Michigan stones for a reminder of my great years spent living here.

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

No Way Home Skull

Germany's own HP Lermer has decided to take his skull memento mori to the grave with him. He tells us, "I send you a picture of my tombstone, I have made to provide. Maybe, I need it some day."



Of course I am a fan of the rock carving. Let's just hope that HP will need this a lot later than sooner. I don't know why I never thought of it before, but I can assure you that Tatman's tombstone will have a skull on it. Thanks for the great idea, HP.