Halloween Skulls

Artist Gretel Schwartzott based near NYC, NY sent us a few pictures from this year's Halloween festivities.

Ms. Schwartzott, and her family, made the most of the freak winter storm that interrupted Halloween this year in that part of the county by a creating this giant snow skull.

This year's costumes included hand done skull masks for all members of the family.

and one of the masks with the rest of the costume in use before the storm.

Hallow’s C says:

Thank you for submitting these wonderful pictures of your artistic talents. I am happy to see that your family was able to make the most of this year’s wacky weather situation.

Faces of Skulls

As the “Countdown To Halloween” is quickly approaching the end for another year, and since many of our loyal readers will being celebrating this weekend. Here are a few inspirational ideas for those last minute procrastinators.

First up is Cian who sent us this picture of he and his partner.


Next Emily Salsberry showed off her Day of the Dead costume.


and lastly, Vivian Raine, RN said: “Here is a skull pics of our band mate (Christine Hellbourne) in awesome calavera make-up for a Halloween / Dia de Los Muertos show we did last year. I used some glow-in-the-dark effects gel to really make her skull come alive under a black light! It was hard to capture with a camera but it really was stunning in person.”


White Rabbit C says:

Thank you all for submitting another wonderful round of skull face painting. To all our loyal readers, make sure if you get dress up this year as a skull you take a moment and send in the results.

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

Skeletons for a day

Today's submitters were various skeletons for Halloween, in different years.

Greta Block from Irving, TX explains, " I was the Grim Reaper for Halloween in 1993. I won second prize in a costume contest."

Erica says, "My friend and I both did a Mexican art theme one year for Halloween. I was Frida Kahlo and he made an excellent paper mache skull head. The horns and mouth were even sequined. Last year, I painted my dress and face to be a sugar skull/skeleton. One photo is a progress shot and the other is the finished product."

I always love seeing these type of costumes. While I don't find them scary, skulls and skeletons are a popular fright at Halloween. In our world, we of course deal with them daily. Weather we are frightened by those in skeleton costume or not, is irrelevant. It's very interesting to see each personal interpretation of a skull on their skin or as a mask.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in today's drawing to win a button just leave a comment below stating: What kind of skull do you have under your skin?

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include your EMAIL ADDRESS, so we can contact you if you win.

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

Skulls in Make-up

Today, we have a few ladies in skull make-up.

Keegan Hitchcock, sent us a photo of herself in partial skull make-up.

And, one of a model, Sami, she painted as a skeleton bride.

Nina Gatto, from Ecuador, sent us a photo of herself in sugar skull make-up, after Halloween evening.

I love costume make-up. It's creative and fun to do, even though it's a long process to create the desired effect. Though in the past, I've done a lot of different costume make-up, the sugar skull and regular skull ones have been my favorites. I like seeing the variety of make-up submissions we get from ladies and men. Keep them coming.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in today's drawing to win a button just leave a comment below stating: How do you decorate your skull?

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

Dia de la Abby #40: Skull Pasties

Sunday, I took a class at The Richmond Institute of Burlesque with Deepa De Jour, to learn how to make pasties. I thought it would be neat to figure out how to make skull ones. She makes this look a lot easier than it is, which is why you see only one. This one is made from buckram and PVC. I used embroidery thread to stitch a simple design. I'll experiment with this design to make more detailed ones. I would give you a tutorial, but I'm still trying to figure out how to make them and Deepa is a better teacher of this artform. If you are doing embroidery, I recommend not using PVC as your decorative fabric, as any hole will show easier (say an accidental one) and you will have to start all over...or disguise it. A lot of things in life are about trial and error, and I find I make a lot of prototype in crafting. If you would like to learn how to make pasties, go to The Richmond Institute of Burlesque and sign up for Deepa's pastie making class. They also offer many other costuming and dance classes.


Every week in the 4.0 year, I will 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 Facebook.

Costume Skulls

Today’s Skulls are all about our readers embracing their inner skulls.

First up is Shane Fell who wrote: “This is from a past year but I wanted to submit my own. Made it out of cardboard, duct tape, texture paint, etc.”

In Use

Next we have a recent contributor Adrian Vallejo from Amarillo, Texas who said “This is a pic of me in some ‘Skull-a-day’ inspired face paint from last Halloween.”


Last today is Nicole in Charlottesville,VA who showed us her dia de los muertos makeup from last Halloween.

Nearly Headless C says:

I really enjoy being able to share the faces of those otherwise faceless people we interact with us everyday either through comments or “likes”. Thank you all for taking the time to submit your inspirations and allowing us to share them with others. It is through your hard work that the site continues to still be going strong.

Muertos Skulls

Nicholas Ivins had this to say about his two submissions, "I've enjoyed your blog for some time now and wanted to submit a Day of the Dead themed piece I did earlier this year. The medium is ink, marker, and Photoshop. Size is 20.75 x 26.5"."

"Also, here is a photo of me and my mate at the Day of the Dead festival in Hollywood this past weekend. An amazing event! I'm on the right. We usually smile a lot more. Or at least we did when we were alive."

For the 1st piece, I like the use of repeated and brightly colored Dia de los Muertos milagros. I also like the adornment of the calavera. The placement of the items around the calavera remind me of Egyptian Pharaoh burials. They would be surrounded with thing from their life that they would need in the after life...jewelry, pottery, food, etc.

For the costumes, of course, I'm a huge fan of dressing undead. The colors match with each person, but they are used differently and equally beautifully done. I like the choice of elegant outfits. They really tie in well with the face painting. You can find more of Nicholas' work at his DeviantArt Page

Day of the Dead Skull Mask

Jose Brand "made this day of the dead skull for my halloween costume."

This is a very impressive mask and costume. There are many details in the construction of the skull and the decoration of it. The decoration of the skull reminds me of the delectable sugar skulls of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I like the enlarged dimensions in comparison with a human skull. That enlargement gives it a cartoonish quality which is perfect for the fun and mischief of Halloween. The use of a hoodie to include other skeletal bones. The rib cage uses similar colors to the skull, which helps tie the two pieces together. The attached bones give an additional three dimensional quality to the costume. This is definitely a calavera that I would like to see in person.