Inner Light Skull

There are lots of people seeking inner light in the world today. A light that fills our minds with peaceful thoughts. I felt like Raffaele Piacente of Milan, Italy captured it well with his personal skull oil on canvas.



Maybe this comes off as a realistic jack-o-lantern to you, but I couldn't help but see it differently. If we peel away the outer layers of our physical existence then all we have left are our thoughts, ideas, and memories. It brings me comfort to think of all of this as the inner light that warms our souls with a knowledge that makes us more than mere animals. A knowledge that makes us human. Grazie for the great work, Raffaele!

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: what thoughts make your skull light up. Of course I usually think of my family, but a sunny afternoon with friends, a juicy bratwurst on the grill, and an Oberon will always brighten my day.

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

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

Sunday Simulacra - Version 4.46

As always, our skull hunters are out and about in different locales, capturing these randomly hidden skulls for our readers to enjoy.

Toni Pedrozo, "found this nice piece of accident art. Guess some dudes burned plastic or something. You can find it in Switzerland/ Effretikon."



A former student of the Skull Master, Tim Harper, writes, "Saw this in the window of a closed shop off of Midlothian Turnpike--don't know if you can tell from the photos, but it's that black plastic they stick up in the windows of strip mall shops when they close down so you can't see inside. Looked like the profile of a skull to me."



And Ann Losee had some help from her kids with this find. "My daughter's plate after a dinner of tortilla burgers and oven sweet potato fries. My son Tommy showed the plate to me and said it looked like a skull."



Thanks to you all for yet another great round of skulls lurking around our everyday world. Keep your peepers peeled and you might find one to submit yourself.


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: The strangest place that you might have seen a 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

Super Skull Cake Saturday

Melanie O'Flynn, a.k.a.- St. Mary MacKiller, rolls into this Super Saturday with some astounding skull cakes. Mary writes, "I'm a cabinetmaker, carver, derby girl, and writer who enjoys a bit of cake making!"



"Although not a 'found' skull, I made this cake for my sister-in-law-to-be, Angie, for her birthday. It's based on different styles of Mexican skulls, with a twist."



"All three are mudcakes: chocolate, caramel and white chocolate. They were done in a rush and had to be transported over miles of rough road and bush track to a mountain hideaway for a Mexican fiesta (in the Australian rainforest!)."



"And, although he's not a skull yet, the dragon at the end is on his way to becoming one! (My son, Alby, wanted a severed dragon's head for his birthday!)."



If you're ever in my corner of SW Michigan then I'll definitely celebrate my birthday with one of your cakes no matter what time of year it is. I couldn't keep from showing the dragon head either. That's some impressive gut work! If these tasted as good as they looked then you must have had many, many compliments. Let me give you one more and say "thanks" for cutting us a slice.


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: what kind of skull cake you would have for your birthday.

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

Jelly Bean Skull

Past Contributor Anna Grace from Knoxville, TN said: “This amazing 365 project has inspired me to create my own project: Create A Day 365! In this project, I'm doing one creative thing a day for a year, whether it's art, music, food or literature. I took inspiration from the Skull Master and made a few things out of food for this post. My favorite is the skull!”


Aura C says:

Thank you for sharing your work with us. As we are nearing the end of 4.0 it is wonderful to be able to share in the many projects that have been inspired directly or indirectly because of the Original 1.0 project. Best of luck on your continuing 365 project, and keep us in mind if anymore skulls work themselves into it.

** Don't forget to Flashback to some great candy posts from the past here.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What color is your skull?

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

[Flashback Friday] #338 Embossed Skull

Welcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Citizen Agent, Azurafae, and myself, Tatman, 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.

7. 338 Embossed Skull



If you know me then you know I like !metal! and all things crafty. If you know me personally then you know I'm a huge fan of copper since my truck is technically a "Copperado" not a Silverado. My original comment on this piece was, "This is what you find on the front of treasure chests. Yaaar!" I still believe that this is a bit of a treasure to have since it probably took a bit of time to produce. Once again Noah put his skull to work on a long forgotten technique and came out with a copper cranium that makes me think, "BADASS!".

**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.

Dia de la Abby #46: Floral Skull Quilt Square

This week, I've been busy working on my quilt square for our Skull Quilt Project. It was inspired by my #12: Skull with Flowers.

I'll be adding more details to my quilt square, but it's close to being done. To create the skull, I cut out a skull shape from a flower print fabric and used free motion machine embroidery to sew it to the black fabric. I have a large fabric stash, but most of it is printed fabrics. To create fabric in the colors I needed for the yellow flower and leaves, I painted beige fabric with acrylic paint. This changes the color of the fabric, makes it stiffer and controls fraying. To make the red flowers sparkle, I used an extreme glitter acrylic paint. To cover the center of the yellow flower, I used black PVC, sequins and beads. To cover the center of the red flowers, I used sequins and beads.The pink flower and vines are made with ribbons. The butterfly is from a printed fabric. I cut around the butterfly and painted it with a clear matte acrylic varnish, to prevent fraying. The purple flowers at the top, are French knots made with embroidery floss. The reuse of materials and fabrics through out the piece, helps tie together the different elements. I am enjoying using some old skills for a great project.


If you would like to participate in The Skull-A-Day and Becky's Fund Quilt Project, please mail us your 12"x12" skull quilt square. I recommend using cotton as your base, just so when I sew the blocks together to make quilts, sewing will be easier for me and I won't melt any fabrics while ironing the seams. Please leave an inch unembellished boarder. This is also to make sewing and ironing easier. This means you will have a total of 10" x 10"of working space. If your piece is anything like mine or the other submissions, that does give you a lot of room to be creative. Thanks for participating. We all really appreciate it!

Send your finished skull quilt squares to:

Skull-A-Day

PO Box 73236

Richmond, VA 23235

On a note sent with the piece, please include:

Your name

Your city, state and/or country

Your email - I will email you when your block arrives

If you have any questions about the project, feel free to email me at abby@skulladay.com

The deadline for us to receive the skull blocks is Saturday, May 28, 2011. This is so we can sew the quilts in time Skull Appreciation Day. The quilts will be auctioned off at and after the June 4th event. Proceeds from these quilts will go to Becky's Fund, which is an organization that helps victims of domestic violence.

If you aren't the quilt square type person, or want something to do something a bit different for the event, make a piece of Mail Art. These will be on display at the event.



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 Twitter and/or Facebook.

Quilt with Skull

Laura Wike from Akron,OH submitted this quilt she made from scrap fabric she received at a yard sale.

I like that she used scrap fabric to create this quilt. The cool colors compliment each other well. The use of black for the skull, makes it pop against the printed fabrics. I like how this fierce looking skull is placed upon floral prints...a mix of hard and soft. I have a huge pile of scrap fabric that I'm letting my daughter and husband raid to make their quilt squares for our Skull Quilt Project. The quilt squares we receive will be made into quilts. This quilts will be auctioned off after the June 4th, Skull Appreciation Day. Proceeds will go to Becky's Fund, which helps victims of domestic violence.

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 fabric would your skull be made from?

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

365 Book Event – April 30, NYC

Hey NYC friends, I will be doing a book signing/talk/workshop for 365: A Daily Creativity Journal at Brooklyn's Spacecraft on April 30th!

Saturday, April 30

Book signing: 4-5pm FREE

Talk/Creativity Workshop: 5-6pm  $5 materials fee

Spacecraft

355 Bedford Ave.

Brooklyn, NY

718.599.2718

If you're in the NYC area I hope you'll plan to come by and say hi!

Graveyard Dust Skull-ptures

Artist Heather Lynn of Gossamer*Hollow Whimsical Art & Design shared with us just one of the many items she creates.
She wrote: “Each 1.25" skull is a one-of-a-kind, handsculpted and handpainted bottle which holds the dust. A packet of actual graveyard dust that I harvested myself is included! Graveyard Dust is known for its magical uses of rejuvenation, banishing, and good luck.”


Triskaidekaphobia C says:

We all could use a little luck and what a handy fashionable pocket sized item for it. These are wonderful, thank you for sharing them with us

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What skull dust is made of?

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

Skinless Skulls

I know, I know...you're probably saying, "Hey, Tatman, all of the skulls you post are skinless. Duh!". And you would be totally right, but when I saw these paintings from Benjamin Girard it was the first title that came to mind.





Skulls are generally lifeless pieces, but the way Benjamin puts so much life into rest of his work I feel like these are living people who are just missing the skin on their skulls. There's a recurring theme on Benjamin's site of either skinless skull people or "invisible" people. They're all excellent works and I'm glad that we got to share these with all of the flesh wearers. Thanks, Benjamin!


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: Pros and cons of having a skinless skull. For example: Pro- No one would ever have to worry about having a huge zit on their nose; Con- Body piercers would lose some of their business.

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

Trephination Skull

Charles Hollingshead from Greenwood, IN sent us this drawing. "This is a Skull drawing I did as part of an ongoing 2011 drawing a day project."

I like the drawing style of this anatomical skull. The reference to trephination, with the burr hole, makes this image a bit creepier. The use of trephining was thought to relieve pressure in the brain, therefor curing different ailments such as skull trama, migraines, mental disorders and seizures. This particular drawing seems to be modeled after an Iron Age skull that showed signs of healing, however obviously the hole didn't close before death. The procedure is still in use today to for the relief of cranial haemotmas (blood clots in the head).

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in today's drawing to win a button just leave a comment below stating: What old medical procedure did your skull have before death?

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

Sunday Simulacra - Version 4.45

Today’s simulacra are a bit hard headed.

Kaye Reed from El Paso, TX found this rock at the Wupatki Ruins in Arizona

Ainslee showed off a granite tile


Sam Snoek-Brown, one of our regular simulacra hunters, offered what I think is a two for one. He found this skull (or skulls) while walking through his neighborhood in Abu Dhabi. He wrote: “My wife thinks it looks like Frankenstein’s monster’s skull.”


Opinionated C says:

I can't believe it is week 45 of 4.o already where has the year gone? I was going to post my own collection of simulacra that I have acquired over the last few months, but we keep getting so many wonderful submissions that I will just have to wait. Thank you all for taking the time to send in your submissions, I never tire of seeing what the world has to offer.

Keep sending those pictures in to our submissions address. Just keep in mind that since we only post simulacra once a week it might take a little longer than normal for it to be posted.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: If you discovered a new element that makes up all simulacra- What would you call it?

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

Skull & Wrenches Icon

Scott Lewis is the brains behind the iconify.it website that takes and make icons out of tons of differnt things. His process of turning sketches into simpler, bolder icons is interesting to see. Today he was gracious enough to share his Skull & Wrenches icon with us.



Of course this will be a big hit with any gearheads we have in our audience. Motors, tools, skulls, and flames are all iconic symbols of the now famous chop shops that produce outstanding custom rides that are themselves works of art. I'll bet there's more than one shop out there who would love to have this in their logo. Thanks for letting us display it here, Scott!

p.s. Scott has made this icon available as a free download from his site as well. Get it HERE.


Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: what your personal skull icon would have instead of crossed bones. Mine would be crossed exacto knives to represent my glass etching work.

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

Doomer's Skull Illustrations

Doomer a underground cartoonist and illustrator from Teresina, Brazil shared a few of his illustrations with us.





Pepperland C says:

I am in awe of people who have the ability to create characters. Your ability to have a prolific body of daily work yet at the same time keeping an almost unchanged recurring character is truly amazing. Thank you for submitting your work for us to share.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What would you call a skull comic strip?

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

[Flashback Friday] #222 Rorschach Skull

Welcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Citizen Agent, Azurafae, and myself, Tatman, 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.

8. 222. Rorschach Skull



If you've ever been to see a psychiatrist(and some of us might have) then you may have seen the ink blot "Rorschach" tests. Just relax your mind and tell me the first thing you see. If you said a t-shirt then you would be correct. I happen to be a proud owner of this out of stock piece of mechandise. If you said a tattoo then you would be correct as well. Danny Cutup is, to my knowledge, the only owner of that piece. No matter what you see it still makes one cool ass design and for that we thank the Skull Master.

**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.

Skull-A-Day Press: 1-800-Recycling.com

The folks at 1-800-Recycling.com put together a nice article about the Skull of Brains I made last year at the Mütter Museum...

Read the entire piece HERE.

Dia de la Abby #45: Skull of Swirls

This painting was inspired by swirls and whimsy.

Close up of fine crackle with silver antiquing rubbed into cracks.

I have been wanting to use my metallic silver paint pen and new crackle medium on a painting. I used the crackle medium to create a textured background. I used the silver paint to create the swirl design. I like incorporating nature into my art. I created vines, leaves and flowers using the swirls. There is also a butterfly, a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a snail among the plants. No tutorial for this one, as the way to use crackle medium varies by brand. Using the paint pen should be self explanatory, or at least the simple instructions are printed on them.


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 Twitter and/or Facebook.

Skull Photograph

Christophe Dicharry sent us a photo named, "Fruit défendu" ("Forbidden Fruit).

This reminds me of stories of strangers met in dark alleys peddling forbidden "fruits". Dark and alluring are they. Fueled with curiosity and rebellion, you follow them to their liar of wares, only to be tricked and possibly faced with your own death. That which is forbidden is always more attractive than what we are familiar with. The danger and intrigue is fascinating. Though we know there is potential doom, we venture on. This is how some of the greatest discoveries are made. This is also how some of the greatest deaths are made. Sail over the edge, past the horizon. You might return befriending a whale...I mean sea monster.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in today's drawing to win a button just leave a comment below stating: where a skull might lead you...

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

Skulls with Magnetic Personality

Brenda in Del Rio, TX shared what she called “Magneto Skull”


Nico Romero from Argentina said: “These are some Skull desings I made with my NeoCube. These are the best drawings from what I can do with only 251 magnet spheres, he he he”



Polar Opposite C says:

Maybe it is just the metal plate in my skull talking, but I am really attracted to today's skulls. I truly enjoy the idea of using magnets to create skulls since often it is the magnets that do all the work in holding up artwork on our refrigerators. Brenda I like the way you filtered the picture creating a ghostly appearance to what are probably brightly colored magnets. Nico the first one is my favorite, not only do you have a snake like appearance in it, but if you look closely there seems to be a skull in a skull at the center of it. Thank you both for sharing your work with us.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway
To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What attracts you to skulls?

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