Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.32

This week's round of simulacra all come from looking down. You might think that looking down is nothing special, but it's the way I was looking when I found $20 one day. These three folks were lucky enough to find a skull when they scanned the terra firma beneath their feet.

Joe Hollis of Springfield, Ma, "found this at work, a spot on the floor looked like a toon skull but the left eye of the spot also looks like a skull."



Sherrie walked upon this one. "I found this little mushroom skully as I was hiking on Thanksgiving morning on the Beaver Trail of Pinchot State Park in South Central Pennsylvania. I saw it and immediately saw SKULL!"



And Terri Schlichenmeyer of LaCrosse, WI, "found this skull this morning in the driveway. It's 3 below zero with sun. The combination on a black asphalt pavement left this image."



Thanks to all of you skull hunters out there for the finds. Keep them coming to the submissions inbox and don't forget that since we only do this once a week it may take a little longer before it gets posted.

"Axiom" Skull

Every day that I spend being an editor on Skull-A-Day brings me the pleasure of spreading the wonderful skull art that so many of us enjoy. But, every once in a while I get to have the ultimate pleasure of passing along some mind blowing art that must be seen whether you are a fan of skulls or not. Let me present to you, The Art Phantastique of David Gough. He graciously submits his painting titled "Axiom". It is part of a series that he is working on called "Theothanatos".



There are many more works of wonderment at his site: David Gough Art . Thank you, David!

[Flashback Friday] 147. Cork Skull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. Each week I'll be posting an 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 of the project...

#21: 147. Cork Skull
I always thought this guy looked a little Frankenstein like, I guess the heavy brow and flat top helped with that. Cork is both brittle and spongy making it a pain to carve, though Tatman managed to subvert that issue by making one out of a new synthetic cork!

Sugar Skulls on Paper

This week I have been showing off new work from old friends. Today’s Skull comes from Sam Snoek-Brown who has previously contributed to our Sunday Simulacra feature here and here.

Sam wrote: “We weren’t sure to what extent we were going to celebrate Halloween this year because live in a Muslim country and there are only a few American kids in our apartment building, but everyone who lives in our building decided to make the holiday as much fun for the kids as possible. To that end, I made a lot of homemade decorations out of construction paper, including these paper ‘sugar skulls’ (which I left up through Dia de los Muertos). The ones in the top row are the ones I decorated; the bottom row my wife, Jennifer, decorated. The blanks one in the middle—I made a ton of those and gave them to the kids to decorate themselves, and they loved them so much they left their paper skulls hanging in the hallway for a week afterward.”


Lemonade C says:

That is really a wonderful story. I think the holiday meant that much more to the kids that you took the time for them to make these decorations for them. It would be wonderful to see some more of the other finished skull if you happened to have taken more pictures. Thanks for being part of Skull-A-Day and best wishes for the New Year.

Sudsy's Skulls

One of Queensland, Austarlia's best graffiti artists "Sudsy" presents us with a couple of cool paintings he's done inside the studio.





I really like these, but to really appreciate Sudsy's color work check out his blog. Thanks, Sudsy!

Sweater Skulls

Last Fall the Skullmaster featured Sibling, a knitwear company in England, here when they used one of his original skulls on a sweater. In staying with my theme for the week of new work from old friends here are some more skully designs from our friends at Sibling.




Itchy C says:

Such amazing work. The last one is by far my favorite, does it come in black? Thank you for showing off the talented work you produce while blurring the lines between fashion and art.

Tuesdays With Tatman #31

Once upon a time I had aspirations of becoming a tattoo artist. After I determined that I need A LOT more practice I decided that less permanent art was the way to go. I used to draw all types of symmetrical tribal pieces and I thought that a skull would be a great way to revisit that art.



I may get this tattooed on myself at some point, but if anyone else beats me to it then feel free to submit a pic of it.

[BONUS]

In case any of you may be wondering what this looks like etched onto a pint glass, well here you go.



I put this onto a pint glass as a gift for a friend of mine. If you like this, or maybe want an official Skull-A-Day glass, then please visit my site for Tatman's Glass. Thanks.

Each Tuesday in the 3.0 year will bring a new Tuesday With Tatman. As a tribute to the Skull Master's astounding feat let's all get creative and try something new(and hopefully skull related).

Shell Skull

"I thought of this when I saw one of those sea worn shells... how much it looks like a skull!", writes Henry Ryder.



I think that instead of turning over a new leaf this year I'm going to turn over a new shell. Thanks for the awesome illustration, Henry.

C-Rations: 0C11111

This week’s offering is Confetti .

“Father Time” 18" X 18" paper confetti arranged.

Custodian C says:

Got one final glimpse of Old Man 2009 before he disappeared for good, and with his departure the solar year begins again. Happy New Year everyone.

Remember each Monday during the 3.0 year I am posting an original skull design. My weekly offerings are nothing compared to the one-a-day massive project done by the Skullmaster in 1.0, but hopefully you will find some nourishment in these weekly offerings.

Old Acquaintance Skulls

This is the first post for the week after the New Year, I thought I would transition into 2010 with some new work from some of our old friends.

The first comes from Yann Roirand, who is studying Art & Design in Sunderland, England. Yann’s old piece can be found here.



Next up is Kitty Valentine from London England who had some great work showcased here and here.



Last today is Mauro Bignami from Malnate, Lombardia, ITALY who’s food skull can be found here.



Auld Lang C says:

It is always great to see old friends. Thank you for taking the time to think of us again. Happy New Year to you all. Thanks also for helping us set a New Year’s Resolutions to make more art. For the rest of our readers out there, if you have only been watching and never took the time to submit, 2010 should be your year we welcome all who wish to participate by submitting here.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.31

♫ Been around the world and skull, skull, skull ♫

Staffan Vilcans said: “I found this one in the Stockholm metro. It's in the older type trains.”


André Henriques Found this at Santa Cruz city - Madeira Island, Portugal.


Sam Snoek-Brown wrote: “We visited Vienna a couple of weeks ago and were looking at the huge Maria Theresia statue in the Maria-Theresien-Platz, and I noticed that because of oxidation and the failing evening light, one of the ministers posed around the base of the statue had picked up a skully sort of ‘mask,’ so with you in mind I grabbed the picture as best I could in the dark.”



C. Diddy says:

From Sweden to Portugal and on to Austria, skulls are all around us as you can see by a sampling of the world in which we live. Thank you all for submitting these simlacraian examples.


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.

Ceramic Plate Skulls

These ceramic plates come from Bob Bianco. The skulls are actually on the backside, but we know were to focus our attention.

Back


Front


Back


Front


Thanks for sharing these, Bob. Since you were nice enough to provide the plates for your friends, perhaps they'll be nice enough to provide the food.

[Flashback Friday] 112. Construction Barrier Skull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. Each week I'll be posting an 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 of the project...

#22: 112. Construction Barrier Skull

I was in NYC on a business trip and knowing I had to make a skull, was on a constant lookout for possible materials/locations. I saw this construction barrier while on may way from one meeting to another and didn't have the time or materials to work with it, but I noted the location. Then when I was done with my meetings I went and got a piece of black construction paper and cut out the nose, guessing at the size that would work to make this skull complete. I came back up the area and prepared the back of the nose with loops of tape so that all I had to do was walk up, stick it on and step back to photograph. The bonus of things like this in NYC is that no one seemed to care at all what I was up to. And yes, I did leave this one for others to discover!

Laundry Skull

President Wishnack wrote: “ ‘Death to Laundry!’ i despise the act of laundry-doing and i thought a little procrastination might make the process a little bit more pleasant.”

Dry Clean C says:

I enjoyed seeing this picture, it reminds me of all the times I would sit staring at my pile of laundry and hope it would do itself. This is an amazing piece of work, you took a medium that was so out of the ordinary to create with and made something truly amazing with it. I know you received the Skullmaster's seal of approval on this one. Thank you so much for taking the time to submit your work.

Screaming Skull Bag

The terrifying fun never has to end if you're a fan of classic B and horror movies. Julia Griffin of www.b-moviebags.com sends us a pic of her favorite hand painted leather purse. One of many that she offers on her site.



Of course the skull bag would be my favorite also, but if I were a woman, I might consider toting around the Creature From The Black Lagoon as well. Great stuff, Julia. Thanks for sharing.

Embroidered Skull

Lauren from Lo-Fi Creations sent us this skull piece she made for her friend Peabe.


Detail

Grill C says:

I am sure your friend enjoyed this as much as we did just seeing it. Thank you for submitting your work .

Tuesdays With Tatman #30

There's a new utensil overlooking the goings on in my kitchen.



I carved this "skatula?" with my trusty dremel tool. Is there anything it can't do? Well, except maybe flip skull pancakes. That's where the skatula comes in handy.

Each Tuesday in the 3.0 year will bring a new Tuesday With Tatman. As a tribute to the Skull Master's astounding feat let's all get creative and try something new(and hopefully skull related).

Pecan Pancke Skull

Pudge is back at it with a tasty breakfast he recently had. He writes, "I don't know if anyone has made a pancake skull yet, but I was eating breakfast this morning and saw inspiration. My wife, Shannon, made pecan pancakes and he tasted just as good as he looked. I wanted to make cross bones out of bacon, but we had sausage instead. Enjoy."



Actually, the Skull Master has made vegan skull pancakes in the past, however, they did not have the nutty goodness that yours possessed. Pudge, if you still crave bacon crossbones then just go here. And what's wrong with sausage crossbones?

[UPDATE] 374. Snow (Day) Skull: MELTDOWN

I've been documenting the demise of the snow skull that I made with my friend Paul from DudeCraft. Generally snow doesn't last very long in Richmond and it almost never comes this early in the season, so it wasn't a big surprise that it's almost entirely gone in just over a week, though I was impressed how long it retained its original shape despite several days of intense sun.

Two days old...

Four days old...

Six days old...

Seven days old, after a major rain storm came through town...

Nine days old...

I'm guessing there won't be much of anything to photograph in two more days. It was fun while it lasted! FYI the original post, with "making of" photos can be found HERE.

C-Rations: 0C11110

This week’s offering is Coal and Conifer.

“Naughty List” 10" X 7.5" West Virginia Coal and recycled spruce branches arranged.

Stocking C says:

As this holiday season wraps up for another year, I thought I would share one final holiday tradition with you, the Christmas Stocking. When I awoke Christmas morning, I found my stocking filled with coal. You know what I always say... When life gives you coal, make diamonds.

Remember each Monday during the 3.0 year I am posting an original skull design. My weekly offerings are nothing compared to the one-a-day massive project done by the Skullmaster in 1.0, but hopefully you will find some nourishment in these weekly offerings.