While shopping one day at a big box store I noticed some paper mache skulls that were on sale in the Halloween section. I did not purchase them at that moment. Upon going home, I could not get the idea out of my head to create my own "sugar skull" with one of these. I went back the next day and bought two skulls all for the bargain price of three dollars. I knew I wanted to incorporate some flowers for dimension, so I also bought a few stems that were on sale. Here is what I created.
I started by simply coating the skulls with a very heavy duty gesso. I then aged the skulls with a "magical potion" that was given to me by a colleague at work. I have no idea what it is, I only know that it is a homemade concoction that she uses in her Mexican folk art. It provides the perfect aged look to any piece.
I then planned out my use of flowers and glued them on. Very simple really.
Then came the stickels, and I mean a lot of stickels. I wanted these pieces to have a lot of texture and a bit of shine, so this is the medium I decided to try. This took some time and some patience. Stickels take a long time to dry, so I could only add a little "doodling" at a time, for fear of messing it up. I did not plan the whole design out, just added my different line patters bit by bit.
I hope this entry inspires you to try something new with stickels or skulls. I am truly amazed that my perception of skulls has changed so much due to learning more about Day of the Dead and by creating beauty from something I would not normally gravitate too. Because of this project, I am also using stickels in a few more works in progress and I am really happy with the results. What do you think???
Cheers,
Rhea
