Skull Preparation

Preparing the skulls for use in my Dia de los Muertos pieces requires making the skulls, baking them and then antiquing them with Ne-opaque brown paint, it is a wonderful, creamy, smooth, light bodied acrylic paint that works fantastic with the Cernit. This is Opaque White that I am using. I use a pretty large stencil brush as you can see from the picture; the skulls are about ¾”. I dip the end of the brush into the lid of the paint jar and apply the paint to the skulls. I prefer a kind of stiff brush like this to get in to the cracks and the eye sockets. I cover all the skulls I have with paint this way, or if I have a lot, I do 10 at a time and then I take a ratty old dish towel, dampen it (key word dampen, not soak) and wipe off the excess paint. I then drill the holes in the side of the heads and wire in to my pieces.