"Aaah, the skulls..... you give it all such..oh, I don't know if it's ART! But I LIKE it!" The Joker to Vicki Vale, in the movie BATMAN

Next to the ubiquitous Jack-O-Lantern, skulls and skeletons have got to be the most widely used symbol of Halloween. It is not that difficult to get your hands on good replicas - there are various foam versions, the old standby plastic model by Lindberg, and now of course we have the budget "Bucky" skulls from Anatomical Chart Company, which are an outstanding find for those of us who are "Halloweeniacs." Even the most inexpensive of these, however, isn't something that you'd be willing to chop up and glue into a wall hanging, or a faux pillar, cemetery gatepost, or the likes. For that, you want a good looking skull or partial skull that can be permanently attached to your structure and won't cost an arm and a leg. Well, there is a way you can produce those on your own for a few cents a copy.

You will need at least one of these full three dimensional skulls mentioned above, to act as your "mold." For this explanation, I used a foam skull that I had purchased at Spencer's Gifts a few years back, because I liked the exaggerated cheekbones it had. The next step is to locate a cardboard box that is at least a couple of inches bigger than your skull, both in width and height. Cut a hole in the box that is centered slightly above the center of the box. Don't start with the hole bigger than about three inches across, because you are going to keep expanding the hole and then test-fitting the back of the skull until the skull fits snugly into the hole and leaves about half of the skull (the face) sticking out of the box. You want it to fit snugly because the last thing you want is to have the skull fall through into the box when you are halfway through the project! Now you have your skull lying on your work area face up. This will allow gravity to help when applying the papier-mache.

Tear off a few big sheets of your favorite aluminum foil and, starting at one side of the face, begin to press the foil down over the skull. Press it into the eye and nose cavities, and around the cheekbone ridges, across the teeth, etc. You want the foil to conform as tightly as possible to the contours of the skull because you want to pick up all that detail in your final mache version. Leave at least a one inch "fringe" of foil all around the skull as a sort of "handle" to pick it up by later. One layer of foil is generally enough, but if you happen to tear the foil in any area, you should patch that area with another small piece of foil. It is the foil that keeps the paper mache from sticking to your mold.

When you are done with the foil, you are ready to mix your paper mache. There are many different formulas for paper mache, I use wheat paste, which can be found in most paint stores or Home Depot type stores with the wallpapering supplies. For paper I use regular newspaper cut into strips roughly six inches long and 1" to 1 1/2" wide.

Apply your paper mache, making sure to get it into all the nooks and crannies of the eye sockets, nasal hole, cheek ridges, and around the jaw. As the mache firms up a little, go back over all the areas, pressing down with your fingers across the teeth, jaw bones, and so forth so that the mache is really pressed down flat against the skull and picks up more of the details of the mold. Make sure you cover the fringe around the skull as well. This fringe area is great for gluing or blending the skull into some surface. The foil blocks off air to one side of the mache, so it will dry slowly. You can speed things up with a hair blow dryer, or just leave it overnight to begin firming up. In the morning, you should find just a few spots beginning to look dry. The next part is the only thing that's even mildly tricky in this whole procedure. Begin to carefully slip your hands under the foil, working your fingers in between the foil and your skull model. Carefully loosen the foil from the mold, pulling it away from the cheekbones, nose cavity, etc. Your sculpt will be deforming as you do this, but do not worry about that. You can reshape it once it is loose. Keep working the foil away from the mold until it comes completely free. Now gently start pushing it all back into shape. Use your fingers on the backside of the foil to round the forehead back out, square the jaw back up, and so on. You can also push things around on the front with your fingers because by now the mache shouldn't be sticky anymore. It will take you a couple minutes to get it all back into shape, then set it aside and let it dry completely.

These skull faces are best painted with floral craft spray paint as sold at Michael's, or MJDesgins. If you are attaching it to a gravestone, foam pillar, or fake stone wall, attach the skull first and then paint it right along with whatever you paint the whole structure with. To attach your skull to a structure, I recommend trimming off the fringe and hot gluing it directly to the object. To blend it into the structure, use window or tub caulking material along the joining line and smooth it in with your finger. If you live in a very damp area or you expect it could rain on your skull face, a couple of coats of ordinary shellac before you paint it will make it waterproof.

With some creativity, there are interesting variations that can be tried. Open the jaw up and get a "screaming skull", or put a wreath through his teeth for a mausoleum look. You can also add eyeballs, tongues, vampire fangs and other details once you have mastered the basics. Once you have your box support made, you can pump one out in about 45 minutes, plus drying time. Soon every flat surface in your haunt will have a great looking skull relief, and it will not cost you an arm and a leg.

C. J. Cluster is a career military officer and resides in Southern California and has been constructing home and yard haunts for the past ten years. He can be contacted via Email at CLUSTRCAJJ@aol.com.