Voodoo Skull

$15 - $20 (based on 2015 prices)

Makes one skull

No voodoo-themed haunt is complete without a bevy of snakes and painted skulls. For this project, I decided to combine both, weaving a snake around a skull decorated with cryptic symbols. Although I added button eyes for additional detail, you can embellish the prop with other features: a few plumes of chicken feathers, some dried herbs, or a strand of beads (see the voodoo beads how-to).

• One life-size resin skull
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• Two buttons large enough to fit inside the skull’s eye sockets
• One yard of light brown twine
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One 0.07 oz. tube of super glue
• One long rubber snake

1. With a pencil, sketch voodoo-like symbols onto the skull. I chose a mixture of astrological signs and some of my own creation. Drawing the images in pencil first allows you to erase mistakes before permanently painting them.

2. Trace over the pencil markings with black and red paint (you can use different colors based on your theme). One or two coats are enough. You want the symbols to look haphazardly painted by an old voodoo priestess, not pristine and precisely applied by a yard haunter.

3. Paint the inside of the eye sockets and nose black to darken their appearance.

4. Cut the twine into four nine-inch sections and thread them through the buttons. To give the prop more character, do not use matching buttons. Rather, select two random pieces which have different colors, patterns, and sizes.

5. For each button, wrap two lengths of the twine around the zygomatic arch and zygomatic process of the frontal bone. Pull the strings taut, knot them, trim the excess, and glue the knot with tacky glue to reinforce it. It may help to have a second set of hands assist you during this step.

6. Stretch the third string across the nasion and the fourth down the frontal process of the maxilla into the nasal cavity. Ensure that the buttons are centered inside the eye sockets and super glue the third and fourth strings into place. Here, too, a second set of hands can prove useful.

7. Weave the snake through the right zygomatic arch, down into the mouth, and up through the left zygomatic arch. You will want to leave enough of the tail and head to wrap around the top of the skull.

8. Coil the snake around the top of the skull. You may want to play with its positioning to achieve a natural look before super gluing it into place. Try to elevate the head during this process. To do this, I rested it atop the tail at a slight angle.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.