Baseball Bat Skull

$30 - $40 (based on 2019 prices)

Makes one skull

 

Back in 2017, my office selected a demented circus theme for our annual decorating competition. The contest gave me an opportunity to tackle one of the two subjects I swore I would never touch: clowns. By drawing inspiration from turn-of-the-century travelling shows, I was able to focus on a twisted carnival idea that did not relying too heavily on clowns. In 2019, the haunt’s venue elected to do its own carnival concept, which gave me a second chance to revisit the idea. Utilizing the same inspiration, I expanded on the props made for 2017 and applied a more twisted slant. This particular prop was part of the games display – a macabre allotment of traditional carnival games with a gory slant.

• One human-size plastic skull
• One plastic baseball bat (about two feet in length)
• One roll of painter’s tape
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint flat white*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One roll of colorful wrapping paper (roughly seventeen square feet)
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat brown*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One small, white ping pong ball (1 3/8” in diameter)
• One 0.44 oz. bottle of clear nail polish*
• One 0.3 fluid ounce bottle of red food coloring*
• One 4 oz. bottle of clear, all-purpose tacky glue gel*

1. Remove the mandible from the skull and hot glue it agape to create a screaming face. To aid the process, use a sturdy object – a glass jar or tin can – to support the skull as the glue dries. You may need to apply multiple coats to ensure a firm hold.

2. Use a sharp knife to cut the baseball bat in half. If it helps, measure and mark your cut first. Also, purchase a bat that is made of thin plastic. This will not only make it easier to cut, but prevent the prop from being too top heavy.

3. Adhere the two cut ends of the bat to the skull using either hot glue or superglue. You can position them however you desire. For my version, the end jutted out of the right eye and the handle protruded from the back of the head. To improve stability, cut openings into the skull large enough to accommodate the bat portions and insert their cut ends into the holes.

4. To create the classic red-and-white-striped circus pattern, begin by taping off sections of the bat pieces with painter’s tape. To speed up the process, purchase a red bat (or a white bat and use red spray paint in step five).

5. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give both sections of the bat two even coats of white spray paint (or red, if you purchased a white bat). Do not worry too much if the paint gets of the skull, since it will be covered with wrapping paper in step seven.

6. Once the paint has dried, carefully remove the painter’s tape and, to clean up the spaces between the stripes, paint black bands. During this step, you can also paint the portions covered by the tape an alternate color before applying the black bands.

7. Cut or tear apart the wrapping paper. You can either isolate distinct images or use random sections (as I did). Cover the entire surface of the skull with the cuttings. This process works best if you move in stages: apply a layer of glue to one section, press the paper down until it sticks, and repeat the process.

8. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, dust the skull and bat sections with a light coat of black and brown spray paint to add age and distress. To give the appearance of dirt, hold the can over twelve inches away from the skull’s surface and make quick flicking motions. You can also apply a flecking of black paint and smears of brown paint to enhance the weathered appearance.

9. Apply a couple coats of clear nail polish to the ping pong ball to give it a glossy appearance and glue it into the skull’s eye socket. I decided to keep the eye a ghostly white; however, you could paint irises and pupils on it for a more whimsical look. Also, to aid in the painting process, create a small stand to hold the ball (I used an upturned paper plate with a hole cut into it).

10. In a plastic container (because the food coloring will stain, use something disposable or that you won’t mind dying), pour in your desired amount of clear glue gel and slowly add red food coloring to the solution until it achieves the sanguine hue you desire. To give the blood further density, add blue food coloring and mix well.

11. On a newspaper-lined surface, apply the blood glue to the prop and allow it to fully dry. You can use an old spoon or plastic utensil to strategically dripple the liquid along chosen areas (e.g. around the openings of the eyes and nose and pooled about the areas where the bat portions protrude from the skull) or pour it haphazardly for a gory mess.

12. You can enhance the prop’s creepiness by gluing clusters of bugs to its surface or writing words like fun and play in red paint along its features.

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