Floral Skulls

$15 - $20 (based on 2017 prices)

Makes two skulls

 

Some projects progressively spiral into a chaotic mess and, even following completion, remain a disaster. This was the case for these floral skulls, made for 2017’s haunt. From the pain of lining the skulls’ interiors with fabric to the exhaustive act of individually gluing flowers to their surfaces, I grew to hate these props with every step. Despite my intense distaste, they were a popular feature of the haunt, which is why I have chosen to include them here on the blog.

• Two hollow plastic skulls
• On yard of white fabric
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• Artificial flowers in multiple colors and sizes (e.g. daises, geraniums, lilacs, peonies, zinnias)
• Two LED tealights

1. Cut the fabric into two 15” x 15” squares. Depending on the size of your skulls, you may need to adjust this measurement. You will want enough cloth to adequately line the inside of the skulls. Also, select a fabric thick enough to prevent the light from bleeding through and reflective enough to cast the light out of the openings of the eyes and nose.

2. Beginning at the back of the skull, glue the fabric to the inner cavity. This process works best if you move in stages: apply glue to small spots, press the cloth to the area until it sticks, and then repeat with a neighboring area. Once the entire surface has been covered, cut out the openings of the eyes and nose and glue the fabric’s edges to their circumferences. To be honest, the entire procedure took four hours (two for each skull) and would be unnecessary if you purchase hollow skulls without openings other than the eyes and nose.

3. Starting at the back of the skulls, hot glue the artificial flowers to their surfaces, working the blooms around the eyes and noses and leaving the space around the teeth free. As you do so, build up layers and vary the color patterns so that flowers with the same hues and shapes are not concentrated in one area.

4. Once the skulls have been covered, outline their teeth with black paint (or a hue that complements the color scheme). This will help reinforce that they are skulls, especially if the floral arrangement is rather dense.

5. The props can be enhanced further with details like butterflies, colorful beads, or sticks dusted with glittery spray paint to cater them to your haunt’s specific needs.

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