Corpse Skull

$10 - $15 (based on 2024 prices)
Makes one skull

I spent some time during the summer of 2024 experimenting with corpsing techniques. I have never been a fan of the plastic-and-heatgun method, specifically because of the toxic fumes it creates. So, I decided to find alternate processes. Building on the tactic I used to make the fake leather for Hugh Crane’s book, I used papier mache and tissue paper. The results turned out better than I expected and, with a little more refining, it can become an effective alternative.

• One human-size plastic skull
• One 8 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue
• One newspaper (roughly twenty pages)
• Three to four sheets of white tissue paper (20” x 20” per sheet)
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat tan*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the skull, removing any decorative elements to give the glue a clean surface to adhere to. For aesthetic purposes, I chose just to corpse the cranium and saved the jaw for another project; however, you can corpse both, gluing the jaw agape for a gnarled look.

2. Make the papier mache paste by mixing ½ cup of glue and ½ cup of water in a bowl. Try to use a sealable container. This gives you the ability to store the mixture for a day or two between applications. Then, cut the newspaper into strips, soak them in the paste, and apply them to the skull. To make the process more manageable, keep the strips at a reasonable size and only apply a few layers at a time, allowing each layer to fully dry before adding more.

3. Once you have built up the facial features, repeat the process in step two with tissue paper, using it to create wrinkled flesh, mangled tissue around the mouth and nose, and wounds along the crown of the skull. How much paper you use depends on how wrinkled you want the skin, so you may need more sheets of tissue paper if you plan for a rumpled appearance.

4. After the final layer of tissue paper dries, give the skull two to three coats of tan paint and the teeth and any exposed bone a coat or two of white. This gives the prop a uniform base and helps cover any of the newspaper which is still visible. Although I used acrylic paint for this process, the time-pressed haunted can utilize tan spray paint for a quicker application.

5. Working from dark to light, stipple brown and gray paint onto the skull to make the flesh look aged. Try not to overthink your application because a random application will look more natural and give the skull extra visual interest.

6. To mute the colors and add further depth, apply a wash of black paint to the skin, ensuring the liquid settles into all the cracks and fissures. You may want to experiment with the consistency prior to doing this: the more water you add, the fainter/lighter the wash; the less water you add, the deeper/darker the wash.

7. Using the same methods in step six, build up washes of black and brown paint – working from light to dark – to age the teeth and any exposed bone. You can also use a fine-tipped brush to outline the spaces between the teeth and where they connect to the skull with black paint.  

8. Paint the insides of the nose black and then, using a razor blade, make a slit for the eye and darken its interior with black paint. The second half of this step is entirely optional, but it gives the skull more character.  

9. If you want, you can embellish the skill with additional details, such as worms crawling out of its eye or patches of hair, to cater the prop to your haunt’s needs.

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