Skull Topiary

$50 - $60 (based on 2024 prices)
Makes one topiary

For 2024’s cemetery, I endeavored to create a series of props to elevate the graveyard’s theme. One of them was this skull topiary that was inspired by the mossy skull I made during the same build season. To keep the cost down, I purchased the planter at the end of the summer when the garden supplies were on clearance. You can also buy yours at a second-hand store for a cheaper alternative. 

• One 21” x 15” pedestaled planter 
• One standard-size newspaper
• One sheet of cardboard large enough to trace the outline of the planter’s opening
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• 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 grasshopper*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in neon green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in hunter green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat olive*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One four-foot garland of artificial leaves (roughly thirty leaves per garland)
• Three 0.12 lbs. bags of mixed moss
• Five human-size plastic skulls
• Two small plastic rat skeletons
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• Four artificial mushrooms with wire stems

1. Use newspaper or foam padding to fill the planter’s opening. You want to thoroughly pack the material into the open space to create a solid base for the topiary. Also, depending on the weight of your planter, you may want to put heavy rocks in the bottom to prevent it from being top heavy. Do not make them too heavy, though, because this can make the prop tough to lift.

2. Trace the outline of the planter’s opening on a sheet of cardboard and cut it out. To give the illusion the planter is full of dirt, glue the cardboard near the top, forming a base for you to build the topiary.  

3. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the entire planter one or two even coats of black spray paint. You can apply more layers; however, keep in mind that this is the base coat and much of it will be covered by the other colors.

4. Use a stippling brush to build up layers of gray and white paint, working from dark to light to give the prop the look of stone. If one color becomes too overpowering, you can apply more of the other color to dial it back.  

5. To age the prop, water down brown paint and brush it along the edge of the planter, allowing it to run downward and settle into the fissures. Following this, use the stippling brush to pat olive paint randomly onto the prop to mimic moss. How much of both colors you apply depends on your chosen level of weathering.

6. Coat the cardboard with a light layer of glue and adhere the moss. For additional detail, you can also add clusters of moss to the sides of the planter; but, if you do so, try to use discretion because this feature can easily overpower the prop.

7. Working from dark to light, use a stippling brush to build up layers of grasshopper, hunter green, neon green, and olive paint. Do not overthink the application because a random pattern will look more natural. Then, stipple brown and gray paint onto the skulls’ surfaces for further depth. As with the green paint, you want a random application. If any of the colors becomes too heavy, you can use some of the other hues to dial them back.  

8. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the skeletons with the wood stain. Start by covering the entire prop with a light coat and then apply heavy amounts of the stain, patting away the excess with paper towels. Once the skeletons completely dry, darken the inside of their ribcages and accent their joints with black paint.

9. Arrange the first layer of skulls on the mossy base. Since they will form the foundation for the topiary, you want something level and stable, so you may need to play with their position until you achieve this. For added visual interest, position a rat skeletons inside one of the mouths and glue everything in place.  

10. Use the leaves and moss to build up layers of foliage around the skulls. Concentrate their placement on locations where growth would naturally occur, such as inside the openings of the eyes or along the broad surfaces of the crown. To achieve this, cover small areas of the skulls with glue and press loose moss into the paste.  

11. Add the second layer of skulls, positioning them so they stack upward into a pyramid-like structure. Then, accent them with clusters of leaves and moss. As with the previous step, adhere the greenery to spots where it would typically grow and use a variety of colors to give the prop more visual interest.

12. Use a 1/8 bit to drill holes into the skulls and insert the wire supports for the mushrooms into the openings, gluing them in place and clustering additional moss around their bases to hide the juncture. Although I used store-bought mushrooms to save time, you can fabricate your own with modeling clay molded around a steel wire for support.  

13. Glue the second rat skeleton atop one of the skulls. If you plan to display the prop outdoors in windy conditions, use superglue for added stability.

14. I kept the prop relatively simple, but you can embellish it further with additional details, like a cluster of insects crawling across its surface.

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

"Small Hours of the Night" (A Poem)

Akin to Christina Rossetti’s “Remember,” Roque Dalton’s poem “Small Hours of the Night” discusses the mourning process, asking the grieving not to speak his name but happier words, like flower or bee. A renowned revolutionary, Dalton fought against the military regime in El Salvador, escaping prison when an earthquake destroyed the outer wall of his jail cell and undergoing plastic surgery in the 1970s to prevent himself from being identified.[1]

When you know I’m dead don’t say my name
because then death and peace would have to wait.

Your voice, the bell of your five senses, would form
the thin beam of light my mist would be looking for.

When you know I’m dead, say other words.
Say flower, bee, teardrop, bread, storm.

Don’t let your lips find my eleven letters.
I’m sleepy, I’ve loved, I’ve earned silence.

Don’t say my name when you know I’m dead:
I would come out of the dark ground for your voice.

Don’t say my name, don’t say my name.
When you know I’m dead don’t say my name.[2]

Works Referenced

Brown, Janice, Beverly Ann Cin, Rosa Fonseca, Kay Licona, William Ray, and Jacqueline Jones Royster. Hispanic American Literature. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Dalton, Roque. “Small Hours of the Night.” Small Hours of the Night: Selected Poems of Roque Dalton. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1996. 47.
____________________
[1] Brown, Cin, Fonseca, Licona, Ray, and Royster, 250
[2] Dalton, 47.

Witch Necklace

$10 - $15 (based on 2025 prices) 
Makes one necklace

 

To kickstart the build on my full-standing witch, I decided to begin with a few simple decorative aspects: a hat, a necklace, and a shawl. These would give me the momentum and inspiration to work on the larger figure. For this prop, I drew inspiration from the necklace I made to accessorize the scarecrow costume for 2016’s haunted farm theme. Due to its simplicity, the necklace can be modified in a variety of ways to cater it to your needs as a decorative touch for either a costume or prop. For instance, you can enhance it further with the addition of chicken feathers or weathered beads 

• One yard of brown twine
• Three small plastic bones
• Two vinyl fingers
• Four vinyl mice
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in Jacobean*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat beige*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat pink*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*

1. On a newspaper-lined surface, apply three even coats of beige paint to the fingers and three even coats of white paint to the mice. Although I used three, you may want more or less based on your desired coverage.

2. Once the paint dries, detail the mice’s ears, feet, and tails with pink paint and apply smudges of the hue to the fingers, concentrating primarily on the tips and around the knuckles. Use your own skin patterns or those found in a medical textbook for reference. Also, I discovered that applying a small amount of paint to your thumb and index finger and rubbing it onto the prop works well.

3. Darken the mice’s eyes with red paint. Following this, paint the nails on both fingers white, allowing the paint to fully dry before smudging red paint around the cuticles. You may want to pat the excess with a paper towel to blend it into the pink.

4. Gently drybrush gray paint over the raised portions of the mice’s backs to give the fur further depth. For the fingers, cover the severed ends with several even coats of red paint and, using a brush with splayed bristles, apply a smattering of the hue up the sides. For additional detail, you can create random abrasions along the fingers.

5. To mute the pink on the mice’s ears, feet, and tails, pat a light layer of beige paint onto their surfaces. As with step two, it works best if you apply a small amount of paint to your fingers and use them to work the hue onto the prop.  

6. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the bones with the wood stain. I started with the red chestnut as a base and then dabbed Jacobean around the edges to darken them. This gave them a meaty appearance which made them look fresh.

7. Arrange the items in your desired order and use the twine to tie them all together. You can aim for symmetry as I did – evenly spacing each item and alternating their placement – or strive for chaos by clustering pieces together and leaving irregular spaces between them. Once you are done, leave about a foot of excess twine on either side. This will permit you to adjust the necklace’s size to fit around the wearer’s head.

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