There is a Skull in my Plate!

 

Hello dears, it’s Natassa here with a fun project for Spooktober Week 3 “Day of the Dead”. And what could be more iconic symbol for Día de los Muertos that sugar skulls.

So, I tried to think of a cheerful project, that you could easily do together with your kids and create the cutest creepy décor for a Halloween party.

Sugar Skull Party Plates

Below, I have got a video tutorial for you, where I’m showing exactly how I created my sugar skull plates. What is clever about this project, is that since you use clear plastic plates and do all the decorating on the back side, they are perfectly safe to put food in them! 

https://youtu.be/CVTYe4AhpVQ

For this project, I used first of all Andy Skinner’s “Sugar Skull” rubber stamp by Creative Expressions. I stamped many skulls on regular printers paper and colored them with alcohol markers. I fussy cut the skulls and glued them on the center of the back side of the plates with matte medium. Let them dry very well. If you are ipmatient like me, you can use a hair drier, set to cold air, so that the plastic plates do not warp from the heat.

Then, I chose to paint the plates with Andy Skinner’s CS Matt Chalk Paints, because I needed opaque colors with a good grip on a non-porous surface such as plastic.

For the decoration of the plates’ bases, I also used Andy Skinner’s Stencils and a couple of acrylic permanent markers in black, white, and gold.

What you have to keep in mind is the order you put the skull and the colors. First you want to glue the skull cutout , then make the background design either with a stencil or do some doodling, then the background color and lastly a layer of black chalk paint or black gesso to seal everything. That black color makes the other layers pop up.

Lastly, a couple of layers of Andy Skinner’s CS Super Matt Varnish, will protect the paint from chipping off. And if you want to give your plates a more luxurious look, you can dry brush some golden acrylic paint on the black paint, just before the varnish.

I really hope you find this project fun and try it yourselves. Remember the Spooktober Challenge by Creative Expressions is still open. You can visit the group’s FB page, upload your spooky projects and tag them #cespooktober, so we can find them. 

Thanks for stopping by. You all keep safe 

Hugs from Greece

Natassa

👻🎃💀

Andy Skinner Creative Expressions

Chalk paints

Stencils

Kaleidoscope, In a While Crocodile, Flying Coins, Let it Rain

Super Matt Varnish

Other Supplies

Ranger Archival Ink 

Black gesso

Matte Medium

Golden Acrylic paint

Acrylic markers

Alcohol markers

1/2" and 1" Flat brushes

Soft sponge

Clear plastic party plates

Regular 80gsm printers paper

Sugar Skull Jewellery - by Nikki K

 Morning everyone, 

It's been a while since I posted, but wanted to share these fun necklaces with you using Andy's fab Sugar Skull stamp, which is a great size for cards and art, but also for jewellery, it makes a large necklace easily.  It's also great for coming Halloween, to make your own decorations!

I used some of Andy's Rice Papers, and stamped the skull out in different places.  This is fun as you can use any of the rice papers and get a fab different pattern on each skull.

The next bit is tricky, you need to leave the skulls on the paper, and wind some wire, probably 18 to 20 guage (it's slightly more pliable), around the skull.  I cut a long piece, then start at the bottom of the skull, and work my way up both sides.  Keep it flat on the paper, and glue with strong glue as you go.  You will need to hold this for longer than you think, and get sticky fingers.. lol.  Don't hold it down with anything other than your fingers as the paper has a chance of sticking and ripping.

When you get to the top, bend one piece of wire straight (90%) and make a large loop (like making an earring).  I would cut the wire a bit shorter for this step, but not so short that it can't be hidden.  Take the other end of the wire, and wrap around the loop to hold and secure.  Only when this has completely dried, did I cut out close to the wire on the outside.

Once you have this done, cover the whole of the front of the pendant with glue (pva) is fine.  Do this 2 or 3 times, making sure there are no gaps between the edges of the wire and the paper.  You are making a bezel to hold resin.  If you don't have resin, you could use melted UTEE, or another 3d Glaze.

When completely dry from the glue, you can add your resin or glaze, according to manufacturer's instructions.

You don't need to coat the back of the necklace, it has a rough texture but is sealed from the layers of glue anyway.  I like it this way as it shows it is handmade.

Hope you like them, 

Have fun making. xx

Nikki K.

xx

Products Used:
Andy Skinner Creative Expressions Sugar Skull Stamp
Andy Skinner Creative Expressions Rice Papers,
Andy Skinner Quick Grab Glue.

Other items: Versafine, Resin, jewellery wire & findings.