You are going to be seeing a lot of Sugar Skulls in the next little while on here. It is a huge hit in the studio and there is a lot of excitement in October knowing I will bring the project out in the studio.
If you have time, you could do this with any type of air dry clay. However I use an oven baked clay so the project can be completed in the hour and a half time frame.
I will do a post soon with all the directions on how to do this at home. I have no doubt your kids will love it as much as all my "kids" in the studio.
But for now, I want to focus on the world's sweetest little girl and her eighth birthday party.
She wanted to make Sugar Skulls and with a wide age range of friends, I knew it would be a great project.
Each person first made a clay sculpture of a skull. I have a few skulls I have picked up at Michael's for the kids to reference while making them but without doubt their creations are much more interesting than the store bought versions every time.
(birthday girl)
The birthday girl created a pair even! No skull should have to be without their pet cat by their side! And as you can see, a couple of kids really went off the beaten path and created animal skulls. I love them!
When they finish the clay work, I stick them in the oven for fifteen minutes and then transfer them to the freezer for another five to ten minutes until they are warm, but not so hot the kids cannot handle them. During this time, the birthday girl and her friends enjoyed cake and LOTS of candy.
Lots and lots of candy!
It was a Halloween themed party after all.
When the skulls were cool enough for the kids to hold, I brought out some reference materials I pulled off the internet of sugar skull designs to inspire everyone. I stress to each of them that by no means should they just copy it but use the reference as a jumping off point for their own ideas. By all means they should pick elements of many different designs that they like to mix with their own.
I thought the one below was quite remarkable. She was a high school exchange student from Germany living with the family. She put so much detail into the work, I wanted to make sure I shared the front and back of the skull.
I always love how differently people interpret the project. This is the other high school exchange student living with the family from China. It is the first time she will celebrate Halloween and I love the ying/yang nature of her design.
Once they have finished laying in a design with black permanent markers, I bring out the color markers for them to begin adding color. Then if time allows, which it did, I bring out some tissue paper to add flowers and I happened to have just enough rhinestones for each person to add one to their skull if they wanted.
The kids were all quite excited with their work and eager to share their creations with their parents. I believe it is safe to say the Halloween birthday party was a big success from the smiles and tummies full of candy that left the studio.
Happy Birthday Miss M!!! I absolutely loved getting to share in your special day.
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