Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.50

Today's simulacrum come from our very own Skull Master, Noah Scalin.

He noticed this somewhat surprised skull in a paper creation from Charles T. Mayer...

... as well as this skullrific gift box!

Almost 7 years after starting Skull-A-Day Noah still sees those sneaky skulls hiding around us everyday. With your help and watchful eyes maybe we can continue presenting these for another 7 years. Jut make sure you submit them to us and we'll continue to post them. Thanks for showing us your finds(again), Noah!

"Good Friend"

French artist BL67 paints a wonderful picture of a "Good Friend".  This acrylic on canvas painting of a dog who was "man's best friend" has turned 180 degrees on the former master.

Nervous as he may be, he can't turn down the attention.  Perhaps he simply misses the feeling of flesh on his bones, or maybe it's because he can't run away without any muscles.  None the less it's a great painting that we thank you for sharing, BL67!

Ink Skull

Vienna, Austria based artist Michael Tripolt, a member of the Austrian art- and design collective ATZGEREI, sent us this ink-drawing he completed in April 2013.

Sigmund C says:

There is a dream like feeling to this piece, it has part feeling of woodblock print and part feeling of a comic illustration.  I am imagining that this skull as having been discover floating in outer space many millinium from now by a space archeologist. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

[CONTEST REMINDER] Win a Metal Skull with Brain Pendant from Anatomical Element

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks for participating!

Don't forget you have until 11:59pm Eastern USA Time Friday, May 17, 2013, to enter the giveaway from Anatomical Elements for a Skull Pendant. You can find the original contest post by clicking the side bar ad, or this link.

[NOTE: If you are reading this on Facebook or Google+, you must go to THE ACTUAL BLOG POST HERE to enter this contest! You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+]

Skull Whistles

Howard Kistler of Tabula Retina Studio is "a glass and clay crafter who has recently started making ceramic whistles. The skull whistles have been warmly received, and are a lot of fun to make. Here is a photo of the latest batch, a trio affectionately named Manet, Meau, and Jacques (The Ded Boys).

These skull whistles remind me of the death whistles I read about recently. They were used by various Central America tribes, but the reason for them has been lost. Perhaps they were for some type of death ritual, or possibly buried with bodies in case the people were not truly dead. In Victorian times, many bodies were buried with a bell's string tied to them, or a horn added to the coffin, because they were incapable of determining the difference between dead and comatose. The buried people, if they were actually alive, could ring the bell or blow into the horn to alert the graveyard keeper that they needed to dig up the person. Which ever way these type of instruments are used, the melody is sure to be eerie.

[CONTEST REMINDER] Win a Metal Skull with Brain Pendant from Anatomical Element

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks for participating!

Don't forget you have until 11:59pm Eastern USA Time Friday, May 17, 2013, to enter the giveaway from Anatomical Elements for a Skull Pendant. You can find the original contest post by clicking the side bar ad, or this link.

[NOTE: If you are reading this on Facebook or Google+, you must go to THE ACTUAL BLOG POST HERE to enter this contest! You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+]

Slashø Skull

Slashø has been a long time fan of Skull-A-Day, but is now here to turn into a contributor for us. This tall sugar skull is a great way to start.

I'm getting a kick out of this elongated fellow. Possibly an animated version of a skull of one of the Nazca people, but definitely something I could see appearing in an episode of Adventure Time(yes, I have kids!).

Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Slashø shouldn't have waited so long, and neither should you! Submit those skulls for the world to see. Thanks for sharing your skull with us, Slashø, no matter how long it took.

[CONTEST] Win a Metal Skull with Brain Pendant from Anatomical Element

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks for participating!

Rachel Stork Stoltz, of Anatomical Element, is a medical illustrator and obsessed with anatomy. She started metalworking as a way to rip herself away from the computer and get her hands dirty. Her very first piece was an anatomical heart and the anatomical skull with brain soon followed (and is one of her favorites!). Rachel made a skull pendant from old roofing copper that she found in her grandfather's barn. She is giving away this skull pendant to one lucky Skull-A-Day fan!

 Close up, so you can see the details.

A perspective view to show the layers of metal

Hanging on a neck, to give you a better idea of size

PRIZE INFO: One anatomical skull with brain pendant from Anatomical Element. The pendant is about 1 3/4 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches tall. It's hand cut and hammered, layered with steel rivets. Bottom layer is copper, skull layer is aluminum, and the brain is copper with a fire scale patina.

HOW TO ENTER: A fancy skull like this deserves to be worn somewhere special. To enter this contest, comment below telling me what special place you would wear this pendant to, if you won it. For example, I'd likely wear it to the International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, IL, on May 31st, for our Skull Appreciation Day show opening.

CONTACT INFO: The winner, chosen at random, will be contacted via email by one of the Skull-A-Day editors within 7 days of the end of the contest. If that winner doesn't respond, another winner will be chosen. With your comment, please INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!! Entries are only valid with this information.

WHERE TO ENTER: All entries must be made on this blog post, on Skull-A-Day.com. You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59:59 PM Eastern USA Time Friday, May 17, 2013.

NUMBER OF WINNERS: One

PRIZE SHIPS: This contest is open to all skull lovers around the world.

IF YOU DON'T WIN: Don't fret, her jewelry is available in her Etsy shop, Anatomical Element. Rachel is offering a 10% discount on your entire purchase, if you enter the promo code skulladay13 at checkout. The discount is good from Monday, May 13, 2013 until Saturday, May 25, 2013. You can find out what Rachel is making on her Facebook page.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.50

Food is definitely one of the most popular places that our readers find those sneaky little skulls hidden around us daily. These two are no exception...

Dawn Doty writes, "My kids are huge fans, so my daughter was thrilled when she spotted this skull while we were rolling out sugar cookies"....

...and Sarja Hasan found this tasty morsel of a skull in some soup.

Skullicious! I always dig seeing these food simulacrum, but it always makes me hungry. Speaking of which.... Thanks for sharing these, Dawn and Sarja! Don't forget to submit your skull simulacra to share with our readers each and every Sunday.

Stained Glass Guitar Skulls

Megan Geer-Alsop is one heck of a stained glass artist living in Topanga, CA. She makes a lot of different pieces including stained glass guitar ambient light sculptures. Here's are a couple that she did for Dia de Los Muertos.

These are too cool! The stained glass work looks terrific with it's smooth lines and colors. Add that to the fact that it's on a guitar and the cool factor just tripled. Megan has other instruments and shapes to share on her site. Thanks for tuning your axes to the key of Skull-A-Day, Megan!

Honey Skull

Barry Thomson created this Honey Skull using Photoshop. You can see some up close and progress photos on his blog. Prints are available here.

I love seeing amazing digital work that is highly detailed. The shading really helps define the honeycomb and skull shape. The details of the bees makes the really appear to live on this unusual hive. I love the taste of honey. One of my favorite ways to enjoy honey is when it's still on the honey comb. I fondly remember go to the state fair and buying honey combs thick with delicious fresh honey. The glistening honey of this skull makes me want another right now!

SkullFlakes

Melvin Thomas wrote: "My kids were doing snowflakes one day for fun so I decided to make something different and since I like skulls..... went through lots of paper and many folds and cuts later came up with this final design. The eyes can be any shape so I went with the super-star shape."

Starchild C says:

Now that the danger of frost is slowly fading away around my place in this world I feel that this is the perfect time to say farewell for the next six months of this wintery precipitation with this wonderful addition to our every growing skullflake family.  Thank you for sharing this work with us and may your next few months be filled with plenty of skullshine!

PS you can see some more examples of Skullflakes HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Metal Buffalo Skull

Braden Kiefiuk from Enderby, British Columbia is a metal bending man!  He's shared this buffalo skull to prominently display upon our page.

Like a good artist should, Brandon crafts these by hand.  If you think this is impressive then check out this piece of work.  Brandon, you should definitely make friend's with Skull-A-Day friend Larry Pearson.  Thanks for bringing the METAL!!!

Skull Appreciation Day 2013 Open Participation

Skull-A-Day wouldn't exist without our awesome fans. We've come a long way together. Later this month, on Friday, May 31st, we are starting the festivities for Skull Appreciation Day 2013. The Skull-A-Day team is heading to the International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, IL to meet up with Street Anatomy for FaceOff. It's going to be an amazing show featuring artwork from selected artists. FaceOff is a special type of show were the artists used a provided template to create their skulls. The skulls were then vertically split in half digitally. Two digital halves from two different artist are put together to form one skull. This gives the viewer a different perspective on artists' visions of skulls. These FaceOff creations will hang in the museum from May 31-August 25, 2013.

Of course we don't want to leave you all out. That wouldn't be in the Skull-A-Day spirit. Like the other 2 before we want our fans to participate in the show. There are two ways you can do this...send us some Skull Mail Art, and/or make your own FaceOff creations!

FaceOff template example. See below for where to download the big version.

An easy way to participate is to make a piece of Skull Mail Art. All the skull mail art will be displayed at the show. As per the mail call instructions, you'll be mailing it to the show location! The deadline for us receiving the Skull Mail Art is Tuesday, May 28, 2013. Keep in mind mailing times, so it arrives before the deadline! Since none of the Skull-A-Day team has been able to see the mail art up close, what shows up will be a happy and exciting surprise. Vanessa of Street Anatomy is kindly managing it as it shows up! Mim Scalin will be documenting the mail art after the show is over, and showing it on the Skull Appreciation Day Mail Art blog.

Since the selected artists used a skull template as a guide for their creations, we thought you fans would enjoy using the exact same template to create your own skulls.
To participate in the FaceOff show, you need to do the following:

• DOWNLOAD THE TEMPLATE. The above image is just an example so you know what you're working with.
• Feel free to cover the skull image as you please. Just make sure the general lines of the template are the same, for easy pairing with another artist's skull creation
• Email us a great photo or scan of the finished skull to submissions@skulladay.com
• With that email also include: Your name and your location
• Remember to keep the content kid friendly...use your good judgement!

The deadline is Friday, May 24th. That's 3 weeks away! Noah will digitally split the images and fuse them together using skulls from two different artists, just like the selected artists have their work split. The show poster is a great example of what the combined skulls look like. These fan created skulls will be displayed on a screen during the show opening on Friday, May 31st. Sometime afterwards, they will be shown on Skull-A-Day.

We're looking forward to seeing what you all create! Hopefully we'll meet some of you at the show opening.

[BONUS] 409. The Visible Skull

I created this skull from the pieces of a vintage model kit called The Visible Head...

It was made specifically for the Skull Appreciation Day 2013 exhibition FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy at The International Museum of Surgical Science. As part of the show we asked the participating artists to use a provided template to create a new digital work, that we could cut apart and recombine with other artist's work. Vanessa Ruiz, my co-curator, and I thought it would be fun to take the challenge as well, so I made this piece as my homage to Vanessa's blog Street Anatomy, which is interested in anatomical art that goes beyond just the image of the skull. You can see how our pieces looked mashed up on the poster for the show...

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.49

We've got 2 HOT simulacra today that could burn you up, 1 externally and 1 internally.

My bro, Matt Kaufmann, up in Elk Rapids, MI was having a good old barrel fire and took a picture of the flames. Later when he checked the photos he found this (look towards the center, just above the board)...

Close up:

Donna Gigout of Fort Worth, Texas was having a spicy lunch and noticed that this fellow joined her for the meal...



These are both great and help us with today's "S-A-D" P.S.A. - If you eat too many jalapenos your skull could feel like it's on fire. Thanks for warming up our weekend with these, Matt and Donna!