Craft Tutorial: Day of the Dead Calavera Skull Light

I recently made a guest appearance on a wonderful blog called Giggles, Glitz & Glam to share a project for one of my favorite holidays: Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Always a fan of the macabre, the brightly colored calavera skulls that are an iconic symbol of the day have become one of my favorite motifs that, though I am not Hispanic, I have made a part of my Halloween decorating for years. In case you missed my original guest post, here it is again!

This project actually came about when I was trying to figure out a way to use one of these clip lights from Dollar Tree. I’ve been wanting to make something with one of them forever! I just had to find something that 1) I could cut a hole in, and 2) would let the light shine through. So I grabbed a big plastic skull (also from the dollar store) and got to work! Want to make one of your own?

You need:

• Plastic skull
• Clip light
• Soda bottle cap
• Sharpie
• Large metal needle
• Lighter or candle
• Craft knife or utility knife
• Sandpaper
• Nail polish

Here’s my skull before I started. Plain and kind of chintzy, right? But it’s thin enough plastic in a light enough color to have a nice glow when lit from within, so it’s perfect. First things first, it needs a hole for the clip light!

A plastic soda bottle cap is the perfect size to use as a template for making your hole. Find where you’d like to put your hole, then hold the cap in place and trace with a marker.

Now, the plastic is thin, but still a little thick to just dive straight in with a knife. We don’t want to see anyone headed off to the hospital for stitches! So you want to make a perforated edge to cut along. Carefully heat up the tip of a large-diameter sewing needle with a lighter or the flame of a candle, then press it through the plastic, following the marker line. Keep going until you’ve made holes all the way around.

Then use a craft knife or utility knife to cut out the hole. Sand down the edges to make them a little smoother.

Now it’s time to decorate! My first instinct was to use paint, but first the plastic would have needed primer, and I figured by the time I got all of those layers on there, they would block too much light. So I came up with an alternative: nail polish! First I evened up the skull’s non-skintone (haha) with a foundation of white nail polish; two coats all over gave it a much more bone-like look. (You’ll probably want to crack a window, as it won’t take long for your house to start smelling like a nail salon!) Then I filled in the features with brightly colored nail polishes and made a pattern of dots all over the skull. I used a fine-tip Sharpie to add the black swirls.

Once you’re done decorating, pop the clip light in through the hole. Now you’re ready to find it a home and plug it in! It puts out enough light to use as a night light, and it looks super creepy!

Thanks to Jana for having me here today! It’s been a pleasure!