SKULL   LIGHTS

FENCE  OR WALK WAY LIGHTS

Here are some of my Grave yard Fence post lights for the 2005 haunt. I made the skull tops a few years ago . I just got around to painting them this year. They were flat black and I added the red to the space around the skulls. Then I dry brush some white paint over the skulls to give them some life. I plan on redoing the base with more skulls later.

A close up of the lids to the low voltage lights. I use these for the fence post for my grave yard, but they would look great as walk way lights also.

I made 6 fence lights and I have to make two more. So I`ll show you how I made them.  This is a pretty cheap project to make. I think the lights cost $29.99 at Home Depot. The rest of the supplys were cheap & easy to get.

On the left is a better look at the base. On the right is a skull whistle that I`m going to make a plaster mold of to make my mini skulls.

I`ll be using plain old plaster of paris and a plastic ice cup to hold the mold.

I used a hobby blade to cut the bottom of the whistle. then I put a little black tape over the whole in the bottom to keep the plaster out of the skull.

A better look at the tape covering the whole. I pushed a piece of wire thru the skull that will keep the skull stead in the plaster.

I cut two little slots in the cup for the wire to rest in.

I used another piece of black tape to hold the skull steady. Its hard to see but I made a black line in the cup as the point I will fill the cup with plaster.

I filled the cup with plaster to the line. I use more black tape to keep the skull still.

the picture on the left is the mold of the skull. If you look at the eyes you can see there are air bubbles in both eyes. I mixed up a little more plaster and brushed it in to the holes. The finished mold on the right.

Now I`ll use hot glue to make my mini skulls. The first thing I do is add some water to the mold just enough to get it wet. The I add some hot glue into the mold. Once it cools I take the skull out of the mold.  I found that if I pour a little cool water over the hot glue in the mold it will cool quicker. This is really good when you have to make 30 skulls for one light top.

Another thing I do to make the skulls a little different is I`ll only fill some molds up a little and make half skulls or a side view of a skull by only adding glue to one side.

On the left you can see I only added a little glue to make a small skull. On the right is about 60 skulls I have for the last two lights I`m making, You can see the different size & shapes I have made from one mold by just adding different amounts of glue.

On the right is one of the tops to the low voltage light. I start by gluing one skull at the bottom edge. Once the first one is glued in place I just work my way around the bottom leaving a little space between skulls.

The light top on the left has 8 skulls and the top on the right has 9 skulls. You could even add more if you want.

The second layer of skull was just 6 and they were glue at the bottoms so they are standing on the lower jaw. I also glue the edges were the next skull touches the first skull.

You can see how the second layer is installed better in these pictures,

The last layer is glued above the second using 4 skulls. I capped it with one skull on top.

Here what it looks like with all the skulls installed. Now I just have to add glue to the gaps between the skulls to make a lava like flow of blood.

I filled in the gaps by adding glue were ever there was a gap. If a gap was wide I would add a little glue then let it dry. Then I`d add more glue to build it up. Once you start using hot glue like this you get the feel for it. Now on the right you may notice I added more skulls. I just placed skulls were I feel they were missing. I also cut a few to make the fit into tight spots. then I added more glue to make them fit in.

The next step is I paint the whole top with 2 coats of black paint. Then I paint the lava like glue that is all around the skulls. I gave that two coat also. The last thing I do is dry brush the skulls with a little white. You can see how it came out in the pictures on the top of the page.

The next thing I did was start redoing the base of the lights. I used 4 of the whistle skulls for the base. The problem with using the whistle skulls is they are really thin plastic and paint comes off the real easy.Things that flex like that are a pain to keep painted. So I used some hot glue skulls around them to add support which should help some. I will do the same thing with the hot glue dripping around the skulls. And I`ll use the same colors as the tops.

Here are the paints I used. I think I paid 33 cents a piece for these at my local Rag Shop.  I also used between 25 & 30 of the skulls. The low voltage light set was from Home Depot for about 29 dollars. Theres also spot lights in the set which can also be use to make skull spot lights. I plan on using UV leds on these light to make the skulls glow at night. When I get that done I`ll post more pictures,

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