Bulbous Bucky Skull Project

This project came about from a desire to have a few skulls lying around my haunted garage. But I wanted something more than just "normal" skulls, so the first in the series was a vampire skull. After finishing it I wanted something simple and really disgusting. Fortunately Karl Fields gave me the inspiration for Bulbous Bucky by bringing one to a meeting, this is basically just a remake of his idea.

Part 1 - Spraying on the "Bulbous"

Essentially the Bulbous Bucky is a standard Bucky-Skull with expanding foam splattered on it and painted to look completely disgusting. Its a simple quick technique for making an original completely disgusting looking prop - perfect for Halloween!

Shown to the left is the basic process. I took a stock skull and a cheapie can of expanding foam insulation. I then cut off most of the sprayer tube so it would splatter more as it came out of the can, then carefully sprayed it onto the skull. You've got to be careful as you can easily cover the skull and the whole thing will turn into just a giant blob without being recognizable as a skull. Spray all the way around.

Once you've finished spraying it will look something like the image of mine at the left. With puffy blobs all over the skull. Let the foam dry completely.

Part 2 - Painting

Once its dry, the important and really easy part is the painting, this is what really makes it "ewwww...gross". A can of min-wax gel stain and a disposable paintbrush about 1 to 2 inches wide will do the trick.

Using the paintbrush, jab the stain into the cracks and crevices, you won't be able to "brush" any of the stain on. Just poke the brush with all the stain on it into every crack and crevice. Don't worry about getting too much, it should accumulate down in the cracks.

Now here's the key!

Then take a cloth or paper towel and lightly rub off the stain. What happens is the stain is removed from the tops of all the "bulbs" and not from down inside making a truly glorious effect. Once the stain is dried a "drybrush" technique can be used for adding some additional color, I used a little yellow for highlights. I also added some black inside the eye sockets to make them stand out more.

Using this technique you can quickly and easily generate some truly disgusting skulls for Halloween....Have Fun!