Dia de Muertos Skull

November greetings, Lost Coasters! 

I have for your amusement today a little project in celebration of the Day of the Dead, the Mexican holiday with Aztec roots that gradually came to be associated with All Saints' Day in the Catholic Church.

I wanted this to have a traditional Mexican look, and chose cheery colors in a palette of corals, golds, and purples.

First I stamped the Skull with Wreath in black permanent ink, and masked it off. Then I stamped the Black Flourish twice around it in yellow. Next I placed the words using the Rustic Alphabet set, using several colors of Distress Ink, allowing them to blend together on the letters.

 I colored the skull with thick creamy pencils in whites and grays, giving a matte, rich, chalklike texture to the skull. Then I got out several colors of Twinkling H20s, the wonderful metallic watercolors that can become pretty close to opaque when applied thickly. I painted the leaves on the wreath, then went over the yellow ink of the flourishes with a few tones of gold and orange. Suddenly the whole piece shimmered and sparkled with light and life, a wonderful contrast to the dead matte white of the skull.

There are so many fun things to do with these stamps. I was glad to make this spooky skull a little more friendly for the Day of the Dead...the glory of our ancestors etc.  😁

Happy stamping!