Books & Art: The Book of Skulls by Faye Dowling

"The skull is one of the most recognizable symbols of today's contemporary visual culture. Since its 1970's renaissance in the iconic album designs of bands such as the Grateful Dead, the skull has found its way into the visual vocabulary of urban life, adorning T-Shirts, badges and rock memorabilia as the ultimate symbol of anarchy and rebellion. Repurposed and recast by artists, illustrators and designers, it has become one of the most iconic cultural symbols of our time. In response to this cultural phenomenon, The Book of Skulls presents a cool visual guide to the skull, charting its rebirth through music and street fashion to become today's ultimate anti-establishment icon. From Black Sabbath to Cypress Hill, skater punk graffiti to Gothic tattoos, from high-couture to Hello Kitty and Dali to Damien Hirst, this book is the ultimate collection of cool and iconic skull motifs. Drawing together artwork from music, fashion, street art and graphic design The Book of Skulls is a celebration of one of today's most iconic cultural symbols."

Last year, my sister gave me The Book of Skulls by Faye Dowling and I then spent a happy few hours pawing through the gorgeous artwork and interesting bits of information included within the book. As you may have guessed from the title, its focus is art and design pieces, all of which incorporate skulls in one way or another.

This collection is not only beautiful, but is peppered with historical contexts and insights into popular culture over the years as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes macabre art or - obviously - skulls, as it a quirky, semi-humorous take on what is usually a dark subject matter.

More pictures after the cut below↓

Art: Joseph Lara Skull Prints

New York based artist / designer Joseph Lara (sad Oasis) has recently produced a line of art, clothing and accessories featuring skulls and other macabre patterns. Each piece is hand printed and items include tote bags, shirts and even underwear.

To find out more about Joseph Lara and his work, check out the following websites:

• Sad Oasis (official website)
• Sad Oasis on Cargo Collective
• Sad Oasis Facebook Page
• Sad Oasis Web Store (opening soon!)

Many thanks to Joseph for permission to use the images!

More pictures after the cut below↓

10th: Toys - Skull Daddy

I bought this strangely adorable little fellow, dressed like a teddy bear skeleton, from Closet Child (a second hand / vintage store chain in Japan) in Shinjuku in 2009. A brand called Skull Daddy made him, along with a rabbit version, which I don't have. There were also pink versions of both designs, but I don't think Skull Daddy make either of them anymore, unfortunately.

As well as being a toy, he's a fashion accessory of sorts, as there's a clip on his back that can be attached easily to a bag or parasol handle. He's a little too large to be attached to anything else.

His cute bear guise can be removed - or rather the hood can be pulled down - to reveal his true skull with a mohawk form. Even after the transformation he's about as scary as The Nightmare Before Christmas, but I am very fond of him regardless of that. (I like TNBC too though).

The title of this post is Skull Daddy, simply because I don't remember what his individual name was, only the brand. If anyone happens to know it, tell me!

This post is part of The Countdown to Halloween    
More photos behind the cut below↓

Fashion & Toys: Sugar Skulls Keychain

Sugar Skulls keychain in purple

This pretty little face was given to me for my birthday last week! It's a Sugar Skulls keyring (purple), which has carved / engraved patterns all over it, including a longhorn-type skull on its forehead and flowers on the side. 

Longhorn on forehead

Flower on the left side

The height of the skull part is approximately 2 inches / 5cm and it's fairly heavy for a keyring! I like that about it though.

Back of skull

The only place I've been able to find them online is on The Works webshop, although they don't have the keychain version, only the clips. There are four kinds available: purple, black, yellow, and cream, each featuring a different design / pattern. The purple type is exactly the same as this one, apart from having a clip, but it's much closer to the colour in the photos in this post, rather than the bright pink colour in the webshop.

You can find all four variants stocked at The Works via the links below:

• Purple version
• Black version
• Yellow version
• Cream version

Fashion: Skull & Rose Fascinator by LuLu O'Neill Hats

This fantastic skull and rose print fascinator was a gift from my sister last year, but I only just got around to posting about it here. It's by a UK-based designer and milliner called LuLu O'Neill who trades and teaches hat-making classes in Spitalfields Market, London. I love it!

For more information on LuLu O'Neill's work, you can visit the sites below:

• LuLu O'Neill at Spitalfields
• Slightly Scarlet Facebook
• Slightly Scarlet MySpace

Fashion: Sugar Skull Flower Hair Clip from Bethezda's Baubles

I entered a giveaway to win an item from Bethezda's Baubles recently and, much to my surprise, I won! 

The lighting in this photo shows the colours most accurately

It arrived yesterday (in very sturdy packaging, I might add) and is lovely, fabulously detailed and well-made too. The bright colours suit the sugar skull theme well and the raised textures and accents of glitter also give the hair clip an extra dimension.

The clip is a crocodile style one and is comfortable and hold well. There's also a leopard print patch attached to the back in order to hide any glue where the clip is secured, which is much more aesthetically appealing than a bare join. 

Of course, not everyone likes wearing hair clips or has hair too short to hold them in place, but not to worry - the clip is versatile too! You can always brighten up your wardrobe by fixing it to a hat or piece of clothing instead.

The clip, fastened onto a hat

To see more of Lady Bethezda's creations, you can visit her Etsy store or take a look at her blog, Bethezda's Preoccupations. 

Fright-Day Foods: Purple Glitter Skull Cake

Last month, for a friend's birthday, I decided to take the opportunity to use a new skull-shaped pan I had and make him a spooky cake! Since I know some of you like to bake, I thought I'd share the incredibly simple decoration details with you here. It's just a vanilla sponge cake (I made other bits of the cake too, but they weren't horror-esque), so I haven't included a recipe below, only decoration instructions.

This post is part of Fright-day Foods!

How-to guide after the cut below↓

A-Z Challenge: P is for...Paper Craft and Postcards

P is for...Papercraft and Postcards

Papercraft is a quick, fun and cheap way to make decorations for spooky parties or just to brighten up creepy corners anytime. There's a huge choice of designs - from pumpkins to Nosferatu - and if there's nothing you like you could always try designing one of your own!

Krampus and Nosferatu papercrafts

Skull, La Catrina & Pumpkin

Pumpkin & Skull paper craft patterns from Paper Box World
La Catrina, Nosferatu & Krampus paper craft patterns from Macula

Nosferatu

La Catrina & Skull

Krampus

Krampus stealing a child

Since I also received some monster / alien postcards from a friend, as a bonus, P is also for postcards!

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

A-Z Challenge: N is for...Nomskulls

N is for...Nomskulls

Nomskulls, made by Fred, are "kooky creepy" skull-shaped silicone cupcake molds and just happen to be the focus of today's A-Z post! My sister gave me a set of these last September, but I only got around to using them last night. According to the box you can:

"Knock 'em dead with these four stylish silicone skulls. Nomskulls are ready to fill with your favorite grey batter and bake into perfect cupcake craniums. One bite and you'll be head over heels, because there's no doubt about it - this skull bone's connected to the YUM bone!"

For some reason known only to my brain, I forgot that I was making skull-cakes and decided to make the mixture red. The molds are fairly huge but don't make too much batter, as they will overflow if you don't leave the top inch or so free. Of course, it depends entirely on what kind of mix you make and how much you expect it to rise though. 

So that's 3 brain-spills and 1 fancy hairstyle at the back...

However, despite the overflow setbacks, the good thing about the molds being silicone is that any spills come off really easily and the contained cupcake slides out equally as well when you're done.

Unfortunately, the inside of the mold is completely smooth (see photo above) except for the eye imprints, which means that the cakes will come out looking like zombies and aliens unless you decorate them. 

I'm fairly sure that they were intended to be served only inside the molds rather than out of them. It doesn't matter that much though, as the flat tops are there to be adorned with iced brains! 

If you do decide to take them out of the mold, you could try sugar skull-themed icing, zombies with eyeballs popping out, gas maks, Frankenstein's Monster...the list goes on. I think I'll experiment a little and make another post about the decoration when A-Z is over. (It might seem like I've caught up here, but the truth is I'm still missing J, K, L, and M.)

To be continued....in May

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

Food and Drink & How-to Guides: Skull Eyes Cake

Skull Eyes Cake by Lilia Tombs

If you ever find yourself having a zombie tea party, but don't know what kind of cake to serve, this Skull Eyes Cake might just be what you need. It would probably go down quite well with humans at Halloween or a spooky birthday party too!

Skull Eyes Cake by Lilia Tombs

Recipe and how-to guide after the cut below↓

Toys: Living Dead Dolls - Series 20 Red & Black Variants

"In the spirit of Halloween, Mezco's latest set of Living Dead Dolls pays tribute to the skeleton filled holiday known as The Day of the Dead or El Día de los Muertos. The variant series features intricate skull designs and exclusive crimson and black elaborate costumes, depicting traditional imagery with a Living Dead Dolls twist. Each doll comes in a signature coffin package with death certificate. This set is extremely limited and will ship in mid-October."

Sources: Mezco & LDD Network