Day of the Dead: Calavera Skull Light Tutorial

I'll say that I'm not much into scary/creepy decor when it comes to Halloween. I prefer very modern & chic decor, but that's just me. I remember having a HUGE Day of the Dead party in middle school for my spanish class. This skull light reminds me of how fun that party was. It was an exciting day and we did a lot of preparation to get to that day. Check out this awesome calavera skull light made by Rhonda from Dollar Store Crafts!! :)

Hello everyone! I'm Rhonda, aka Mrs. Greene, which is also the name of my blog. (You may also know my from Dollar Store Crafts, where I spend much of my bloggy time!) I live in a tiny town in Michigan where everyone knows everyone, and I spend most of my non-crafty time hanging out with my husband and our two kitties that we treat like our kids.

I'm happy to be here on Jana's blog today because I get 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.

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! Pin It