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Dear Readers,

There was a happy halloween in Art class. I created a sugar skull, which was a messy but fun  experience. A sugar skull symbolizes the day of the dead, it is a mexican tradition. It’s celebrated like a halloween. In art class we took our own face plastered it. Then let the plaster dry and harden for a day or two. I added my own creative twist, with paint. I let the brush speak, I didn’t have much of a vision. But once I started, I went for different patterns. This project was the longest process because you want it to be correct,and like you want it. I can put my mask on my own face, to scare or to make someone laugh. Thanks readers for listening.

A sugar skull is a classic decoration for the Mexican holiday, la dia de la muerta, which is basically halloween. Traditionally, it is made out of sugar that has been formed into a skull shape and is decorated in a colorful and intricate pattern. 

While sketching on my own, my style tends to lean towards creepy. So when designing what to make my skull look like, I wanted to make it disturbing while realistic. 

The process of making the mask was not too complicated but it was certainly a new experience for me, starting with the casting of the mask. We had to make mold of our own faces using plaster sheets. After making the molds, we had to shape them by rounding off or cutting edges. In my own design, i decided it was not odd enough to begin with, so I attempted to cut out eyes, to give it another level. But then I continued with painting the mask, starting with a what base coat and then adding any and all details. Finishing touches of the mask included removing the strings hanging off of the edges and fixing any smudged paint. In the end, I feel I reached my goal and am very proud of the product. 

Kimberly Parker

Senior Art Blog

Sugar Skull 

A sugar skull is a one of a kind decoration and symbol. Sugar skulls celebrate and honor the dead. There is a holiday in Mexico called “The Day of the Dead” and instead of mourning over the dead, they celebrate their lives. The people of Mexico use these sugar skulls to symbolize death by using a skull, and decorating it with bright festive colors to celebrate the death. This quarter, we were asked to make our own sugar skulls. So, I did my independent research about what sugar skulls really were. I sketched an idea in my sketchbook, seeing what designs I would like on my sugar skull. I looked up some ideas online and finally saw a sugar skull that I really liked. I sketched something similar to it and then began my construction of my skull. 

We used paper mache, water, a straw, and lots of Vaseline to do construct the skulls! First I laid down on the table and had my peer Christian get the paper mache and water ready to put on my face. While I was on the table, I rubbed Vaseline all over my face, over my eyebrows and lips so the paper mache would not stick to my face and the mask would come right off after it hardened. I put a straw in my mouth so I would be able to breathe. Christian then began to put the paper mache over my face, pressing dow on every piece to mold the mask into the shape of my face. After putting layers and layers of this paper mache on, we waited for the mask to harden, this took about five or six minutes. 

After the mask hardened, we peeled it off of my face, immediately I wanted to wipe the slimy Vaseline off of my face! During the next art period, I used a pencil to start sketching out on my skull the designs I wanted. I did not erase anything on it once. Once I started to sketch, I liked everything that I drew. Once the sketching was done, I picked out all of the bright colors I wanted. I mixed red and white to make the pink, blue and yellow to make the green I wanted, and so on. I used different brushes for different parts and different brush strokes. I painted until I felt like I had my sugar skull master piece. That is what I ended up with, a master piece! 

1. Explain in your own words what a sugar skull is.
2. Explain how you came up with the design for your mask/skull.
3. Explain the process from beginning to the end, the process that you went from having no mask to having a finished and painted mask. 
   
   A sugar skull is used in the Mexican "Day of the Dead" that usually takes place a day after Halloween.  The skull is usually adorned with many colorful designs, or in some cases black and white.  The skull is to represent a deceased family member.  My design for my skull is a simple black and white design that was inspired by paisley and Mayan artifacts.  The first part of creating my sugar skull included plastering a friend's face for the mold of my mask (THANKS FRANKIE!), then once the mask dried, I painted over the mask with white paint to give the mask a solid base.  Then I began painting my design from the forehead down.  

1. Explain in your own words what a sugar skull is.
   - A sugar skull is a skull that either be a mask or even candy. They symbolize the mexican culture. The sugar skulls are created on the Day of the Dead, weddings, and sometimes even birthdays. They also can be sold for funds and can people can slaos create their own at festivals. 
2. Explain how you came up with the design for your mask/skull.
   - I can up with my skull design by looking up masks designs ans trying to create my own. I took snips of ideas to create my mask.
3. Explain the process from beginning to the end, the process that you went from having no mask to having a finished and painted mask. 
   - My first process was trying to create a drawling that could have possibly be the final sugar skull mask. It was not anywhere near what I was planning to create. Although, I did my best.

I came up with the design for my sugar skull by looking online at many different mask designs to use for reference. My mask has bits and pieces of other masks that I saw with my own personal touch. Many things in this mask were painted in the moment, I thought they would look cool so I tried it out and in the end the mask kind of all flows together. 

A sugar skull, is an artists rendering of a human skull. They are made from hardened sugar, the use of sugar art is something that was introduced to Mexico by Italian missionaries. The abundance of sugar in Mexico, meant that it was both cheap and easy to obtain, which allowed for the sugar art to catch on fast.  Sugar skulls have become an important part of observing and celebration of the Mexican holiday (El dia de los Muertos/The Day of the Dead) Sugar skulls tend to incorporate the use of floral patterns and/ or other intricate designs, as well as diamonds.

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