Now that I’ve moved into a more functional apartment (photos to come), I’ve been getting back to my creative projects. For some time I’ve been wanting a decorative gold skull, the perfect balance between my love of all things existential and my love of all things pretty. Unfortunately, real sculpture pieces like that can get pretty pricey. So I followed my mother’s thrifty footsteps and put one together myself.
I picked up this black, ceramic, skull candy jar at Target. In the post-Halloween sale it was marked down to $5. The paint and brush I purchased from Blick for an additional $12. You could find similar tools for much cheaper at a Michaels or even a Walmart, but in the city my options are limited so I bit the bullet and paid the fine art tax. 
Alternatively you could spray paint the skull, which would probably be much less time consuming. But again, I live in an urban apartment and don’t have the ventilation necessary for that technique. I chose a matte gold acrylic paint, so that it would dry fast in between coats. The trick is getting the right gold, you don’t want it to be too dull or too glittery. 
Because my base was black it took about five coats to get the whole thing covered. Make sure you let the coats dry COMPLETELY before adding more paint, otherwise it just shifts the paint around and adds to your timeline. Although I had originally envisioned a purely ornamental piece, the hollow container style turned out to be much more versatile. I can use it as a vase, a storage vessel, or display it on its own. 
I’m very happy with the result. Not only was it fun to flex my creative muscles again, I now have a vase that’s at once beautiful and a little bit creepy. I named him Yorick after the famous skull from Hamlet.