I teach techniques and principles for skull carving and skull art
A Beginner’s Guide to Skull/Bone Carving
If you are interested in learning how to start carving skulls I put together a short guide! It’s 7 pages and I cover the tools you need, preparing the skull, burrs that I think are great for starting out, styles of carving, and safety equipment. It’s free and you can download it below.
SKULL MONEY E-BOOK
How to set up your skull business so that you get noticed and get paid. If you are going to try and make money from skull carving or skull art, you’d better do it right! I cover the business side of selling skulls and how to set yourself apart so that you actually sell skulls and make money.
FREE BOBCAT SKULL ANATOMY POSTER
I paid a professional photographer to take high quality photos of this bobcat skull I have and then made this poster. You are free to use the poster however you like, displayed with your collection, in a classroom, for your kids, or simply as decor. I labelled 18 different parts of the skull!
TOOLS
Here are the tools and resources I personally use and recommend.
Some links below are affiliate links
Dremel 4000
The number one tool you will need to carve skulls is some type of rotary tool. I much prefer the Dremel 4000 for carving for several reasons. The Dremel 4000 has a speed range of 5,000-35,000 rpm and a 1.6 amp motor, making it both great for carving out large areas of tough bone as well as carving finer work at the higher speeds.
Flex shaft
Using some type of flexible shaft attachment to your rotary tool is really going to make carving skulls easier, as well as allowing you to do finer work. Holding a heavy rotary tool can be hard on your hands and simply does not allow for the same free movement that a flexible shaft will. I used the Dremel brand Flex Shaft with my Dremel 4000.
Adjustable Chuck
An adjustable chuck is kind of an undiscovered genie of a tool as it opens up so many opportunities for different burrs that regular collets just can’t do. Using an adjustable chuck allows you to use larger shafted burrs as well as small dentist burrs. The adjustable chuck ensures a good fit for each burr, which cuts down on any wobble you might get with collets.
Skull Carving Designs
9 CELTIC DESIGNS FOR DEER SKULLS
This set of designs includes 3 beginner, 3 intermediate, and 3 advanced Celtic style designs. These have been specifically made to fit the shape and contour of a deer skull for carving. Use these as practice or for clients and modify the designs as you see fit. These designs can be used for all uses including commercial and personal.
9 Western Floral Designs for Deer Skulls
This set of designs includes beginner and intermediate level western floral style designs. These have been specifically made to fit the shape and contour of a deer skull for carving. Use these as practice or for clients and modify the designs as you see fit. These designs can be used for all uses including commercial and personal.
9 CELTIC CROSS TEMPLATES FOR DEER AND COW SKULLS
This set of templates includes 9 beginner / intermediate Celtic style crosses. These have been specifically made to fit the shape and contour of a deer and cow skull for carving. Use these as practice or for clients and modify the designs as you see fit. These designs can be used for all uses including commercial and personal.
4 Easy steps to carve a realistic feather
Want to carve feathers on a skull that look like these? This is a one page instruction guide that shows you what you will need and the proper steps to carve a feather. The process is not complicated and is quite fun. You can do this!
9 Western-themed skull carving designs
9 Free Western Designs for Skull Carving! Included are 9 different pictogram style western-themed designs you can use freely to practice carving. Designs are beginner to advanced as any level of detail can be added to the basic design. I commissioned Anna Ježková (artist) to specifically make these for carving skulls. Designs can be transferred to a skull using my transfer method here.
Blog
Cleaning Skull with Maggots
One somewhat surprising method for cleaning skulls fairly quickly is to use maggots. This method is not particularly hard and doesn’t require a lot of effort which is great. There are just a few things to understand and keep in mind that will make this a great option....
How To Metalize a Skull With a Real Metal Finish
In this article I am going to cover the steps to metalizing a skull. A lot of people are looking for something different for their European mounts and a metal finish is just the thing to give a skull a very classy look. The following is not a fake metal...
How to Clean a Buck Skull Using Maceration
Cleaning an antlered deer skull using maceration. Maceration is the process in which bacteria produces enzymes which break down organic matter. Putting a skull in a bucket of water and letting the bacteria grow and macerate a skull is actually the same thing that is...
How to make a simple DEER ANTLER RING (no lathe required!)
Making a deer antler ring is fun, and I will warn you, very addicting! Not to mention pretty easy! So grab an antler and let’s get started. Oh, and Mulletman is going to be helping demonstrate the steps 😉 Step 1. Cut out ring blank. I use a scroll saw...
Skull Carving Burrs – What you need to take your skull carving to the next level!
As a skull carver there seems to be a gazillion different skull carving burrs to choose from. So which should you use? I will go over some burrs that have greatly improved my skull carving that I use on a daily basis. If you have not already you can check out the...
Where to Find Animal Skulls Locally for Skull Carving for Free!
Where to Find Animal Skulls So you have a Dremel and you want to carve some skulls, but how do you get animal skulls? Well, you could simply go online and buy some off of eBay, or like me...
How To Make Walnut Stain for Skulls and Bones
So here's a natural alternative to staining skulls and bones, use walnut husks! Depending on where you are in the country (or world for that matter) walnut trees are a common sight. It doesn't matter if they are still green or dried up, they will make a dark dye...
How to Transfer a Design Onto a Skull
I get asked a lot about how I get really clean and proportionate designs onto skulls. Well, here is the trick! Transferring a design onto a skull is super easy using Gloss Gel and saves you the time...
Skull Carving 101: What you need to get started (For less than $175 in tools)
Written by Hunter Richardson So, you are wondering what you need to get started carving skulls eh? Great! There a lots of people in the skull carving circle who hold their cards close to their chest, and there are also lots who are open to sharing how they...