I teach techniques and principles for skull carving and skull art

Skull Staining Course

This is a 5 lesson course on how to stain animal skulls using a variety of staining techniques. I use my personal experience working with skulls to show you how you can get consistent results with your own skulls. The course will cover the following:

1. Types of Stains
2. Preparing the Skull
3. Application of Stains
4. Sealing the Skull
5. Stain Recipes

Skull Carving Course

Skull Carving Revealed course. Through this course you will be able to master many skull carving techniques in order to create top-notch carved skulls. This is a comprehensive course covering everything from your carving setup and tools to skull carving techniques and tricks. Whether you use a high speed rotary tool or a Dremel, the content of this course is designed to take your skill set to the next level.

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.

Complete Guide to Staining Skulls e-Book

The Ultimate Guide to Staining Skulls + Recipes! Get step by step directions on 15+ skull-staining recipes. You will not only learn the basics of staining skulls but will be able to master staining using a wide variety of natural and commercial stains!

1. Basic skull staining techniques
2. Making natural stains
3. Typical skull staining problems
4. 15+ step-by-step examples of different stains

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.

Respirator

Breathing in bone dust can be very bad for your lungs so make sure you are wearing a good respirator! I like the 3M rated for lead paint as it will protect you from micro particles and has replaceable cartridges.

Ear Protection

Although not a must, I still recommend using some form of ear protection as any type of rotary tool can irritate your ears over an extended period of time.

Ball Carbide Burr

(#105 from Dremel). This ball burr is great for outlining designs, stippling, and adding detail to a skull carving design.

Inverted Cone Burr

(#108 from Dremel). This is my go-to burr as it is great for creating crisp clean lines. You can use this burr to clean the outlines of a design, do checkering, or any other straight line on a skull.

Cylinder Carbide Burr

(#111 from Dremel). Similar to an inverted cone burr, this will carve clean lines. The advantage to this burr is that it will remove more material when you carve, making for a larger valley and a more 2D effect.

Large Ball Carbide Burr

(#107 from Dremel). Similar to the #105, this is great for making more defined outlines and removing negative space around a design.

Diamond Dust Football Burr

Use this burr for smoothing out areas around a design and for shaping areas of a design that have more gentle shapes.