SkULL CARVING Book – Complete guide to tools and techniques for carving animal skulls
A comprehensive guide on carving animal skulls that will give you the confidence to get started and not screw up! Includes over 240 photos and case studies for different skull and bone carving methods. Skull Carving: A Complete Guide to Tools and Techniques for Carving Animal Skulls is the perfect resource for getting started carving animal skulls and improving your skills as you progress. Hunter lays out information in a basic and easy way to understand as well as diving deep into bone carving to better help the reader feel prepared to start carving! From tools to techniques, to skulls and staining, you will get practical guidance on creating amazing unique works of art. Are you ready to become a skull carver?!
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 Patriotic Template Designs for Deer Skulls
9 CELTIC DESIGNS FOR DEER SKULLS
9 Western Floral Designs for Deer Skulls
9 CELTIC CROSS TEMPLATES FOR DEER AND COW SKULLS
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
How to inlay snakeskin into a skull (and other mediums)
The following is the process I use to do snakeskin inlay on skulls. You can also use this method on other mediums (knife handles, etc.) and even with other materials (using fabric, etc. instead of snakeskin for the inlay). Using this method gives you an inlay that is...
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...
