Funky Found Cow Skull Artsy Rock Star Restyle Make-Over

Cow Skull & Bones Rock Star Make-over

OK I know, this is not everyone’s cup of tea, and it’s a little creepy, but I dig it. We are an artist and a musician and our tastes run funky eclectic with a hint of darkness, so this suits us to a “T”. I had a lot of fun on this one…

We found this skull in a box with the three vertebrae bones sitting next to a dumpster on one of our daily walks with the pugs. It was just too weird, I couldn’t resist the challenge of making it into something fun for the Chic Rock Star Glam bedroom make-over so I grabbed it. (I couldn’t just leave it all grungy, so not my style). I cleaned it up and gave it a light sanding, along with the three vertebrae bones.

Grungy skull, ready to paint…

After a coat of Kilz primer, I painted them with 4 coats of white gloss paint.

Cow skull painted white, ready to decorate.

Then I pulled out all my crafty stuff (I have boxes and boxes of fun things I’ve picked up at yard sales, thrift stores and auctions over the years) and played with a design for the skull. I decided to do a silver-leaf stripe down the front and add some fun glass copper-wrapped jewels (I have a box full of these from artist Lonnie Hanzon‘s art studio auction I went to years ago) The three vintage glass flowers also came from Lonnie’s auction.

Ready to silver-leaf…

Metal leafing is easy and it looks great on almost anything. You just paint the surface with the metal leaf adhesive, let it set, then dab on the metal leaf and gently brush off the excess. (Fair warning, this can be a tad messy) With most projects you also want to use a clear sealer when you are finished. There are metal leafing kits with everything you need available at most art & craft supply stores. Here I used painter’s tape to mark where I wanted the leaf to go, then painted the adhesive inside the lines. It worked great. I thought about leafing the whole skull, it looks so cool. Maybe next time…

Silver leaf finished, ready to glue on the jewels…

I attached the jewels with Duco cement, but any good heavy duty glue should work, even a hot glue gun. After the glue set, I attached picture wire to the back of all the bones and hung them in the new bedroom. Because I had most of the items on hand, I only paid $5 for the can of spray paint, but I estimate I paid about $4 for the rest of the jewels and what-not, so the whole project cost less than $10.

Cow Skull Project Completed, Front View

Cow Skull Project Completed, Side View

Cow Skull, Close up

And here it is! Funky Cool Chic Cow Skull, well, as chic as a cow skull can get I suppose. Sort of a glam Dia De Los Muertos thing. Looks great in the Chic Rock Star Glam bedroom. I hope it inspires your next creative project! Pictures of the bedroom make-over coming soon! Just a few more projects to go before the Big Reveal. Stay Tuned!

I would LOVE to add a pair of these glass candle holders from Neiman Marcus to the bedroom…