Are skulls decorative?

[XemaSab]

Poll question: Are skulls decorative?

We're having an aesthetic disagreement in chez Xema.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. They can be...

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. I have a budding interest in Day of the Dead folk art.

So, yes.



crap. i think I responded in the wrong place...

[ghostsofgiants]

26. Haha, indeed you did.

[TimeChaser]

2. Hello Xema Sab!

How was your holiday time? :hi:

[XemaSab]

4. Good, good!

Got some good stuff, had a nice time with my mom, avoided all my other relatives... it was pretty good.

Yourself?

[XemaSab]

5. PS

I got the first 2 harry potter movies on DVD!

Have you seen Rowling's site lately?

www.jkrowling.com

[TimeChaser]

7. Ooh!

No, I haven't taken a look lately, I'll have to.


I couldn't avoid my relatives... screaming children... everywhere... aaah!

[XemaSab]

8. Ouch

Well, merry late xmas, happy holidays et al.

You get anything good?

[TimeChaser]

9. Thanks, you too!

I got the box set of what's considered one of the best and most influential anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[XemaSab]

12. Sweet!

Parents, BF, or self???

I bought myself some stuff and had mom wrap it... it was a very merry christmas indeed!

[TimeChaser]

27. Parents

The BF got me a DVD from another series I enjoy.

And my room was redone while I was gone! I need to take pictures!

Edit: Oh yeah! That anime I mentioned, Evangelion, is going to be made into a live action movie. WETA's doing the CG! It should be good, since even ten years after it originally aired people are still wondering and coming up with theories about some of the series' mysteries.

[XemaSab]

29. Sent PM

It's either that or hijack my own thread. ;)

[Deja Q]

3. Yes and no

I'll let you decide which. :D

[Hardrada]

6. On uniforms they're OK.

On Hussar uniforms etc.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. This might sound dumb, but I'm serious: they are, if done decoratively

It's all about presentation.

[XemaSab]

18. Define presentation

And where's the rolls?

:D

[Nevernose]

11. I've got some skull and gargoyle intertwined statuary

One small and one medium, and a variety of other purely-gargoyle related statues. It's actually rather attractive, and tasteful enough to be a legitmate conversation piece. Of course, I was going for eclectic, to match my taste, so the gargoyles are surrounded with Shakespeare and England related artwork, potted plants and trees, oriental rugs, a few modern lamps mixed with 20s style lighting, etc.

Of course, a fake skull sitting on the table next to the box you keep your weed in, under the dayglo-tiger-on-velvet rug you use to cover your windows, accented by the AC/DC poster tacked to the walls with thumbtacks, is not decorative. It's just crap piled on tacky. I know; my house/apartment looked like that for years, and I still kind of miss the Dungeons & Dragons related posters.

[XemaSab]

13. I'm not talking human skulls

I'm talking animal skulls! 6 kinds of mammal and 10 kinds of bird!

Good times!!!!!

[Nevernose]

15. Mounted, or just laying around?

Because leaving animal skulls laying around might be considered a little weird. Maybe even creepy. Maybe that's what you're going for. Stick them in an office area, something traditionally male, and people won't laugh at you behind your back or call the police on you the next time their dog runs away.

What kind of mammal? I had a beaver skull and a cow skull I kept for years, but the beaver skull got broken and the cow skull, alas, was relegated to the backyard.

If you have a problem with missionaries in your area, you could also mount them on the front porch, or maybe even right on the front door.

[XemaSab]

17. On the porch

there's a cow, a sheep, a deer, and a coyote.

On the bookshelf there's a skunk and a weasel.

[Nevernose]

19. Are the skunk and the weasel next to each other, or separated?

Just don't set them next to each other (this goes for the other mammal skulls as well), as then it looks more like a cult-ritual altar thing than a decorative flourish. Bird skulls are usually pretty small, so I'd put them in a pile, like an Aztec thing.

Also, I wish I had a skunk and a weasel skull. A little bleach, some shellack, and I'd have an object d' art.

And do you think it would be possible to tie-dye a cow skull? Because that would look awesome next to a lavalamp...

[XemaSab]

20. Most bird skulls are small

but these aren't.

Some of them are MUCH bigger than the skunk skull. :D

[Nevernose]

22. What kind of birds ARE these?

The other animals seem like the kind of stuff one just collects from the side of the trail, but not many birds in North America have skulls bigger than skunks, do they? What are you doing, dipping parrots in acid?

And, more importantly, do you think a person could tie-dye a cow skull?

[XemaSab]

30. Response re: cow skull

I think you could dye it, but the tying might be a bit of a challenge.

And I'm a biologist, so most of the stuff I found... er... lying around.

I strongly doubt a parrot skull would be bigger than a skunk.

[qnr]

14. There's gotta be one in every crowd:

Well sure they are. Can you imagine how bland and just plain flippy/floppy head flesh would be without them?

[noamnety]

16. I've got one in my classroom

just for decoration - and of course Georgia O'Keefe would say they're decorative.

http://www.bexley.k12.oh.us/hslib/art/artists/O%27keefe/Cow%27s%20Skull%20with%20Calico%20Roses,%201932.jpeg

[InkAddict]

23. Truly a dilema - apparently, in the eye of the beholder (owner)

Check out the original and the "doctored" original that remains!

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Crystal-Ball-Skull.html

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Crystal%20Ball.html

Art detective work has uncovered the hidden secret of a £350,000 painting after it was "doctored" in the early 1950s. "The Crystal Ball" by John William Waterhouse RA (1849-1917) shows a young model in a red dress gazing into the ball, apparently weaving a spell with the aid of a book and a skull.

It was shown alongside a more spiritual picture* by the artist at the Royal Academy in 1902. The study later entered the Pyman collection and eventually hung in the dining room at Glenborrodale Castle, Highland.

The painting was sold with the castle when the property changed hands in 1952-3. But the new owner did not like the skull and had it covered by curtains. The picture was later sold and it will be auctioned again at Christies, London, on Friday. It came into the auction room in its amended state.

But when Martin Beisly, head of the Victorian picture department, and his team began to research its background they came across photographs of the original in The Art Journal, 1909. An X-ray of the picture showed the skull still there.

A pigment analysis demonstrated that the original surface was still protected with a layer of varnish which meant the addition could be removed safely. The picture would clean up "quite beautifully", Mr Beisly said.

[LeftyMom]

24. Keeping some creatures mortal ramains in a state of arrested decay

for decorative purposes seems really wierd to me. I'm not passing an ethical judgement or anything, but I wouldn't be comfortable with it personally.

[CanuckAmok]

25. Of course! No bones about it.

[Jamastiene]

28. Skulls and candles and bones. Oh my,

I feel like I am in heaven. I love skulls and candles and bones as decorations. I'm a Halloween girl at heart. I wish it was as big a holiday as some of the others.

[In_The_Wind]

31. The Crystal Scull is beautiful.

[khashka]

32. Yes!

I have a gold plated human skull in my living room.

A fake one wearing a raccoon cap on my bedside table.

A goat skull and a tortoise skeleton, also in the living room.

There's not a lot of living going on in my living room :)


Khash.
(Just call me Charles Addams)

[XemaSab]

35. Where did you get the goat skull from?

:shrug:

[billyskank]

36. Probably best not to ask

:)

[khashka]

45. Now Billy that just ain't nice!

I do not kill animals nor people for decoration!

What kind of man do you think I am????


Khash.

[khashka]

44. My boyfriend gave it to me as a Xmas present

You'll have to ask him :)

Khash.

[swimboy]

33. I got a painting of a skull and vase for Christmas.

Local artist. Thomas Van Auken. It's very beautiful. If I had a digital camera I would post a photograph.

[Lowell]

34. I got them all over my motorcycle

and adorning many T-Shirts. Definately decorative.

[billyskank]

37. Hi XemaSab

:hi: I'd say the answer is an emphatic depends!!!

[XemaSab]

39. That's uhhh...

an emphatically equivocal answer.

Under what conditions do you consider skulls decorative?

[billyskank]

41. Hmm. Having given it my deepest consideration

When they look nice. :)

[Ladyhawk]

38. LOL...are vertebrae decorative?

I use them in my Native American art. I top my walking sticks with cow vertebrae. Someday I should take a picture of them to share.

When I lived in Tuolumne I had a back yard. Yes, I actually lived in a house! I bought some old cow bones from a guy and put them in a bucket to bleach and clean. They were yellowish until I added some laundry detergent. Bleach and laundry detergent turn bones white, white, white! A properly decorated vertebrae makes an excellent objet d’art.

P.S. I'd love to have a fossil cave bear skull! Oh, and a reproduction of a Utahraptor claw...KICK ASS!

[XemaSab]

40. They can be, for sure

The job I worked last summer had a LOT of dead cows on the premises. I think it was generations of dead cows. There were bones everywhere. You would have had a field day.

[Ladyhawk]

42. Damn! I need vertebrae. I'm almost out. (pictures)

I have a couple of cow vertebrae and some snake vertebrae. That's about it. I also sew fossilized sharks' teeth onto leather in my designs. Damn...I really should take some pics of the walking sticks. My mother has a couple I didn't sell. A lot of work went into them and folks generally don't like to spend as much money as I think they're worth. :D

Here's a mandela I made. I painted the image of the macaw on leather. The rest of the piece is decorated with blue leather, wool, bird-shaped conches, beads and real blue and gold macaw feathers. I scanned the painting. It actually looks better in person because there's more detail. When I scanned it many years ago, the hand scanner washed out the colors a bit. It's acrylic paint on leather.

[XemaSab]

48. Wow!

That's really cool!

[Seabiscuit]

43. Only in catacombs

[Ladyhawk]

46. Heh! Heh!

http://tinyurl.com/7fskt

[blindpig]

47. They're fun too!

When I lived in the burbs I had a turtle pen in my backyard. Each post (14, I believe) was topped with a skull I found in the field, deer, dog, hog, coon. I was inspired by the original King Kong. Just the thing to impress my old cracker neighbors! They stopped inviting me to church....