Day of Dead Wax Resist Skulls

We looked at the Mexican holiday of the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) and looked at sugar skulls made for holiday for inspiration.

Then students created their own design for a skull in their sketchbook. From this plan, they used a skull template to trace a skull onto thick watercolor paper. They also used templates for the eyes, nose and mouth. I created a few sizes to choose from. Then used oil pastel to create their uniquely decorated skull design. We taped down the paper to create a nice border, and experimented with various watercolor techniques before painting the background using liquid watercolor paints. Techniques we tried and applied include wet on wet, wet on dry, and salt.