# Got Milk?(jug skulls)



## spinwitch

My husband wants to do an ossuary scene this year. Which means he wants a *lot* of skulls. We've acquired quite a few over the years, but of course he needs more (think "Paths of the Dead" from Lord of the Rings). You can get decent looking plastic or Styrofoam ones for about $5, but that adds up when you want a bunch of them. So of course I was intrigued when I saw the post about making them out of milk jugs.





Perhaps I've gotten a little carried away--15 so far. I've become a connoisseur of plastic jugs--I don't like the thinner translucent ones that water or tea come in because they melt a bit too easily. Clorox jugs are too thick and not flexible enough to come off the mold easily. I like milk jugs. The ones from Dollar General are preferable to the ones from Publix because the latter have a lot more embossing on them.

Obsessed? No--of course not!


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## Kcapazzi

Man those are amazing looking!

Where do you get the skulls? I might have to try that next year but I think Im tapped out budget wise for this year! Great work!


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## RoxyBlue

These look great!


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## spinwitch

The video explains it pretty well--I have one resin skull and one ceramic one that I use for the molds. One came from Michaels and the other from Big Lots (a remainder store) are were about $5 each. We've had them for awhile. So these milk jug skulls are essentially free (have to use some craft paints but a couple of dollar's worth will paint a lot of skulls.


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## jdubbya

WOW! Those are fantastic!!


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## Kcapazzi

spinwitch said:


> The video explains it pretty well


My bad, ...I was watching it muted on my phone due to a sleeping baby next to me.... are the molds just for the formation of the jug skulls? or is it pretty much an awesome alternative corpsing technique.... 1 mold + 100 jugs = 100 skulls?
or 100 molds + 100 jugs = 100 skulls.


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## spinwitch

1 mold + 100 milk jugs + 100 skulls.

You use a heat gun to soften the milk jug and push it over the mold. Then you cut it off (I slice it up the back and wiggle it off). It takes a bit of practice--and a bit of time to soften the plastic without melting a hold in it.


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## Sawtooth Jack

They are fantastic! So want to try this.


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## Bone Dancer

Nice work, they look amazing.
I was looking into doing this and talked to the local grocery store manager about getting new gallon jugs that they use at the water dispenser (distilled water) for ten cents each. You may want to check that out as a source for plastic jugs in lew of drinking gallons of milk. Looking forward to seeing your set up.


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## spinwitch

I hadn't thought about that--what a great idea. Better than the way I got some of them (dumpster diving at the recycle bin). But picky person that I am, I prefer milk jugs to water jugs. Milk's good for me, right?


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## Bone Dancer

The water jugs at my store are the same type as the milk jugs. Not clear, but frosted with the same texturing. It may be different at your area, but still worth checking it out.


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## bobzilla

So cool!


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## OctoberDream

Really cool idea. Thanks for sharing.


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## Lizzyborden

Awesome! They look great!

I made a few when I first saw the video and then got preoccupied with other projects. I have a stash of milk and water jugs I've been saving for this.


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## Sytnathotep

Ive tried this just the other day. I made two but tjey did not come out nearly as well as yours, quite poorly actually. Maybe its my milk jugs, or I'm not melting them enough? I found it took a fair amount of time as well. You have any other tips you've discovered for success?


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## spinwitch

It takes me 15-20 minutes to make one. Unlike in the video, I start in the back so help lock in the milk carton to the mold skull. Then I work around to the front and finally do the face details.

You do have to press the softened plastic into the details--I use a couple of paper towels folded up tightly and I keep a dish of water nearby. The towels have to be wet (not dripping, just wet) or the plastic will stick to it. So---soften up an area and then press it into the details. Sometimes you have to soften it a couple of times. For the area around the eyes, nose, and skull, I soften it, the (for safety's sake) turn the heat gun off and put it down, and then protect my hand with a towel and hold the skull in one hand while I'm pressing with the other.

Just be careful. The heat gun is really hot, and the skull mold will also get pretty hot. It takes a couple of tries to figure it all out.


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## tjc67

Interesting. I've been wanting to do a pyramid of skulls for awhile and been looking at different ways to make a bunch of skulls. Now just need to see if the local dairy jugs will work ( opaque and slightly thicker) for the project.


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## spinwitch

I like the opaque white ones best. The thinner translucent ones turn transparent when your heat them--which on one hand lets you know when it's hot enough, but it also makes it hard to tell when you're starting to melt through it completely. They white ones also stay workable longer.


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## VampyTink

spinwitch said:


> The video explains it pretty well--I have one resin skull and one ceramic one that I use for the molds. One came from Michaels and the other from Big Lots (a remainder store) are were about $5 each. We've had them for awhile. So these milk jug skulls are essentially free (have to use some craft paints but a couple of dollar's worth will paint a lot of skulls.


Are you just using paint on the form or any type of corpse tech first? Also, how are you getting the open mouth? Do you cut it open before or after you form it?


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## drevilstein

very cool way to make a lot of skulls cheaply. I'll have to save this idea for the future...


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## spinwitch

VampyTink said:


> Are you just using paint on the form or any type of corpse tech first? Also, how are you getting the open mouth? Do you cut it open before or after you form it?


One of the resin skull I'm using for a mold has an open mouth--I just press the softened plastic between teeth.

I paint them in three layers: spray paint a dark color, paint it (craft paint with a cheap chip brush) in a light color, then lightly dry brush it in off white to bring up the details. I'm using a variety of shades--if my base coat isn't black then I use black paint in the eye sockets and nose. It's also worth taking a couple of minutes to paint the teeth and put thin black lines between them.

It sounds fussy but takes less than 10 minutes. Stiltbeast has a good video on it.


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## iowachap

what spray paint do you use that will stick to the milk jug without scratching off


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## spinwitch

I like Valspar brand. They're only going to be out for a couple of nights. If they get scratched in storage I'll just dry brush over it. My mantra: "They're running past it in the dark." (These will be in a ossuary on a haunted trail


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## Sytnathotep

spinwitch said:


> It takes me 15-20 minutes to make one. Unlike in the video, I start in the back so help lock in the milk carton to the mold skull. Then I work around to the front and finally do the face details.
> 
> You do have to press the softened plastic into the details--I use a couple of paper towels folded up tightly and I keep a dish of water nearby. The towels have to be wet (not dripping, just wet) or the plastic will stick to it. So---soften up an area and then press it into the details. Sometimes you have to soften it a couple of times. For the area around the eyes, nose, and skull, I soften it, the (for safety's sake) turn the heat gun off and put it down, and then protect my hand with a towel and hold the skull in one hand while I'm pressing with the other.
> 
> Just be careful. The heat gun is really hot, and the skull mold will also get pretty hot. It takes a couple of tries to figure it all out.


Thanks for the info. I only touched it omce, with a brush handle, and yes, that was not the proper thing to do! I may give this another shot.


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## iowachap

Cool, i liked that video you posted for painting them, that guy sure did make it look ultra easy..the color paint in bottles he used looked alot like some i got from walmart for poster paints...  I actually had already used a milk jug to conform to my old demonica prop head and it looked pretty darn good just had not tried to paint it yet.. as i was not sure what paint to use


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## BloodyWendigo

Something that you could see in spinwitch's pictures was that the plastic doesn't melt evenly to wear it's a perfectly smooth surface like the original skull. Instead it makes thin snake-like bumps all over the surface. You could paint these to look like roots or something similar and make the rest of the skull look decayed and muddy. I'm definitely going to have to save this idea for this year; great post spinwitch!


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## lovetoprop

So amazing! Thanks for all the tips!


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## duxallinarow

*This is going to be FUN*



spinwitch said:


> My husband wants to do an ossuary scene this year. Which means he wants a *lot* of skulls. We've acquired quite a few over the years, but of course he needs more (think "Paths of the Dead" from Lord of the Rings). You can get decent looking plastic or Styrofoam ones for about $5, but that adds up when you want a bunch of them. So of course I was intrigued when I saw the post about making them out of milk jugs.
> Milk Jug Skulls - YouTube
> 
> Perhaps I've gotten a little carried away--15 so far. I've become a connoisseur of plastic jugs--I don't like the thinner translucent ones that water or tea come in because they melt a bit too easily. Clorox jugs are too thick and not flexible enough to come off the mold easily. I like milk jugs. The ones from Dollar General are preferable to the ones from Publix because the latter have a lot more embossing on them.
> 
> Obsessed? No--of course not!


I've already got a heat gun, and I've done some plastic-bag corpsing, but this step-by-step skull-making video is da bomb. THANK YOU.


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## spinwitch

Go for it! Getting it off can be tricky because it locks into the features. I cut a slit from the center back almost to the brow to be able to wiggle and peel it off. You can hot glue it back together from the inside if it bugs you.


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## FreakShowQueen

I started out doing these last year for an area I designed in the haunt that I work at. I do it a bit different than most (or at least from the awesome people that take time to make videos and post them to YouTube and such for people like me to be in awe of!) I start with heating the top of the jug and then pulling it down a bit on my resin skull so I get the top shape. Then I "lock it in" by heating up the areas under the cheekbones and pressing my sponge in there. From there I go to town on getting the detail. I save the teeth area for last and use a flathead screwdriver to push in the heated plastic to give the teeth a bit more definition. I added tea lights last year to mine because they were used to light up a very dark pathway but the constant turning on each night and then turning off before I left was a PITA so this year I am doing it a bit different. I was given a bunch of those cheap solar lights for walkways that you can get at the Dollar Store for like .50 and have been cutting a hole in the top of my milk jug skull and attaching these solar lights. They look pretty cool so far and have the added bonus of having a stake in them already to keep them in the ground (wind is killer on props around here). I am hoping that this will save me time when our season opens! 
My only issue is painting them. I usually hit them with a black spray paint in the indentions of the skull and then apply a cream color house paint on top which I then dab at a bit to give it an aged look. Looks ok for a season but the ones I made up last year look a bit dull. Wonder what it would hurt to put a sealant over the paint after it dries to maybe protect them from the elements a bit?


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## Daphne

Does anyone wear a respirator while doing this? Obviously it should be outdoors and a fan blowing fumes away from you might be a good idea but are the fumes from this dangerous outdoors?


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