Since we're living on a limited budget, and can't just buy those terrible dead babies from the Halloween store for all of our props (besides, what fun would that be??), we have to find a way to make $1 skulls look like something hideous. When you want to take a step towards the extreme, corpsification is the way to go. I learned this technique from Mad Haus Creative, who is an excellent craftsman.
Start by gathering your supplies: $1 skull from the dollar store, small can of wood stain, bottle of stainable wood glue, an old kitchen sponge, and the cheapest tissues you can find. All and all, this set me back about $7, with the most expensive item my $3.20 bottle of wood glue from big lots.
Most tissues are 2 ply - if yours are 1 ply, congrats, you've just cut out a step for yourself. If yours are two ply, take about ten tissues, and pull them into 1 ply - you'll end up with 20 1 ply tissues. Pour the wood glue out on a paper plate, and lay down a plastic sheeting - this gets messy.
When you're ready, take one of the tissues, wet it in the wood glue, and place it on the skull. Don't smooth it - you want this to be bumpy.
Keep doing this until you've got the entire skull covered in tissues and wood glue. Any areas that aren't covered in wood glue, you can take your fingers, dip them in wood glue, and then dot where you've missed. This is what it should look like when you're done.
Let the skull dry completely, and then take your old kitchen sponge - I ripped mine in half to make it even more manageable, and dip it into the wood stain. Apply all over the skull, darker in some areas, lighter in others, and this is what it should look like when complete:
Now, instead of having a crappy looking plastic skull, you've got a skull, with what looks to be decomposing flesh on it. Horrifying!
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