Corpsifying skulls

The goal

Freshly applied latex and cotton

After it's dried for a good 4 hours

So in the midst of trawling Pinterest for Indiana Jones prop ideas, I came across a really cool sarcophagus/mummy project that is basically a large box constructed of Styrofoam and with a half of a mummy inside, then a green light below lighting him up. Very cool. So I realized I needed to build up some skeleton parts.  I don't want to use my existing skeletons unless I have to, mostly because it makes note sense to permanently attach the parts to the box. And I've been wanting to try out a technique i came across to corpsify a skull with latex and cotton. 

I had my paper mache skull all dry and ready. I hinged the jaw at a slightly askew, looks-like-hes-screaming angle, then got to work with stretching cotton over the skull and applying latex over it and using it as an adhesive.  I really loved the texture results. After it dried for at least four hours i got out some paint and started to go for a slightly burned, fleshy look. I'm really pleased with this for a first attempt, and especially on a paper mache skull.  The teeth are the only thing that would have been nicer to have more definition from on a plastic or resin skull. But it works just fine for what will probably be a throw away prop.