Portrait Project

I chose to do my portrait of a Calavera or a Day of the Dead sugar skull. It is a craft that is done in Spanish- Speaking countries where children make little edible skulls out of sugar for el dia de los muertos. I however, did it a little differently. At first I sketched out the outline of the skull that I wanted to make. I then determined how high each of the point would be. By doing this I was able to stack the sugar cubes to create a rough base for the skulls. Once I had done that, I made a paste to fill in the gaps and make the face seem smoother. I used a mix of sugar, egg white, glue, and a little bit of water to make the paste. After letting this dry, I was able to use a Dremel (drutter) to carve out some of the parts and smooth out corners. This was a very tedious part of the process.

After finishing this I was able to go in and paint on the decorations. This was the most fun part and I really enjoyed using the bright, vibrant colors. At the end, I decided to mount it on a mirror. This was a portrait project so the mirror would make any observer look as if they had a sugar skull as a face.

This whole project was pretty much a risk. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. The sugar was really hard to work with and I had no clue how it was going to turn out. Luckily, it all worked out okay.
This might have been my favorite project just because of the lack of limits. I had never worked with any of the materials before so there was no stress about perfecting them. By trying something new I was able to step out of my comfort zone and work with some crazy stuff.