Sugar Skull

A week or so ago I shared a little sneak peek of one of my in progress projects.  I've been working on it for a few weeks and I finally finished the beadwork up. What do you think?

So what does everyone think about the orange background?  I won't be using this orange, but probably one that is a little softer.  I like the idea of orange, but I'd like to see what everyone else thinks.

I'm so unbelievably happy with how this one turned out.  I normally like how things end up looking (sometime not so much), but this one makes me smile every time I look at it.  I don't know if it's the bright colors or just how it turned out, but it makes me smile.  I think I'm going to make a few of these, all different designs.  They just are pretty fun to design and make.  The sugar skull design really gives you a lot of freedom in design.

And if you don't know what a sugar skull is, here is a the definition from About.com.

What are Sugar Skulls?Sugar skulls are exactly that- skull-shaped sugar. Traditional Sugar Skulls are made from a granulated white sugar mixture that is pressed into special skull molds. The sugar mixture is allowed to dry and then the sugar skull is decorated with icing, feathers, colored foil and more. While the ingredients of Sugar Skulls are edible (with the exception of the non-edible decorations you may add) the skulls are generally used for decorative purposes. However some small sugar skulls that are made with basic icing are intended to be consumed. 

Where were the first Sugar Skulls made?Dia de los Muertos was an Aztec ritual that celebrated the lives of those who have deceased. The Spaniards who invaded Mexico tried to eliminate this seemingly offensive month-long holiday with no success. Dia de los Muertos was eventually merged with the Catholic All-Saints day and All-Souls day on November 1st and 2nd in an effort to make the holiday more Christian.
According to Angela Villalba from the Reign Trading Co. sugar art dates back to the 17th century when Italian missionaries visited the New World. Mexicans during that time period had very little money and learned from the Catholic friars how to make decorations out of an ingredient they had plenty of- sugar. Molds were made of clay and the sugar decorations were used to adorn the church as well as ofrendas and gravestones. For the Dia de los Muertos celebrations the sugar was pressed intoSugar Skulls and each sugar skull represented an individual and their name was often inscribed on the forehead of the skull.

You can click HERE to learn more about sugar skulls.