A short history of David Skeleton

I like giving things silly names, and I can make no meaningful apology for doing so.

So! I realised that a very useful prop for the Redux edition of Maskwitches would be a human skull. I would also come to learn that many of the props I intended to buy as part of a reusable toolkit would develop their own identities which would resist being reused in multiple roles. What can you do? This is the story of David Skeleton. So far.

After a lot of trawling on line shops I found a very reasonably priced, full-size resin skull and duly ordered it. It arrived and I was very happy with how sharp it is: skulls can easily become cartoonish, and I specifically didn’t want that for this project.

I immediately did some informal set ups with some fur and leather and beads, thinking in part about air dried mummies that inform (again, in part) the idea of elder witches in the setting.

About Elder Witches

Through the course of their vocation, Maskwitches can gain more and more amulets (representing their weaknesses) and masks (representing their strengths). Eventually they gain so many that they can no longer perform practical work, and retreat from normal life. Sometimes they take the form of animals, sometimes dissipating entirely, other times sinking into the landscape and becoming a part of it.

Your characters in the game might need to seek out an elder witch and consult with them to gain assistance in fighting a spirit. They’re capricious and unworldly forces that can be difficult to communicate with.

While I never want the text in the book to speak in this way, I really enjoy the idea of elderwitches basically being dead in terms of our limited modern sensibilities. (It’s funny how we think in such grimly materialistic terms while also conducting rituals around death and visiting grave sites for advice and solace remains entirely normal behaviour) And thus I want some imagery of skulls in the landscape.

Paint Your Skeleton

I quickly realised, having done some messing about, that I needed to apply some kind of finish to this skull. It was just too white and plasticy. Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation, as the general aesthetic of Maskwitches needs everything to have a bit of dirt on it, and there to be plenty of “particles” around.

The skull took paint amazingly well. This was a very pleasant surprise as sometimes these kinds of objects can be covered in mould release agent, and require a lot of prep. The thinned acrylic went on like a dream in one coat. It dried quickly, with a lovely range of textures. One doesn’t often get so lucky.

Pause

In the course of painting this skull, I discovered something like an interrupted wisdom tooth (or something like that? I’m not a dentist) in the upper jaw. This gave me pause.

Obviously this is a cast of a real human skull. But seeing that unique tooth detail really made me think about whose skull had been cast. What was their story? Clearly they can’t consent to me using a likeness of their skull in this project. I wonder who they were? I hope their life was ok. Will my skull get cast? What does my skull look like?

Skulls are a very weird thing.

I had to do some mental work to detach from this thinking. While yes this is a cast of a real person’s skull it’s also “just” a piece of plastic. But just how connected we can get to representations is shocking, even if this isn’t news to us at all. That feels like information that might resurface within the project, and that’s a reason to feel these things for a while and then appropriately contextualise them. Along with, you know, trying to be a decent human being.

The birth of David

On reflection, I suspect this thinking prompted me to name the skull and start to personify it as something other than the one of the horrific possibilities that my imagination was generating. Around our house it is known that I have a tiresome habit of naming anything that can have a name “David”.

And so David Skeleton was “born”. Normally I would go with “Skellington” for the surname but on this occasion the rhythm was off. David also happens to be a woman. But that’s none of your business.

Around this time I also got (another) wig. Skulls in wigs are an absolute mainstay of the horrific Maskwitches vibe and I love it.

It’s an extremely simple example of two things brought together being more than the sum of their parts. Indeed, hair is a fascinating topic absolutely laden with human meaning and symbolism. I really don’t have time here to delve into that, but trust me we humans care way too much about hair. It’s beautiful. It’s horrific. We have so many rules around hair. Collaborators having their heads shaved/ Sinead O’Connor/headscarves/skinheads/the politics of black hair/the fetishisation of blonde hair/men going bald. Powerful stuff.

I also absolutely love a wig, and any time there’s one around I cannot resist. It’s perhaps one of the simplest forms of costume and they’re so highly transformative. Eat your heart out, Cindy Sherman (there’s a name I haven’t thought of in decades, but who oddly has some relevance to this project.)

Like many people who are basically a mental ruin faking being functional, I really enjoy clowning, and wigs are ideal for this purpose.

With her new paint job, David really came to “life”. (This article is full of this stuff. A skull that’s alive. The power of wigs. The way modern people think we’re so very smart and rational but still talk to graves)

I set up some further tests, and discovered just how well a hose from my smoke machine can fit into David’s noggin. I used some hot glue to seal up some of the various cranial exits, to direct smoke from the nose and eyes. Because we all know that’s going to be all the more special. (I do worry sometimes. I want you to know that.)

The most serious set up I’ve done with David was this one, using some pre-made… I don’t know what you’d call it? Micro-sets, micro-scenery, I guess?

This was a serious concerted effort to create a piece of production artwork, and I was very happy with the outcome. I might blog about this one in more detail later.

David also has appeared on the new cover for “The Naming of Spirits”: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/407084/The-Naming-of-Spirits ?affiliate_id=267183

For this one I used some “membrane” or “skin” I made from liquid latex and strategically stretched it over the skull. Suitably awful.

David regained her hair for this little photoshoot I did at the end of a working day for some David fans. (Ok ok, two people who know what I’m up to here and who find it amusing). This also is the first appearance of this absolutely awful hand which I made. More on that another time.

So there it is, a brief history of David Skeleton so far. What a time to be alive.