If you enjoyed my epic DIY borax crystal tutorial and DIY concrete skull project, this easy DIY borax crystal skull tutorial combines both aesthetics to create sparkly yet spooky, classy Halloween decor!
A Note on Supplies – Your “Base” Can’t Float:
I actually tried to do this a couple of years ago but used a Styrofoam skull, which floated and ended up with a random crystal chunk and a big flat spot, lol. This year I wanted try again so I found two new plastic skulls to play around with. I thought I could fill the solid plastic skull with water and it would sink – but it didn’t! It bobbed around, so I ended up cutting a hole and filling it with rocks – which turned the water a little murky, but that worked! So when you’re shopping for supplies, find a very heavy skull. Other than that one tip, this DIY borax crystal skull tutorial is easy-peasy and so fun to make!
Supplies for DIY Borax Crystal Skull:
- Borax
- Heavy faux skull
- Large pot (mine is approx 9 litres)
- Waterproof oven mitts (I have something like this)
How to Make DIY Borax Crystal Skulls:
Click the link if you want to check out my original DIY borax crystals tutorial. Scroll down to find detailed instructions but the jist of this project is very simple: heat up a pot of water and create a supersaturated solution by dissolving as much borax as you can into the pot. Then submerge your desired form (in this case, a heavy skull) and let it sit, covered, in the borax solution for 8-16 hours while the crystals “grow” onto the skull.
How Do You Crystallize a Skull with Borax?
- Borax can be an irritant, so first open a window.
- Next, fill up a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Then turn off the burner and wait for the water to stop boiling.
- To make REALLY dense crystals, you need a super saturated solution, so dissolve borax into the super hot, just boiled water until no more will dissolve. For my 9 litre pot, I used an entire box of borax.
- If you’d like to add food coloring or dye, add it at this point and stir gently to blend in the color.
- Once the borax has dissolved, use waterproof oven mitts and submerge the skull into the borax solution. This is where the waterproof silicone over mitts come in handy – the water will be HOT and you don’t want to touch it or accidentally splash any on yourself.
- Keep the pot on the same element the entire time and allow it to sit, covered, for at least 8 hours – or overnight (I did 16 hours).
- Do not re-position the pot or move to a cold element – you want the residual heat from the element as it cools.
- You can open the lid to check on it periodically, but do not allow too much heat to escape.
- Once the skull is fully encrusted in crystals, carefully remove it from the pot and let dry.
How to Adjust the Density of Crystals
The end result is a very sparkly crystallized skull! You can crystalize many things and to adjust the density of crystals, simply add less borax. If you’d like it less packed with crystals than mine, with some more skull detail showing, keep an eye on the borax skull as it cools. After the first 5 or so hours, there won’t be crystals at all. Sometimes, even after 8 hours, there’s very little activity. After the 8 hour mark, check it every couple of hours and remove it when it looks good to you. I let my very dense borax skull sit for eight hours, and it was still patchy, so then I went to bed and when I woke up it was DENSE like this. So to get this density, I used an entire box of borax and let it sit for 16 hours.
Below, left, is a skull I made with much less Borax. It was a little patchy. But, like my “borax gemstones,” my second DIY borax crystal skull came out DENSELY packed because I was way more generous with the borax and added borax until no more could dissolve.
How to Fix Patchy Borax Crystals
If your crystallization ends up patchy, put it back into the pot, heat up the water (not enough to melt the item you covered in crystals – just slightly warm) and the borax will dissolve again. Remove the skull, then just add more crystals, bring to a boil again, turn off the element and mix until dissolved, and then re-submerge the skull and try again – basically repeating the process.
Can I Reuse Borax Crystals for More Projects?
Yes, you can also re-use the water even if the crystal skull is a success. Once you remove the skull, heat up the water again, add more borax, and then submerge a new skull in the mixture. This way you can reuse anything that stuck to the pot for more borax crystal crafts.
How to Remove Borax Crystals Stuck to Pot Sides
To remove stuck in crystals from the bottom or sides of the pot, just heat up the water again to redissolve the borax. Easy-peasy!
Happy crafting! I hope you enjoyed this DIY borax crystal skull tutorial.
Today I’m joining some of my talented blogging friends for the Fall Seasonal Simplicity Series: Halloween Projects hop. Be sure to check out all of the fun ideas by visiting these posts. All of the links are just below the images.
Free Printable Spooky Halloween Art at The Happy Housie
DIY Haunted Houses at My Sweet Savannah
Halloween Free Printable Watercolour Bats at A Pop of Pretty
DIY Halloween Pillows Made with Cricut at JoAnna Anastasia
The Great Pumpkin Halloween Porch at Tatertots and Jello
DIY Crescent Moon Wreath at Life is a Party
Halloween Gnome Printables at Clean & Scentsible
DIY Borax Crystal Skull at Dans le Lakehouse
Farmhouse Decor: DIY Halloween Wreath at She Gave it a Go
Don’t Forget to Pin for Later!
Super cool project – my son would love being part of this!
Author
It would be a lot of fun to do with kids! It’s kind of like magic, haha!
I saw those skulls at Dollarama too! the lacy one, so pretty 😀
Author
Yup, that’s where they’re from! Makes this super affordable!
So creative!
Author
Thanks so much Jenn!
Can I use real bone skulls with antlers attached ? Or does it have to be plastic?
Author
Crystals will grow on all kinds of materials and I’ve seen people use this method to grow crystals on real bone – so it should work just great. Because you are using something of more value, I’d recommend sealing it. I did not seal mine and, years later, it looks the same but I know other ppl have said their crystals turned white. Could be really humid environments? It’s very cold and dry where I live. I’d recommend experimenting with something cheap, first, to get the hang of it (growing the crystals and sealing them) and then do your real bone skull project.
When it says let it sit for 8+ hours, does that mean leave it in the pot/solution? Can this ruin a pot?
Author
Yes, just cover it and leave it in the pot/solution. It has not, in my experience, ever ruined a pot. But I used one I don’t use for food, just in case. I’d recommend just picking up a cheap one at the thrift store and then you don’t have to worry. I don’t know how Borax might interact with any coatings (like non-stick), etc. To remove the residue that will build up/crystallise on the sides, re-heat the water to turn it back into a solution.
How did you avoid the skull getting caked to the bottom of your pot?? Thank you!
Author
If crystals did form around the bottom (I made this a few times), I was always able to just pop the skull off – basically just lifted it out of the pot. But you can see on the very bottom of mine, the crystals don’t go all the way down to the bottom/underside. If you can suspend your skull in the water, you’ll get crystals all the way around. Like how they formed on my pipe cleaners crystals.
I tried this, but my plastic skull floated and that caused issues with it not being submerged well enough. What material skull did you use?
Author
Yes, I mention in the tutorial that if the skull floats, it won’t work properly. I had a hollow plastic skull, but I weighed in down with rocks inside and then just removed those when the skull was crystallized and everything had cooled. So a plastic skull works nicely, because you can easily cut a hole in the bottom and add something for weight. Good luck on the second attempt!
How do you seal them
Author
I have never sealed mine (the one I made last year was stored outside and then eventually in the unheated garage and looks perfect). But you can use acrylic or polyurethane sealant sprays (from someplace like Michaels).
Is there a way to keep the crystal from growing in certain places? Like, say you didn’t want them on the teeth or in the eyesockets.
Author
That is a good question. I am not sure because it’s sort of an organic process and you can’t really control where the crystals want to grow. I’m not sure if there’s chemically something to deter crystal growth… But you could try covering those areas with something that you can peel off later, thereby removing the crystals from that spot?
Thanks for this tutorial. What do you do with the borax water when you are done with it? I can’t imagine pouring this down the drain!
Author
People use Borax for many household uses, including laundry and unclogging drains, so I do not think pouring the leftover borax solution down the drain will cause any harm. But if you have special concerns about your plumbing or septic, etc., consult your plumber. I just heat up the water again, so it’s not solid chunks of leftover crystals being sent down the drain. Once it is liquid again, you can pour it down the drain (a homemade solution of 1 part borax and 4 parts boiling water is actually suggested to clear clogged drains) – then just follow by flushing with more hot water. As long as you’ve used food dye and not a really harsh dye, the dye shouldn’t pose a problem either. By the time you’ve formed your crystals, the leftover borax solution (once it’s heated and liquid again) should be fairly diluted.