Are you ready for Halloween? I’m not big on black-and -orange decor, but I do like an excuse to indulge the goth part of me that appreciates skulls, bones, and the color black. When I spotted Halloween glass skull jars on sale at Micheals the other day, I knew that with a bit of paint, they’d make perfect skull plant pots.

I’ll let you in on a you a little secret about these planters: the spray painting isn’t perfect. There are a few drips on one, and you might be able to spot a bit of wrinkling/alligator skin on the faces. What happened was that I painted them, thought they were done, and set them aside to dry, but then I realized that I didn’t have good coverage inside the eyes. So I followed the directions on the can of paint and waited a whole 48 hours (ugh, for-EVER) to paint again, only to end up with immediate crackling. For a few seconds, I was mad, and then I realized that the texture looked cool and spooky. So I decided not to worry about it. Similar story with the drips.

Both the drips and crackling are probably a result of spraying the paint on too thickly, so if you want perfectly smooth paint, avoid my mistake. Many light coats are the key to success with spray paint. (Easier said than done sometimes, even for a spray paint pro like me.)

If you’re looking for any cool old bones or antlers, my friend Eve provided that jawbone in the photos above (and some other super cool stuff I can’t wait to feature), and sells similar bones, antlers, and skulls in her shop. She doesn’t kill animals to get them, she mostly finds old vintage bones that have been sitting in someone’s basement for decades and cleans them up. (Her instagram also features some of the truly bonkers stuff she finds out in rural West Virginia.)

Halloween Skull Planters

Materials

Glass skull containers
Flat black spray paint
Clear matte sealer
Rubbing alcohol
Cotton balls
Plants – I used mostly succulents.
Plastic plant pots – Mine are left over nursery pots from plants I’ve bought.
Spanish moss

Steps

1. Wash and dry the glass skulls, then wipe them down with rubbing alcohol. (I don’t know whether the rubbing alcohol is really necessary, but it’s what I did.) After you wipe them down, avoid touching the exterior.

2. Following the directions on your paint, spray paint with several light coats of flat black paint, followed by at least two coats of matte clear sealer. Let dry.

3. Find a plastic pot that fits inside the skull (a 4-inch-wide one was perfect), and plant it up. I used the spookiest succulents I could find.

4. Tuck spanish moss around the pot to cover the dirt (and give your skull a better hairline).

5. Accessorize with bones, crystals, fake spiders, and anything else spooky that you want to include.