What's With The Skulls?

[ara]

. . . I have a number of skulls throughout my tattoos and I think they are very suited to leather gear as well.

Kevin

Living leather, at that.

Rayban, it's hard to say for sure what the fascination is and an earlier reference to the Iron Cross era is valid. Maybe a lot of it deals with the recognition of inevitability in an aging population and maybe it's simply the technical challenge of doing a skull well. A skull, after all, is an intriguing object.

ara

[Sylvia]

I would say that the skull thing started in recent history as a logo for the Hells Angels. From there Heavy Metal, Gothic and now Screamo Metal etc. all seem to perpetuate the image. Perhaps it is a fascination with death, the dead and who knows these people may be frustrated Thespians stuck in an ever present "Alas, Poor Yoric, I knew him well...." state of mind.

[jbird]

Skulls? can't understand it either. Flowers represent life and skulls death and well some pretty ugly stuffl!! lol No really its great if its your thing. And some of the work is amazing!! I just never will understand! its like watching a ladygaga concert. just some things I don't understand. heres to you skull lovers!

Josh

[Laphroaig]

An old thread but an interesting one and I think I'll add in my "two penneth". The human skull (probably on the end of a stick) became the sign for "no quarter" in battle and most probably the earliest example of psychological warfare. It's pretty direct, don't need a great intellect to figure it out, especially if you happened to know the skulls previous owner. It's a visceral reminder of your own mortality, symbolism impossible to deny, "this was a life and I took it as I will take yours." I very much doubt that we descended into total war straight away, probably some bright spark came up with the idea and it stuck, early field communication "when we've taken enough slaves I'll wave the stick with Freds' head on it and you can just kill the rest" type scenario, and so the skull got promoted.

As far as psychological warfare goes it was as brilliant as it was inhuman and once a precedent had been set, devastatingly effective against a foe. Pure terror tactics its use demonstrated to such effect that derivatives including the famous skull and crossed bones centuries later became the individual emblems of pirate captains. But still the original symbolism remained, fight to the death and show no mercy, everything living put to the sword, total war. (Let us try not to think of nice pirates like Cpt. Jack Sparrow et al because theydidn't really exist.) The flags became collectively known as "Jolly Roger" by the British because the French navy just had to be different and use a red flag (joli rouge) to indicate no quarter in battle or so the story goes.

I've no doubt that the enduring historical symbolic and psychological power of the skull was why it like the swastika was adopted by the Germans in WW2, but that's all a bit of a red herring in my opinion. I've always held the opinion that if you like to swan around in WW2 German memorabilia you're just a bit of a fascist and may have other issues. I blame it all on those Clint Eastwood films with Clyde the orang-outang anyway. I doubt many contemporary skulls carry any traces of Germanic undertones these days as they'd detract from the purity of the message being put across. I like to think of them as direct descendent of the old pirate flags and ignore all the WW2 stuff. Only looking back less than a hundred years is hardly being fair to a symbol that undoubtedly played a huge and complex role in our culture from around the time we started walking upright.

I'm sure a social anthropologist could go on for days about the parallels in the cultures of pirates and motorcycle gangs, so it's hardly surprising that the skull icon is so prevalent in their art and in defining their identities both culturally and psychologically and why the skull is so prevalent in all art for that matter, whoever we are, the spectre of our eventual demise is one inescapable fact we all have in common.

Peace

[Rayban]

I will say this...I've been very impressed with the various skulls I've seen carved here.....I've tried my own version and ...well I SAS...suck at skulls.

[catskin]

Skulls ?? Hmmm........... everybody I know has one:cheers:

YES but some people seem to not notice that as long as you are alive the skull is covered with leather ( skin ) so the ugly bare bones are not so obvious. To me skulls represent DEATH as in skull and cross bone on poision. While I admit it takes skill to put them on leather I wonder why a person would choose to put a symbol of death on anything that is supposed to be beauty.

This is just MY opoinion others have theirs and I respect that.

[Hoskinsr3106]

I would also like to point out that it is not a new "FAD", if you go back into some of the Royal Crown's units, the 17th Lancers for example. They had the skull and crossbones on their helmets. They were also known as the death or glory boys. This by the way was during the mid to late 18th century, during the AWI.

my .02

Bob

[Anacott Steel]

But to flip it around...what's with all the flowers?

Chris

Chris I am with you - I dont understand the cowboy fascination with flowers - I mean these are about as tough and rugged blokes as you are going to come across (they ride angry bulls for fun right ?) and yet they're having their gear adorned with pretty much the most effeminate symbol that exists.

Im in the love skulls crowd. I dont think that it comes from a place of anger or hate at all - for me its more a fascination and embracing of the unknown but (obviously) inevitable.

BUT....I do look on in awe at some of the sheridan etc carving that I see in these forums. So much talent and while I'd never do it (remember i mentioned the talent bit) I can see the beauty in it.

[raysouth]

I enjoyed reading all the opinions pertaining to the "skull thing" and found them very interesting.

Why they are revered is a mystery and simply personal preference in my mind. When I began doing pyrography, I had a number of folks requesting different versions/renditions but never bothered to ask any questions. When I put pyrograhy on wood on the back burner and went the leather route, I received even more requests. Most were without the heavy "gore", and not something that would scare folks that cared to look at them. Most were motorcycle and tattoo versions that the folks had seen and requested something similar on leather. Many pieces were pieces of leather to hang on the wall and not placed on saddlebags or clothing, to my knowledge.

Swastikas? Have done a few but not for something representing the Nazi Era but the western Indians and a few other cultures/countries of the world. It is a very old symbol but most folks think of it as a Nazi creation and only associate it with the horrors of that time period.

I think that the use of skulls, etc; are something like, "opinions" of which everyone in the world has and lives by. I don't want to be judgemental of folks and do my best to fill life with laughter and good cheer and never put off by opinions of other. Just don't care for folks that cannot find happiness and attempt to make the life of others miserable. That said, I don't think I could ever come up with a definitive reason why we do what we do and like what we like. Sort of like having a preference of cars; some like Fords, others like Chinese GM or some other foreign make. Just what makes the world go round and makes folks happy.

Hope I did not offend anyone as that is/was not my intention. Just a super senior blowing off some steam, in a kindly manner.

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday and has a wonderful life ahead.

God Bless us all.

[raysouth]

Wonderful piece of work. Like somethiong out of this world. Make a great Star Trek being. Love to see the creative ability of others. *** SUPERB *** Is all I can say. You should write an instructional manual, explaing the "how to"s". Probably have one taker, a very old senior that cannot learn enough.

God Bless.

Ray

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the allure of feeling like a bad ass, whether or not that concept aligns with reality or not. Sometimes people just want to feel cool though of course what that quantifies that concept of 'cool' is subjective to each person. And of course the words synonymous with cool depend on generation, ie: rad, hip, swell.

Whether it's wearing a skull helmet at a renaissance festival or convention, or jacket with skulls, or motorcycle seat, or having some skulls on their book case (as I do by happenstance) people sport such apparel and own such possessions because they feel that, or project that, style reflects an aspect of their personality. Or they temporarily play the role as such.

Though of course the skull themes are overplayed by my estimation, I think that's due in part to a lack of imagination. Other reasons are likely the culprit though. While of course nothing new, it became an accepted fad in our modern culture and people often won't deviate from the accepted norm, even if that norm is an offshoot of something abnormal. Also, the skull in particular is rather iconic and the grim connotations are instantly recognizable. It's easy to grasp the point as it were, when depicted in art or fashion. I think that helps it be so wide spread too. When you are surrounded by the culture you will notice things like grave stones, caskets, demons, and all sorts of other similar themed items but the skull is also able to be personalized with characteristically human attributes like angry looking eyes and such. So it is much easier to get a certain impact with skulls.

This is all conjecture of course; personal speculation since the topic was broached. I normally don't spend much time on forums, easy to get drawn in and hard to get work done but today is a sick day as it happens.