Hamlet's skull
Hamlet and his friend Horatio are in the graveyard watching
gravediggers at work. Some skulls and bones have been dug up and
are lying nearby. A gravedigger, not recognising Hamlet as the
prince, tells them that one of the skulls belonged to Yorick, the
court jester at his father's court, whom Hamlet had known well.
How to make
1. Roll each large sheet of newspaper up diagonally until you have a long tube. Do this four times to make four tubes.
2. Wrap a tube around your hand to get a small circle and secure with plenty of masking tape. Do this three times to make two eyes and a nose.
3. Take the final tube. Fold the ends into the middle and stick with tape. Make this shorter length into a circle and again secure with plenty of tape. This will be the jawbone.
4. To make the main head part of the skull, scruntch up three sheets of paper and wrap them around each other to make a rough ball. Again secure with lots of tape
5. Attach one eye anywhere, then stick the other eye to it. Attach the nose underneath these. Anchor them all down firmly.
6. Turn the head upside-down and attach the jaw in a loop under the nose.
7. Put on as much masking tape as you need to smooth out any lumps and bumps in the skull and make it as strong as possible.
8. Cut down the end of a bin liner and open it out, then place on the table to avoid making a mess.
9. Cut the modrock into strips about 2cm across. Put some warm water into the bowl. Dunk a strip in the water, smooth with your fingers so the water covers the whole strip, and stick it onto the skull.
10. Carry on until the whole skull is covered. We did three layers in total and used about 30 strips of modrock. Don't forget to leave the mouth open!
11. Leave it to dry overnight. After a couple of hours, taking out any newspaper from the inside will enable quicker drying.
Now.. to the stage! Download the speech and begin!
Make Macbeth's dagger: enjoyed making this skull? Now make Macbeth's murderous dagger.
All about the Tudors: find out about the kings and queens of Shakespeare's time.
Made your own dagger?
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