Getting it together for Dia de los Muertos!

My finished sugar skulls, decorated with glitter glue pens, not ideal as the sugar melts a bit, but definitely the easy option for someone who has never used royal icing decoration! I am making an altar tonight in memory of my mother who passed away Feb 2006, really looking forward to putting everything together, bone bread is also made and I found some fresh marigolds in a local allotment, so just a few things to get together now!

On the Road in Mexico ...meet Angela from the Mexican Sugar Skull company

Meet Angela Villalba, owner of the Mexican Sugar Skull company in Texas who has set up a fantastic facebook page for sugar skull fans. I've been working with this company for just over a year now and Angela along with sidekick, Kathi are just the nicest, most helpful, friendly suppliers ever! Angela is a genuine Day of the Dead veteran visiting Mexico every year for around a month in the run up to and during the festivities to further her research for her business and currently a book she is working on. This year she is driving through five states, visiting some out-of-the-way villages in Puebla & Oaxaca. I love seeing the photos she is posting daily from Mexico as well as all the contributions from the 750 sugar skull fans from all over the world who have joined the site since its launch just over a month ago. Here are some of my favourite pics from the page so far. Hope you like them!



Sugar alfinique Catrinas found at the Oaxaca market. Made from powdered sugar,egg white &lime juice.



Anise liquor filled sugar candies from Ejutla, Oaxaca. Used for the ofrendas of their loved ones.



This Veracruz baker took Angela on a tour of his baking facilities. Here, he has a tray of hot Pan de Muerto! His shop was decorated with skeletons, skulls and papel picado banners. His bread had the traditional "bones" on top!




Yum! Chocolate Sugar Skulls!



And finally, I couldn't finish this post without introducing Tacuba, a beautiful Bengal cat and Mexican Sugar Skull's company mascot, who (in Angela's words) is a constant "pain in the ass cat", always ready and poised to either eat or attack newly received papier mache skulls. She certainly is a gorgeous Bengal cat, and I can relate to Angela's comment about her personality, I have a similarly nosey and playful puss in the house to contend with.

All photographs (c) Angela Villalba Mexican Sugar Skull.

Consumed by the explosion of Dia de los Muertos in my life

Well, it's just one week until Dia de los Muertos festivities begin! This year I have had a real sense of this wonderful celebration gathering interest in the UK, and one of the reasons my blog has been pretty much abandoned for a month. I have been busy working with a number of people setting up special Day of the Dead events, parties and various other things including supplying some items for a Day of the Dead issue from Bizarre magazine due to hit the newstands next week. Will blog a bit more about all this during this coming week. So as well as all that, my Day of the Dead sales have really shown a huge surge from last year, particularly the fabulous Mexican sugar skull and chocolate moulds have been fantastic! Along with this I have been using Twitter a lot recently and have connected with a number of lovely like-minded Day of the Dead and Mexicana passionistas from around the world as well as the UK. And with so much global chatter going on here, I kind of got consumed in a visual feast of twit pics, facebook pages like those from the US based Mexican Sugar Skull and Day of the Dead Artist Market, some amazing Flickr images, Etsy treasuries and numerous venturing around some wonderful blogs - all offering up amazing Day of the Dead art of one kind or another.

Kind of overwhelming! My head so full of images and words that I found it difficult to work out where I belong in it all. Sadly I am not blessed with an artistic talent other than that of having a good roving eye for art produced by others, but that didn't stop me having a go at making my own sugar skulls this year and being pretty pleased with the result! I used the large original mould for my first attempt but I might see if I have time to make up a couple more before the weekend with the new XL Oaxaca mould which only came in-store last week.






I ended up changing the mixture a little, as I didn't plan ahead, I realised Meringue powder wasn't easy to find, so I used Royal Icing Powder instead, for the decorating I just bought some ready mixed tubes of coloured icing, which was good for the day, but not perfect as this didn't set hard, so any subsequent handling of the skulls meant lots of sticky fingers and squished artwork, but the children didn't seem to mind, in fact, by the end of the day, one little girl had pretty much licked the icing off and was starting to eat the skull itself (much to the horror of her parents!).

I kept back two blank skulls for myself as I am planning to put together an ofrenda (altar) later this week in honour of my mother who passed away in February 2006. I am going to decorate these with glitter pens as inspired by Rodrigvitzstyle's blog. I have pretty much worked out what I need for the altar, and will of course share with you once I have made this up. I've asked my local florist if they can get some marigolds in, it would be lovely to have fresh flowers, especially as my mother had a fantastic flower garden she tended so beautifully, but if not, then I shall attempt to make some!

To make amends for my tardy blog posting, I plan to post daily in the coming week in the run up to Dia de los Muertos..so see you all soon. Oh, and it's not too late to join in the fun, check out my Day of the Dead collection in-store, despite the Royal Mail strikes, I am shipping via a couple of courier options, so you can still get some sugar skull crafting on the go in time for the big weekend. So, here are my sugar skull decorating photos, in no particular order, hope you enjoy!

Meet Hector, a boy with a passion for Dia de los Muertos and all things Mexican!

Hector, who wants to be a tattoo artist and live in Mexico when he grows up

Last week I bumped into a lovely lady called Gemma on Twitter when she sent me a tweet announcing that her son was obsessed with all things Mexican and in particular, Dia de los Muertos. Later she posted up a few pics of her son Hector, aged 7yrs, with some of his wonderful home crafted Day of the Dead decorations. I was suitably impressed and had to find out more and asked his mum if Hector would be interested in answering a few questions on his passion for my blog...and as you can see, he was! So, please welcome Hector, who lives in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire - I hope you all enjoy what he has to say on his favourite subject, Dia de los Muertos.

Hi Hector, thanks for agreeing to answer a couple of questions for my blog.

Hello! it's ok! thank you for asking.

When did you first hear about Mexico ’s Day of the Dead festival?

I was asked by my teacher to do some homework about a country when I was five. I picked Mexico because I had seen mexican tattoos on my mums friends and I had really liked them. I wanted to know more about the skulls and found out about dia de los muertos. I drew pictures for my homework and wrote about the festival. Since then I have LOVED it.


Your mum says you are obsessed with Day of the Dead, do you agree?

DEFINITELY. Everything I like is day of the dead. I like to celebrate everything in a mexican style and my bedroom is mexican too. My mum has helped me make an ofrenda in my bedroom and we make tissue paper marigolds and papier mache calacas. When my two goldfish died we used photographs and made skulls for my ofrenda and I have ones that are for my great grandma and great grandad too. I like to remember them in the Mexican way. My great grandma was Spanish too so it fits even better.


Hector's bedroom

Where do you get your inspiration for your Mexicana and Day of the Dead decorations?

I like to look on the internet and my favourite artist is José Guadalupe Posada. I also like tattoos of sugar skulls, the bright colours and the designs. My mum helps me a lot with making things - she is good at this - and i like the homemade style of mexican decorations. I like retro things and my mums collect 1960's paintings like Lynch and Tretchikoff. I also used to go to a Catholic school and I liked the candles and statues and flowers. I think this helps me like the style more. I would like to be a tattooist in Mexico when I grow up..




Hector's home crafted sugar skulls

Do you have any plans to visit Mexico in the future?

I would love to go. It is the best place ever! I really want to go to Oaxaca on the 30th of October to help build the altars and watch the comparsa ready for the 1st and 2nd of November. I don't think I will be able to go this year but I really want to go soon. My mums say we will go on holiday there before I am ten. I am learning Spanish at the moment so I am ready.

Do you have plans to celebrate Day of the Dead this year?

Dia de los muertos this year is more important than Christmas or my birthday. I was going to celebrate Mexican Independence day last week but I had been naughty and said something bad to my brother so my mum cancelled it. I was really upset. So I am going to be really really good so I don't miss dia de los muertos! We are building a massive ofrenda in the lounge and we are decorating the windows with candles and tissue paper patterns. My mum is baking dia de los muertos cupcakes as well as pan de muertos, sugar skulls and atole cocktails. I also love chicken mole and pumpkin and spinach enchiladas. My mum will be making me presents and mexican chocolate calacas. My grandma and grandad will visit for a family dinner and my grandma does an impression of a Catrina in a big hat, it's really funny!

el amor, Hector xxxxxxxx

What a fabulous contribution from Hector, a big thank you and muchas amor to you for allowing me to publish your story and have a wonderful Dia de los Muertos! ps. I would love to see some pics of your ofrenda when it is finished and most importantly, your grandma doing her impression of Catrina! Vida Muerte Mexicana!

Sugar Guadalupe and Day of Dead Skulls

I have loved stocking these wonderful Day of the Dead themed sugar and chocolate moulds and judging by sales it seems my customers love them too. Now back in store at last is the Large Original Mexican Sugar Skull Mould plus a couple of newcomers.



First newcomer is the Medium Original Mexican Sugar Skull mould, previously I just kept the more whimsical Oaxacan skull mould which has two moulds front and back of skull, but thought these were rather nice and perhaps a little easier for sugar skull newbies to make as they only have one piece. Also joining my ever growing troupe of sugar and chocolate moulds is Frida, she came along as the result of a specific customer request, but has been flying off out of the shop, so will be kept as regular stock in the future.



But onto the real star of the show, once again, my favourite lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe stands out. A wonderful new addition to my range of Mexican sugar moulds, a beautifully detailed 3D Virgin of Guadalupe mould which comes in two pieces, front and back.





Here’s what my supplier has to say about the new Guadalupe mould, “Last year, when I was in Michoacan for Day of the Dead, I ran across a sugar skull vendor selling from a rickety wooden table under the arches of the town square. He had just brought in a new batch of his famous sugar Guadalupes and women were clamouring to buy them for their ofrendas! It would make a very special offering for their departed loved ones. They were iced with green or blue frosting for the Virgin's cape, golden yellow flames of the esplandor, and little gold "teacher stars" stuck into the icing of the cape. They were true works of folk art! We have tried to make a similar Guadalupe mould this year for your enjoyment... for those of you who can't go to Patzcuaro to get the real thing.”

Sugar skulls are a traditional folk art from Mexico used to celebrate Day of the Dead on November 1st and 2nd. For hundreds of years, mounds of colourful sugar skulls were sold by Indian vendors in the open air village markets of Mexico. During Day of the Dead, spirits are welcomed back to their homes with beautifully decorated altars covered with wild marigolds, candles, incense, special foods and sugar skulls being the name of the person being remembered. The Day of the Dead festival is in November and I plan to write more about how to make sugar skulls a little later in the year and have my own mini workshop with some of the neighbouring kids, so for those of you interested in trying out this wonderful activity, pop back around early October to find out more.





To finish off today's blog post, I thought I would include a few of the lovely photos sent in to me from an Australian customer who was designing decorations and displays for his home and cafe for last year's Day of the Dead festival. Thanks to Aaron x





This last photo is his cafe where some Day of the Dead festivities took place, note the lovely papel picado and loteria imagery he has used! I have some new Day ofthe Dead papel picado in which I have yet to list in my shop..so watch this space as I will blog about it soon. Gorgeous!

A missed opportunity for some fun with snow skulls

As the last of the snow melts away from my garden I realise I missed a great opportunity to experiment with my sugar skull moulds and create a mini mountain of Snow skulls although I did hear word that snow might be returning for the weekend...