For those of you that have tried it, is there a special brand of metallic paint you find works best? I heard to spray flat black over the entire skull first and then brush in a metallic paint. Does that give a better look than just spraying a metallic paint to begin with? Any tips\recommendations\techniques are apreciated.

Try this, it worked good for me.

http://www.krylon.com/projects...red-patina/index.jsp

http://www.krylon.com/projects...qued-metal/index.jsp

http://www.krylon.com/projects...aku-finish/index.jsp

The way it was done once upon a time in this country - and the way it is still done by myself and some of the larger shops that still know of such things is such: resin the skull and add bronze powder. Once fully cured it is then buff it on a wire wheel and seal it in clear lacquer.

More specifically:
Coat the teeth with a thin layer of Vaseline, then paint the skull with a base coat of bronze that is custom mixed to the same color as the finished product so any imperfections in the bronze coating will not show through. Be sure to clean the skull with thinners to neutralize the surface and allow to dry before painting. Then a thin layer of resin is applied over the dried paint and sprinkled with the bronze powder. When its done you can simply clean the teeth with a cloth and modeling tool... Using a soft wire wheel on a drill you can buff the powder to the bronze finish. Use a tooth brush size wire brush to get into the hard to reach places. Once all is done, coat the entire coat with lacquer, I personally prefer a Matt finish, lightly sprayed to give a more authentic metal look. The lion skull was sprayed with a high gloss. You must seal it or it will fade to a brown in a few weeks. Its easy....

So I have a giraffe skull and a wart hog skull (both with lower jaws) and have been trying to get the rest of the "grease" soaked out of these skulls (using Dawn dish soap in cold water) for the past year. No such luck, still have embedded grease (yellow color in parts of both skulls/lower jaws).

The question is can these skulls be "bronzed"
or other suitable covering attached and NOT have the yellow/greae/fat come leaching out thru the bronze over time?

What would bronzing of these skulls cost (and of course shipping costs to and from whomever). In fact who is even willing to take something like this on?

Willi

Here's a company that will metal plate your skulls. I've seen their work and it's very good.

http://metalizedskulls.com/

Thanks Jerry, I'll check them out and see what they say.