Who doesn’t enjoy fancy and incongruous jewelry? These eye-catching pieces can make you stand out in the crowd. Be careful, though, because an over-the-top piece can outshine your persona. Skull jewelry has found many admirers among people of all ages, beliefs, and social strata. Tough-looking bikers, mysterious Goths, outrageous punks, and superstar rockers, they all flaunt unique jewelry featuring skulls. If you want to look like one of those, be sure to buy a skull necklace or add a skull pendant to your existing neck ornament. Speaking of pendants, we came up with six awesome designs your jewelry collection is longing for.
Sugar Skull
One of the most artful, colorful, and feminine images of a skull is a sugar skull. It was inspired by the Mexican goddess of death, Santa Muerte and the famous the Day of the Dead holiday. There is a tradition to cook cookies, chocolate, and candy shaped like a skull and decorated with colorful frosting. Not only sweets but also jewelry succumbed to the influence of the Day of the Dead. Artisans craft intricate sugar skull rings, necklaces, and pendants that feature colorful swirly and floral patterns. Santa Muerte wears a large flower and leaf writhe on her head. A similar ornament often adorns sugar skull items.
Classic Old-School Skull
These are skull pendants flaunted by rockers, bikers, and dark subculture followers. Mostly, those are polished silver items with pretty straightforward yet realistic design, such as the one you can see in the iconic Keith Richards ring. To add more depth and realism, designers often highlight eye sockets with blackening or entrust them with colorful gems. These old-school skull pendants normally carry a stern expression on their faces and can be caught in various plots – behind the bars, enveloped in flames, ominously laughing, etc.
Steam Punk
Steampunk jewelry is a mixture of the Victorian era, postapocalyptic scenarios, and steam-powered technology. Steampunk skulls often carry body modifications such as an iron jaw or telescopic eye, fancy clothing (cylinders are our favorites), monocles or eye patches, smoking pipe, etc. In general, the steampunk genre is full of small details such as nuts, bolts, and screws, springs, tiny mechanic gears, studs, watch parts, etc. Along with mechanical motifs, the steampunk adores charms and cameos. A traditionally crafted skull steampunk pendant is often complemented with flowers, insects, small animals, birds, snakes, and religious symbolism. To add even more incongruous look, steampunk-themed pendants incorporate glass, stone, and multi-metal details.
Gothic Skull
Gothic skulls are more elegant and refined than those that bikers wear. While old-school skulls are rather intimidating and furious, gothic skulls carry a sense of mystery and evil. They often feature mysterious tattoos or patterns on their faces that convey a premonition of death. Along with that, the romantic side of Gothic is frequently reflected in body ornaments, especially in such themes as skulls and dragons, knights, roses, and hearts. Despite the certain ominous vibe, Gothic jewelry remains beautiful, sophisticated, and richly decorated. It often sparkles with multi-colored gems, vibrant enamel, and contrasting inserts.
Pirate Skull Pendants
These quirky and original pendants successfully combine pirate and skull motifs. Who is a pirate in this life will remain a pirate in the afterlife – this is what these pendants convey. Jewelers are not scared of taking popular characters such as Jack Sparrow or Davy Jones and add a skull twist to their image. A signature cocked hat, eye patch, smoking pipe, and a smug grin are in place. Inspired by the crazily-popular the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, these skulls often come complete with sea creatures – crabs, octopuses, or fishes sucking to a pirate’s face.
Animal Skulls
Who said that only humans have skulls? Since the dawn of time, ancient tribes and sacrificers utilized animal skulls and bones in rites and rituals. They could hang a bird skull on a rope as an amulet or lucky charm. Today, you don’t have to craft your makeshift jewelry to get an amulet. Just hang an animal skull pendant, and you are good to go. These items revere the old times when animals were sacrificed to get power, prosperity, or immortality. Also, they resemble witch and warlock amulets. A buffalo, bull, goat and other horned animal skulls as well as skulls of birds with prominent beaks, can become a highlight of your look.