Max Knives MKSKULL3 — 20 small drilled skull beads with jaws

Overview

The MKSKULL3 brings together twenty small metal skulls, drilled to take cord. What sets them apart is the modelling: the jaw is represented, which gives a complete skull where many beads stop at the cranium and the eye sockets. Like other beads of the kind, they are there to finish a paracord braid, on a bracelet, a knife lanyard, a key fob cord or a dog collar.

The detail of the jaws

Rendering a jaw on a small piece means cutting an extra line beneath the cheekbones and marking out the row of teeth. The result registers at close range, which is the distance a bracelet bead is actually looked at: the skull reads as a whole skull, not as a suggested outline. That choice goes hand in hand with the reduced format of these heads, which sit at the end of a braid without weighing the work down or pulling on the cord.

Technical specifications

Bag of 20 pieces. Material: metal. Motif: small-format skull, with jaws. Each bead is drilled for a cord to pass through. Purpose: closing off a paracord braid at the end of the cord. This pack of twenty units corresponds to a whole run of finished pieces, or to a reserve held for projects still to come. No two projects need share a bead, since twenty is a generous count to start from.

Care

A detailed motif holds dust more readily than a smooth surface, so cleaning is done with a dry paintbrush or a soft brush, working along the line of the teeth and into the hollow of the sockets. A rinse under clean water is still an option after messy use, provided each piece is then wiped and the drilling emptied. Store unused beads separately in a box rather than loose among other metal hardware.