Sugar Spoon of Death

This is a fairly quick and easy project to do (also very inexpensive). Yes, it makes the spoon less functional as a scooping utensil. But the trade-off is worth it to add a little dark detail to your Halloween party (or just every day, if you're me).

You may want to start with a soup spoon, that way it will hold at least a teaspoon's worth of sugar once the surface area has been reduced.

When choosing a spoon it is important to pick one that is solid stainless steel. My girlfriend asked if I could use a cheap silver spoon (from an antique store bin of unmatched silver) -- no. Silver flatware is not solid silver (it would be worth a pretty penny if so), but rather brass or nickel with a silver coating. Some spoons are solid sterling silver. That would work, but it would be a shame to cut into it. I had this spoon that I was going to throw out anyways because one of the edges got nicked by the garbage disposal. I decided to give it a second life instead.

Next, draw your template on the back. The back is easier to draw on and more skull shaped, also it will be less cumbersome to cut.

I used a jeweler's saw for this. The blades are very fine, allowing you to get very precise cuts. Also it makes short work of thin metal. If you want to go this route, you'll probably have to order one online. They can be had from ebay for about $10 to $20. Make sure you get plenty of blades as they will break frequently. I think I went through 4 blades just cutting this spoon -- I could have been gentler and perhaps not broken any. Of course, you could probably use a dremel or some other method to cut the pattern out, but a jeweler's saw works wonderfully.

Start sawing away at your skull. Clamp it firmly into a vice for ease (use wood blocks to cushion the spoon against the crushing force of the jaws). You'll have to drill some holes to get into the eyes and nose.

You can flip it over at any time to preview the finished product. As you can see, my cuts were less than symmetrical. I did a little filing on the eye sockets to even them up. I was more careful with the nose since it would be harder to fix mistakes there.

I smoothed over all the edges with a file then gave it an overall rub down with fine grit sandpaper. I thought about polishing it with a buffing wheel, but it looked good enough to me for now. It would look very nice and shiny after polishing.

It takes a few extra scoops, but it works just fine! The grin I get whenever I use it is worth the extra effort. This is a medium size spoon so it probably scoops the same amount as a sugar spoon would anyways.