[BONUS] 431, 432 & 433. Skeletube VII, VIII, IX

Three new additions to my Skeletube army of hand painted vintage vacuum tubes. These were created specifically for the Third Annual Group Show at Glitch Gallery in Richmond, Virginia.

[BONUS] 423. Skeletube VI

Another member of my Skeletube army of hand painted vintage vacuum tubes. This one was a commission for a good friend. See my previous vacuum tube creations HERE. And hey, want one of your own? They're for sale HERE.

[BONUS] 416. Natural Selection: Nikola Tesla's Skull

One of the diptychs from my new Natural Selection portrait series which is on display at Krause Gallery in NYC through November 24.

Nikola Tesla & Skull made from vacuum tubes by Noah Scalin

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943): prolific inventor, developed alternating current (AC), was hugely famous in his lifetime, but died impoverished and in debt and mostly forgotten.

[BONUS] 413. Skeletube V

I created a new Skeletube for the Think Small exhibition opening this week at Artspace in Richmond, VA. The show requires all work to be 3" x 3" (x3") or smaller and this hand-painted vacuum definitely fits that requirement.

See my previous Skeletube creations HERE and hey, if you want to own one, check out the Skeletube Store!

[CONTEST] Win A Skeletube from Noah Scalin

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thank you for participating.

Noah Scalin is of course the creator of Skull-A-Day. He's made hundreds of different skulls with various mediums over the years (366 in the 1st year of the project). Last year, Noah combined his love for skeletons and vacuum tubes, to create Skeletubes. He's painted so many of these little guys that he's made a Skeletube army. Since so many people love these fun creations, Noah is giving away one Skeletube to one lucky Skull-A-Day fan!

Occasionally these little guys like to get together and go on adventures. So far they've escaped to a mountain and had a snow day.

PRIZE INFO: One Model B bagged and tagged Skeletube. It is a hand painted skeleton vacuum tube that is packaged as shown.

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us what adventures your skeletube would have if you had one? For example, I might take mine to the beach to dig for lost treasure or to a cemetery to find old friends.

CONTACT INFO: If you win, we need to contact you. With your comment, please INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!! Entries are only valid with this information.

WHERE TO ENTER: All entries must be made on this blog post, on Skull-A-Day.com. You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59:59 PM Eastern USA Time Friday, February 1, 2012.

NUMBER OF WINNERS: One

PRIZE SHIPS: This contest is open to all skull lovers around the world.

IF YOU DON'T WIN: Don't fret. These hand painted little guys are available in various models in Noah's Skeletube Shop.

[BONUS] Skeletube Snow Day

It's a snow day in the land of the Skeletubes, but it was too cold for me to document them for very long, so I have no idea what's going on here. Maybe you know? Add your caption suggestion as a comment below...

Want to have your own Skeletube adventures? You can get one HERE.

[BONUS] Escape to Skeletube Mountain

Recently I spent a few days in the mountains and three of my Skeletubes decided to come along as well. Here are a few pix I took of their forest explorations...

Want to have your own Skeletube adventures? You can get one in the new Skeletubes Store HERE.

Skeletubes!

My hand-painted reclaimed vacuum tubes are finally for sale online!



At the Skeletubes store you'll find several versions of the minimalist Skeletube Army in a nifty bag/tag package.



You'll also find the highly detailed one-of-a-kind brainac style tubes.



Be sure to check the store from time to time as I'll be adding new variations and packaging in 2013!

[BONUS] 405. Skeletube Army II

I'm continuing to experiment with painting vacuum tubes...

This time I created 20 larger size ones in special packaging for the upcoming Bizarre Market Holiday sale here in Richmond, VA. These will be available exclusively at the market November 23 – December 24 after which I will sell any remaining ones through the Skull-A-Day store.

Expect to see the next stage of this project sometime in 2013.

[BONUS] 401. Skeletube Army

In honor of the 15th anniversary of the Art-o-mat project I created this army of painted vacuum tubes!

Since I needed to make a lot of them to swap with other artists at this weekend's Art-o-mat event in DC, I decided I needed to come up with a simpler idea than the complex painted tubes I'd done previously.

In this case I designed a simple skeleton which I painted in acrylic on the smallest tubes I had, ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 inches (approx 3.8 to 6.4 cm). Thanks to Joe The Tube Amp Guy who provided me with some of the tubes I used for this project! If you need your tube based gear fixed, he's your guy.

5 years ago I made a group of skulls as part of my original 365 project for the 10th anniversary of the Art-o-mat!

And last year I made a special edition skull for the 10th anniversary of the project in my hometown Richmond, VA.

[BONUS] 399/400. Skull Tubes Mach-2 I & II

OK I'm trying out another idea with the smaller vacuum tubes I have on hand (2 & 3 inches tall). I went to the art store today specifically to buy a bunch of much smaller brushes to get the details on them.

I'm liking this direction, but I'm wondering if I need to add arms to them, and if so, out of what material?

[BONUS] 398. Skull Tube IV

I'm still feeling compelled to paint skulls on vacuum tubes. Not sure where I'm going with this new project, but I'm having fun in the process...

This is the smallest one so far and it's interesting to see how much detail I can retain as the scale is reduced.

I'm not selling these yet, maybe soon. In the meantime I still need a name for them, suggestions?

[BONUS] 396/397 Skull Tubes II & III

So I'm continuing with my new idea of painting vacuum tubes...

Most of the ones I own have this extra bump at the top so I decided to try leaving it unpainted giving you a peek inside and making them have a bit of an alien/robot feel.

I think these guys need a name. Any suggestions?

Also I may start selling these soon. If/when I do, what do you think would be a reasonable price?

[BONUS] 395. Skull Tube

Apparently I can't stop painting skulls! I bought a bunch of vintage vacuum tubes to for another project and decided to try making art on them. I tested out a couple of other techniques before deciding to just paint directly on them.

I think I may be making more of these...