Beautifully Realistic Skulls Carved Into Mother Of Pearl Shells

New Jersey-based Fillipino artist Gregory Halili certainly knows how to be original and create something unexpected, as he demonstrates by carving skulls into mother-of pearl shells. Highly influenced by the vegetation and wildlife he grew up with in the Philippines, Halili hand-carves these dainty yet unsettling bas-reliefs in gold-lip and black-lip mother-of-pearls shells found in his home country. After carving the inside of a shell, he paints the bas-reliefs with oil paint.

10-inch shells on 6 inch wood blocks:

Time-lapse video of Halili’s painting on a nearly perfect skull-shaped mother-of-pearl shell: