I have been making these happy little skullies for years. I turn almost all of my scrap clay into them. I have probably made hundreds by now. I am sure the guy who loads the kiln hates me. People's reactions to the skulls are fairly polar. Either they say "How morbid." or they say "How cute!". I cannot claim responsibility for inventing these darlings. I got the idea from my friend Laisha. I have seen other people imitate these also, to good effect. Someone recently made an entire pinch-pot out of very similar skulls. I was delighted.