La Calavera Catrina (in English, 'The Elegant Skull') is zinc etching made by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada in 1910.  Catrina has become a part of the Day of the Dead celebrations and is used in costumes, figurines, posters and artwork.

This is a simple cut and paste paper craft version of Catrina.  You can glue the pieces together or use brass tacks to assemble it so the pieces move.

Materials:

• paper,
• printer,
• glue,
• scissors,
• something to color with
• Optional:  brass tacks
• Optional:  fancy scrapbook paper, wrapping paper or construction paper

Instructions:

• Print out the template of choice (you'll need 4 pieces of paper to make Catrina, she's quite big).
• Color the pieces as appropriate and cut them out.
• Glue or brass tack the arms to the sides of the shoulders (the shoulders are sticking out of the rib cage).  The piece of the arm you're gluing looks like a ball.  There are small dots to help you line up the pieces.
• Glue or tack the elbow of the arms together (these are the pieces from the Arms Template that look "bone shaped")
• Glue or tack the hands to the arms.
• Glue or tack the hips to the bottom of the spine.
• Glue or tack the largest leg bones (femurs) to the hips.
• Glue or tack the knees together.
• Glue or tack the feet to the bottom of the legs.
• Glue or tack the head to the top of the spine.
• Optional:  Cut out a fancy long dress (ballgown) and dress Catrina in it.

Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template - Catrina's Spine     (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Arms      (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Legs      (color)   or   (B&W)

Template - Catrina's Head     (color)   or   (B&W)