PEOPLE often talk about having an eye for the news but some students have gone further by constructing a nine foot skull out of Lancashire Telegraph newspapers.

Visitors are in for a surprise when the enormous skull, which is held together using masking tape, is suspended from the ceiling of a local college.

Students on the art, design and media course at Blackburn College took their inspiration from Damien Hirst, who produced a diamond encrusted skull worth £50million.

Now, the artwork, which took 12 students and two tutors more than 10 hours to create will be hung from the foyer of the Art and Design building in St Paul’s Street.

Course tutor Robert Hardy said: “The students have been studying Damien Hirst along with other 21st century artists as part of an identity project in contextual studies.

“We wanted to create something similar to Hirst’s work but obviously not as expensive so a sculpture made out of newspapers was ideal.”

The tutors first created a small model out of straws to allow students to see how the sculpture would be put together.

The students then spent hours rolling up hundreds of sheets of the Lancashire Telegraph into tubular shapes before sticking them together to create the skull.

Mr Hardy said: “It has been a joint effort between students and tutors and it is great to get everyone working together rather than as individuals to create this very different but fabulous piece of art.

“The construction process has definitely got the students’ creative juices flowing and they have really enjoyed the process.”

The giant skull will form part of a two-week exhibition of student artwork in the building including, self portraits, CD cover designs, and a plasticine animation.

Student John Harrison, 16, said: “I liked the fact that we all worked together on this project.

“I think it will look really smart once it is hung up and I am looking forward to seeing how people will respond.”

Damien Hirst’s human skull sculpture is said to be the most expensive piece of contemporary art.

The 18th Century skull is entirely covered in 8,601 jewels, while new teeth were made for the artwork at a cost of £14million.