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Creating A Great Jack-o'-Lantern |
So you want to learn how to carve a pumpkin do you? *evil laugh* Well I suppose if you want to be Dr. Frankenstein wannabe's, the least I can do is help ya.
Go and gather these things:
OK, first clean your pumpkin up. Wipe it with a clean damp cloth and
pat if dry. Now place your pumpkin on several sheets of newspaper so
you can work and not make a mess. Draw a circle around the stem with your marker. Get an adult
to help you with this part. Take your knife and hold it so that it is
pointing to the center (on an angle) of the pumpkin and cut out the
circle. If you do not make sure your knife is pointing to the center of
the pumpkin, the top will fall into the pumpkin. Now lift the top off. Now for the fun stuff. Reach into the pumpkin with your bare
hands and pull out all the slippery goo. Doesn't that feel great!?!
Scrape out the hanging bits of mushy goo with your spoon. Make sure you
separate the seeds from your goo and save them. Here is a great recipe
for Toasted Pumpkin Seeds.
Now you are ready to create your creatures face. The facial
features you make will depend on the pumpkin you want. I am going to
include some ideas from my Pumpkin Gallery for you below. Once you have
decided what face to make, draw the face on card board and cut out the
eyes, nose, mouth or designs. Trace these images on your pumpkin using
the marker pen and cut out your features. Now you are ready to give your pumpkin life!! I am so excited.
You can give your pumpkin life several ways. You can use a flashlight,
carve a hole in the back of the pumpkin about the size of your
flashlight. Put the flashlight through the hole and turn it on. I like
to give my pumpkin creatures different personalities so I use coloured
cellophane over the flashlight lens. You can also use a spotlight or a
strobelight. Carve a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin and lower your
creation onto the light. Turn it on and you are in business. How about
using colored Christmas lights? You can also use candles. Place your
candle in a small candle holder and place it into your pumpkin. Get
your parents to light the candle. Remember that you might have to
change your candle in the night if it melts away. Always make sure your
pumpkin is not near anything that can catch fire. PUMPKIN GALLERY
Pumpkin Head
Gutted Pumpkin
Old shoes, big ones are best
2 popsicle sticks or skewers
Old gloves
Hat
Carve a goofy pumpkin face. Rest the pumpkin on the shoes. Poke a stick
on each side of the pumpkin. Hang gloves on the sticks. Top off with a
silly hat. Try adding a huge flower to the hat. How about a plastic bat
or creepy crawly on the hat and/or gloves?
Pumpkin Spider
Small gutted pumpkin
4 wire coat hangers
Black electrical tape
Plastic Bugs
Carve a spidery face on your pumpkin. Get your parents to cut the
hangers at the elbows to make 8 spidery legs. Wrap each leg in black
electrical tape, sticky side up. Poke each leg into the pumpkin. Stick
black bugs to the legs. you can also use Spider webbing for a great
effect.
Pumpkin Totem Pole
3 or more carved pumpkins
Spotlight or Strobelight
Tomato cage
Cut holes in the tops and bottoms of all your pumpkins. The holes
should be all the same size and at least as big as the light. Put the
light in place on the ground. Place the tomato cage over the light,
pushing the wires deep into the ground. Slide the pumpkins into the
cage. Turn on the light. The light should shine upward and light up all
your pumpkins.
Lollipop Pumpkin
1 Pumpkin
Bright coloured paints
various colours of lollipops
Paint a cute face on your pumpkin with big bright eyes. Let paint dry.
Starting where the ear would be on your pumpkin, begin to stick the
lollipop sticks a quarter of the way into your pumpkin to create hair.
Insert the lollipops all over the head of your pumpkin and you are
finished.
A variation is to create ghosts and ghoulies on sticks for hair and paint a scary face on your pumpkin.
