Did I ever tell you about the time I went to a farmer's pumpkin patch to pick out my pumpkins, accidentally ripped the entire ass out of my jeans and got 5 pumpkins for free?
That was a good day.
This particular pumpkin I had to pay for. $6.99 as far as I remember.
It is the final pumpkin I have for you this Halloween season. The pumpkin I carved last year. May I introduce you to ...
"Random Male Pumpkin With Teeth"
If you have any, a-n-y inclination at all to do one of these sculptural pumpkins yourself, you must get a few tools.
You'll need a sharp paring knife for cutting sharp straight lines.
A wood carving set is also really helpful with it's variety of Xacto knives.
And this year I'm going to try clay loops for the first time. And I'm about as excited as you'd expect someone like me to be over something like a new pumpkin carving tool. Liken it to the excitement an old man would get, following around a 20-something year old with a bare bum hanging out of her pants while she bent over and picked out pumpkins for 45 minutes. Uh huh.
I bought these each at a local Art School. They were $4 each, so it's certainly affordable for most people.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
I bought a big clay loop for scraping off the pumpkins rind and doing most of the sculpting,
And a smaller clay loop for sculpting out smaller areas like around the eyes.
If you take a closer look you can see these things are ridiculously sharp!
So if you go out and get yourself some of these tools please, please, please, please, please, please be careful with them. If you think even for a second "Geez ... heh ... I'm a bit of a klutz ... this could turn into a real gong show", then maybe just bake a pie instead.
Please.
Have a great Halloween everyone! Carve them pumpkins and toast them pumpkin seeds!
Halloween Pumpkins Pt. I
Halloween Pumpkins Pt. II
Halloween Pumpkins Pt. III
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Catherine Jurgens
Pretty sweet. I went and bought the tools found them ineffective. I used wood carving tools instead. I posted a picture of mine on Facebook. Thanks for the inspiration.
Leslie
Most awesome pumpkin...ever.
Karen
Thanks Leslie! ~ karen
zhu zhu pets
so well done, but creepy
sharon
Nice choppers on those pumpkins, Karen. Have you ever worked in a dental lab?
Karen
Heh! No, but my grandfather was a dentist if that counts! ~ karen
Shauna
Amazing pumpkins Karen!! Thanks for sharing with us :D
deborahinPS
You are the bomb Karen!
I bet your step kids think so too :) My kids would've been in pumpkin heaven to have had you as a relative this time of year :)
Evalyn
I think he IS running for political office. Notice that when the lights go on inside, he becomes evil looking. Before that, he's just kind of smarmy.
Langela
Am I the only one who thought that the pumpkin in the third and following pictures had smoke coming out of its head? I had to take a second look to realize it wasn't smoke. DUH!
Jill@BarrioAdjacent
Love the pumpkins! Love the tools!
Is that a power wire I see or do you go old school and go with candles? And do you take pictures of them in various states of decay? A little stop motion movie...
Sorry, this has been just too inspiring. I better go lie down.
Karen
JIll - I use a lightbulb with these sculpted pumpkins because a candle just isn't strong enough to glow through all the skin. (Since there aren't actually any cut outs.) If I have a cutout pumpkin I usually use a candle. And no I've never time lapsed the decay. LOL. It's a sad occasion when I have to bury them. Er .. I mean throw the in the garbage. ~ karen
mimi
Great series, have a wonderful, carving hallowe'en!
Jessie
Yes, it's totally Will Farrell impersonating Harry Carey on SNL. Good call Jamieson!
Wendi
Super! You're going to wonder how you ever made these already incredible carvings without these amazing tools!
Amy
Ok, the first thing I thought is OMG, it looks like the guy on tv running for office. But maybe b/c that is just whats running through my head as I have been bombarded with political ads for weeks on end. He is very creepy looking. But you did a great job.
what exactly runs through you head as you carve? This seems to be good therapy for you. Do you put all the pumpkin waste in your garden to feed the worms? Just wondering.
Jamieson
I think this pumpkin could be Harry Carey, or Will Farrell's regular impersonation of him on SNL's Weekend Update:
http://starsmedia.ign.com/stars/image/article/855/855738/will-ferrell-20080228034343217.jpg
Karen
Let's go with that then. ~ karen
Leah
you are so insane.
and i mean that in the best way...