My Regrets to Ron Perlman . . .

Every year, I carve a pumpkin.  I seriously look forward to it every year.  Unfortunately, this year I had surgery at the beginning of October so I've been "out of it" so to speak.  So, when I carved this pumpkin, I was not only "out of it" but I was in a fog of pain killers and well, pain.  Can you tell I'm giving all kinds of excuses for my less than stellar pumpkin?  I guess I'll never top my Sweeney Todd pumpkin.  Maybe I should just carve Johnny Depp from now on . . .  Sorry, Ron Perlman.  Sorry I failed you and your lion-esque jaw.  (Hangs head in shame)

This year I got some new tools: wood carving knives.  I've used pottery tools in the past.  Pottery tools require a pulling motion, whereas wood carving knives are pushed.  It was different, but I liked it.  The tools where much sharper and I got work done much faster.  I got this set at Hobby Lobby for $8.99 + a 40% off coupon . . . you do the math.  I don't wanna.

The tools.

I adore both the Hellboy movies and I've been wanting to carve Hellboy for a couple of years now.  Here's my inspiration photo:

The inspiration.

I pride myself on the fact that I don't use stencils and never have.  I simply sketch directly on the pumpkin, using a magic marker.  If I make a mistake, I wipe it away with a damp rag.  Then, I go over it all with an orange or red Sharpie.  That way, the lines don't show on the finished pumpkin.

Sketching . . .

More sketching . . .

The carving.

Again, I was in a hydrocodone haze so I really focused on the smaller shapes rather than the whole picture.  It came out okay, but not as I had hoped.  Sigh.  And, I managed to cut way too big of a hole in the bottom so some light is peeking out.  Double sigh.  There's always next year . . . 

Along Came A Spider . . .

Wednesday night was Trunk or Treat, our church's annual Halloween party.  We always go overboard on our costumes . . . I wind up stressing myself out trying to get it all done but every year I'm glad I did!  Our little man picked our theme: Spiderman!  The irony?  His was the only getup that required no crafting on my part.

I got to be Spidergirl!  I found the dress (normally $50) for $9 on eBay.  I'll never buy a new costume again!  I realize I look more like an ice skater than a superhero, but I still think it was cute.

Just like every other female in the world, I'm obsessed with Kate Middleton.  This year I vowed to make myself a fascinator for Halloween no matter what I dressed up as.  When else would I get an opportunity to wear something so frilly and ridiculous on my head?  So here's what I came up with:

Yes, it's more drag queen than Duchess of Cambridge but I still love it.  It was super easy, too!  I started out with this glitter spider clip from Undead Pinups (best shop name EVER) on Etsy.  I added blue glitter glue to the silver stripes.  I cut a black widow symbol out of red felt and coated it in red glitter glue, then attached it to the spider's abdomen with hot glue.  Next, I covered a headband base with blue felt and coated it in blue glitter glue.  I cut out about a 12 x 12 inch square of red sparkle tulle and folded it in half.  I gathered the cut ends, making the tulle into a half circle.  I hot glued the cut ends to the underside of the headband.  I cut a slit in the felt on the headband and slid the clip inside, and hot glued it for stability.  And, there you go! 

Next up was my hubby's costume: Doc Ock, or should I say Doc Ick.  This costume gave me such a headache!  We made the arms from vacuum hosing (at Home Depot for around $10) and wire hangers.  I made the claws from foam core and attached them with hot glue.  The Hub was insistent that the open claw had to have a light in it, just like in the movie (Spiderman 2).  He found an LED light at Radio Shack for $1.  I stuffed it in the tube, glued it and duct taped it into place.  We couldn't find a trench coat, so he just bought a shirt and I think it still worked fine.  

 The Hub made a harness out of an old backpack and a metal grill.  I ziptied the arms to the grill and there you go.  Doc Ock.  My hubby is very shy but he likes to get into Halloween.  He got a lot of attention and compliments at the party . . . I could tell he was really excited with how it came out.  

In the end, the hard work was all worth this picture of Hub and the Little Man:

OMGourd

I love Halloween. It's my favorite time of year. I think my favorite part (or the part that I look forward to the most) is pumpkin carving.

I'm a little bit obsessed with it. I can carve a pumpkin for hours on end and never get bored. Since I have a passion for movies, I usually wind up carving a favorite scary character from a film. Here are some of the pumpkins I've carved over the last few years:


Ghostbusters logo pumpkin, 2007. And yes, it is sitting on a toilet! I love to play with light with my pumpkins, so every now and then, I have to look at it in the dark so I can see how the image is coming along. The downstairs bathroom has no windows so I usually go in there to check on my pumpkin.

Joker Pumpkin, 2008. There was no contest that year who would be on my pumpkin. I LOVED "The Dark Knight" so Heath Ledger it was. Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes like the jawline. This was the first year I used a Dremel and thankfully, I've gotten better at it. Even though it's pretty dumpy looking, at least you can tell who it is!

Sweeney Todd Pumpkin, 2009. This is by far my favorite out of all of them! This one isn't perfect either, but I couldn't be happier with the face (and what a face you have Johnny Depp! Purrrrr . . . ). To be quite honest, I'd like to think I grew a lot in my carving skillz . . . but part of me thinks this was just pure luck that the pumpkin came out so great! LOL. Not sure if I can do better than this one . . .

I FINALLY got to see this movie on TV last week and I loved it. If you have a problem with blood or cannibalism in general, I would suggest you skip it! :) It's all in dark fun but I can see how a lot of people can't handle it. If you get to ever see the show on stage I would recommend it. It's not as bloody as the movie and the music is amazing.

This year, I caught a pumpkin carving contest on the Food Network. (Click here for the dates and times for other showings of the Challenge--it's really great!) The pumpkins were amazing. I usually do a souped up jack'o lantern, meaning I play with light to make the images. In daylight, you really can't tell what the pumpkin is supposed to be. Well, during this challenge, they had a 3D category where the contestants had to sculpt a pumpkin just like you'd sculpt clay or marble. So, instead of carving the negative of the picture, they were sculpting the thing itself. I was so inspired I decided I'd sculpt one this year.

A few days later, I was driving past a local church and saw they were selling pumpkins. I spotted a white one and instantly had the idea to sculpt Voldemort! How creepy would a white Voldemort pumpkin be? Well, let's find out . . .

I'm pretty happy with it! It was a challenge to figure out how to do it . . . I had to think backwards! I could've done more with it but I was lazy. : )

Someday, when I get better and faster, I'm totally auditioning for that Food Network pumpkin Challenge. I was so excited to see that there was a competition that I actually have a chance of competing in! Someday . . . but for now, I need to practice. Even though I already sculpted a pumpkin I still want to carve one this year.

This week I'm going to work on my "big" pumpkin project. Here's a clue for what I'm up to . . . : )

One final link if you're interested in taking your pumpkin to the next level: Zombie Pumpkins. This website is full of great tips, tools and templates to download. I've never used a template before but I've heard these are the best.

If you want to freehand your own pumpkin, make sure you pick a design that has a lot of contrast (i.e., one that has lots of white and dark spaces). Cut a hole in the bottom (I prefer the bottom because it makes the overall pumpkin look cleaner and no light can escape . . . your design needs all the light it can so it can be nice and bright. Scoop out the guts, then take a scraper (a large, metal kitchen spoon works well) and scrape EVERY last string or seed out. This will keep your pumpkin from rotting faster or catching on fire (if you're using a candle).

Next, I use a Magic Marker and sketch my own design (above is my marker version of the Sweeney Todd one). If I make a mistake, I just wipe it off with a damp cloth. Once I'm happy with it, I go over it with a red Sharpie (black is too dark and will make your pumpkin look messy). Then, I cut away! The lightest parts of the picture require the most light, so you cut deepest in those sections. Carving at various levels of depth provides texture and complexity to the design.

My little one checking out his mommy's work.

In this picture, you can see the different depths I carved into the skin. Even though it doesn't look like much in the light, in the dark, the light shines through and creates all sorts of shadows. Dig deep for the light areas, and leave the skin on for the darkest regions. For shades of gray, use various depths in between.

Happy Carving!