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Carving a Jack-o'-Lantern House
By Dian Thomas
When I was on “ABC Home Show,” we always had a pumpkin-carving contest for the show. It was always exciting to see which member of our TV family would come up with the most creative pumpkin.
I desperately wanted to win the contest, so I decided to contact a famous sculptor, Ed Fraughton, who had been a long-time friend. I talked him into working with me to see if we could take a pumpkin and sculpt one of the presidents.
When we got together, he told me that the pumpkin was far to hard to be about to carve a good head out of. We spent a creative evening as we decided what to do. The idea we came up with was so good that I have been sharing it with friends for years.
You could even have each member of the family make his own haunted house, making a street of pumpkins. Plan now to have a pumpkin-carving contest with you family and friends.
Is this eerie scene a HALLucination?
Materials Needed:
- Large pumpkin with at least one wide, flat side
- Sharp knife
- Ice cream scoop
- 1 (24" x 24" x 1/2") piece of plywood covered with colored cellophane
- Empty cardboard tube from paper towels
- 1 can to fit inside pumpkin
- Broccoli
- Leaf lettuce
- Round toothpicks
- Top of a fresh pineapple
- Potatoes, carrots, and gumdrops (cars)
- Round suckers, tissues, and ribbon or licorice (ghosts)
- Dry ice
Position the pumpkin with the flat side as the front of the house.
Cut the top off the pumpkin at an angle so that the lid will fit
securely. Clean out the seeds and membranes with an ice cream scoop.
Near the middle and slightly up from the bottom, carefully cut
out a rectangle for the door. Cut a square on each side of the door
to make two windows. Remove the door and each window in whole pieces.
Trim the window and door pieces to about 1/2" thick by carefully
shaving the inside. Cut and remove individual windowpanes. Replace
the windows in the pumpkin, allowing them to jut out ever so slightly.
Position the door on the pumpkin as though it were just being opened.
Place the pumpkin on the plywood and the can in the bottom of the
pumpkin. Use broccoli and lettuce leaves for shrubbery. To make
the tree, stick several toothpicks into the bottom of the pineapple
top, to stabilize it in the top of the paper towel roll. Wedge the
tree securely between the pumpkins.
Make a car from the potato, using carrot slices for wheels and
gumdrops for headlights. Make ghosts by tying facial tissue over
round suckers with ribbon or black string licorice.
Just before your guests arrive, fill the can half full of hot water
and add dry ice.
Would you like to see some of Dian's other Halloween ideas?
Just go to www.FunHalloweenFun.com
and you will find some of Dian's creative ideas that will turn any
Halloween party into a magical evening filled with fun.
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