Monday, October 05, 2009

Fly pumpkin fly, on the road to victory...


When carving a pumpkin, what shape or form could you leave upon it that would be more ghoulishly frightening then the Philadelphia Eagles football team?  The answer is none.  None more frightening.  Opposing teams...neh, ALL... shutter with fear in their presence. 

Not quite sure why I did this but the idea popped into my head last week to put the "Eagles" logo on a pumpkin so I went for it.  It's actually a fake pumpkin and the logo is more etched than carved but the effect is the same and this one won't end up a rotten mess in a couple weeks. Check out the second picture with the 'kin lighted from the inside.

 If you want to make something similar, here's what you do. First ya gotta find a pattern that strikes your fancy.  Obviously a black and white picture with moderate detail would work best.  You'll be etching out the white parts so make sure it has a black border.  Next comes finding a fumpkin (fake pumpkin) that is the appropriate size.  AC Moore or Michaels has a decent selection.  Even though my logo is more wide than tall I went with a tall fumpkin cause it felt more traditional to me.  Print out your picture, scaled to your liking, and tape it on securely.  Starting from the inside out, use an exacto knife or pin to cut through the paper into the fumpkin where black meets white.  After the image is thoroughly traced, remove the paper and clean it up a little.  Now comes the fun part. Ideally, you'd use a dremel with a small engraving bit to clear away the orange skin but any sharp cutting tool will work.  To top it off, cut a softball sized hole in the bottom and apply some light.  A candle would be a very BAD idea since the foam fumpkin is most likely flammable.

Happy Halloween campers!