The Pumpkins Carve Themselves!

A compilation of whimsical stop-motion animation by Lawrence Becker! Click on the pic for the short. 

Hallowe'en Reading

This time of year, when the night grows longer and the days cooler, when the wind starts to moan down our chimneys, it's time to curl up in our warm abodes and read a good book.

Or a hundred and nine of them!

I've pulled together a Pinterest board containing a number of books on Hallowe'en and horror. Some are prop-related. Some are party ideas or pumpkin-carving ideas.

Many are straight-up horror and ghost stories for those chilly Fall nights.

If you explore the board and find something you'd like to read, click on it and it'll take you over to Amazon so you can purchase it.

Click here to go to My Scary Bookshelf.

And happy exploring!

Wicked

Image via About.com.

I've always wanted to try my hand at this kind of carving. Maybe this year...

Jack-o'-Lantern Inspiration

For those of you who are just stuck, and don't have any idea of what kind of face to carve on your pumpkin this year, fear not! Bliss Massacre has been gathering a truly impressive collection of carved pumpkins on the Bliss Massacre Blog.

More cool jack-o'-lantern images here. No excuses for a cruddy-looking pumpkin, now!

Pumpkin Hell

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Pumpkins

This last one would go along well with The Ghost Ship (3:50 or thereabouts).

Via Razor Creative Blog: A Celebration of Great Ideas. More pumpkin pics when you click on the link.

Pumpkin Carving

Wish I'd had this for Halloween!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Pumpkin Artistes

I don't usually have a lot of real pumpkins in my display, not because I don't like or want them, but because I normally buy a few and then run out of time for carving. In spite of planning to carve the day before, so they're nice and fresh, something else gets zipped to the top of the priority list at the last second, and all my good intentions of amazing jack-o-lanterns go out the window.

This year, I got smart. I unloaded the job on my houseguests!

Yup, under the guise of wholesome, family bonding time, I palmed this time-consuming task off on my dad, sister-in-law,niece, and neighbor's kid. While I heard my dad grumble, "What was she thinking of buying all these pumpkins?!" he pitched in and did some good work.

Here, sis references Tom Nardone's Extreme Pumpkins for her masterpiece.
Niece Hannah has the potential to be a great Halloween nut, and certainly has a future in carving sick and disgusting pumpkins.

Paper mache pumpkin looks on as the graveyard is populated with new and evil brethren...

Here's one of mine. Tom Nardone would be proud as I carved this one in about a minute with a jigsaw and no pattern.
One of niece Hannah's contributions. Sis added some ketchup for that bloody effect.

One of my homegrown pumpkins eating another homegrown pumpkin.

Neighbor child donated the baby doll parts for this masterpiece by Sis and Niece. Eyeball swiped from a string of eyeball lights for the occasion.

A shot of some of the other kinds of pumpkins I made this year and last. I love how the hanging pumpkin pots turned out. I will definitely make more for next year. As soon as I dig out my studio.

Waiting for the Fire

A few pieces I'll be firing soon.

Pumpkin Goodness

With my pumpkins starting to show their blooms, I had to go on a quest for the finished product. I simply love the Cthulu pumpkin!

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Pumkin Carving to the 3rd Power

Halloween and pumpkins go hand and hand. Last year, I grew a pumpkin patch in my front yard (much to Mr. ShellHawk's dismay) to add to the ambiance. Sadly I planted too late to have any pumpkins ready for the big night, though I did stick a few store-bought ones around. (This year, though, I am prepared!)

In my quest for the 411 on growing pumpkins, I stumbled on a group of enthusiastic gardeners, a pumpkin-growing elite. These are the men and women who grow really big pumpkins.

Like, 900lbs big.

And where there are monster pumpkins, there are those who carve them.

Maybe one day, it'll be me carving one of those big boys! And for those of you who want to know the best technique to keep your pumpkins from going fuzzy before their time, go to My Science Project. It looks like they have the definitive answer!

Anyhoo, you can get certified organic pumpkin seeds from Seeds of Change. I like the Howden pumpkins they carry. You can also get tips on how to grow the Atlantic Giant Pumpkins here. You can get growing and general info about pumpkins at the Pumpkin Nook, or The Pumpkin Patch. If you order some seeds now, you can have them by late April or early May, in time to start growing your Atlantic Giant!

Save It For Later

I admit it. I am a child of the '80s. I was one of those weird kids (shocking, I know) who loved all music but country. I listened to heavy metal, ska, new wave, rock, oldies. Just about everything.

One of my favorite groups of the day was The English Beat. The album, Special Beat Service, really put them on the map with songs like I Confess and Save It For Later.

I recently saw the video for Save It For Later, and was delighted to see the set they used was decorated with a lovely cellar-and-skeletons motif.

I love the dancing skeleton on the wall behind the actors, the cheesy paper-accordion skeleton, and the film noir-style posters on the walls. I particularly liked the candle holder made out of the upper part of a Bucky skull and an arm bone. I may just steal that idea!

I also love the old Adam and the Ants videos for the wonderful costuming. It's like he ransacked the BBC's costume department for each video and just had a blast with them.
Stand and Deliver:

Prince Charming:

Ant Rap:

I wonder how many times they got to fire the cannon for that one?
Ahh, memories.

Here's me, Ant fan, 1984. Geez, I wish I had that body back. It didn't hurt as much in the morning!

Pumpkin Gutter

Inspiration. A key element in creating, well, anything, really. SpookyBlue, Pumpkinrot, Grim, and others inspired me to begin building props for Halloween. I look at their creations, and I want to make new things. Disappear into the Garage of Doom for a few months and get to it, you know?

Pumpkin carving is different from prop-building, though, because it is an art form that takes away mass, rather than builds it up by layers. If you take away too much in any area, it won't look right. If you don't take away enough, the light won't glow through it in just the right way. Scott Cummins, artist extraordinaire, has got it down to, um, an art form... And he really makes me want to sculpt.

Scott is a well-rounded artist and Jr. High School art teacher (probably mild-mannered, too). He works in numerous art mediums, including pastels, oils, watercolors, and of course, pumpkins.

A friend sent me a few pictures of his works, and I found myself inspired and amazed at both the detail and the delicate hand that created it. I really hope that one day, I'll have both the time and the skill to carve like he does.

Thank you, Scott, for giving me permission to use your pics. Great work!

You can see his photo gallery here, or browse his website at http://www.pumpkingutter.com/.