Finally, the best part of creating the perfect pumpkin is lighting it and watching your work glow. To display the pumpkin for long periods of time (such as on the porch Halloween night), put a candle inside the pumpkin, but make sure the pumpkin isn’t next to other flammable objects.
For intense but brief flames, try a little bit of kerosene—with caution. Have your camera ready, and make sure the flash is off and the exposure is high!
If the pumpkin burns quickly, it will leave very little charred flesh inside and will still be cool to the touch on the outside. A little bit of burn inside the pumpkin will harden the exposed flesh inside, and will slow decay naturally.
On Halloween children get costumes, candy, and grimacing jack-o-lanterns to call their own. They sing “The Monster Mash” and run around the neighborhoods as the sun sets, dressed as horrible, funny, or beautiful objects. But, at age 23, Kirk will tell you he doesn’t mind Halloween as an adult. After all, who else can say their pumpkin is a piece of art reminiscent of a Jurassic scene?
Carving can be a social experience, with groups of peers in a circle working together and comparing designs, racing, or sharing tools. Pumpkins have brought me closer to my brother and friends, and I don’t mind getting messy orange goo in my hair once a year for the sake of outdoing my older brother with my art.
Article comments
1 - Mel Odom
That pumpkin looks cool!
2 - Katharine Sparrow
It's a picture of two pumpkins, one atop the other smashed into a 450 X 450 pixel format.