A Scottie Goes Trick-or-Treating

Here's another migrated post from my first blog, SalmagundiExpress. I originally published this post on October 23, 2007:

Simulated pumpkins have been around for a few years now, but only recently did I realize you can actually carve them. The idea of a "permanent" jack-o-lantern doesn't really appeal to me, and I adore real pumpkins; so I've been pretty lukewarm toward the proliferation of polyester pumpkins (or whatever they're made out of).

This year, though, I've seen some intriguing creations with "altered pumpkins," so I broke down and bought two foam specimins when they were on sale at Michael's recently. 

I've seen the vintage and folk art Halloween sites showing resin pumpkins with designs carved on their sides: witches, reproductions of old-fashioned Halloween decorations, autumn scenes, mottos, etc. I wondered if I could do something like that with one of the simulated pumpkins I bought.

My mother collects scotties, and she doesn't have a single scottie item related to Halloween. I thought some kind of scottie scene on the side of a pumpkin would be unique, and something maybe I could carry off.

I have a diecut scottie gift tag in what I consider the ideal scottie shape. I used that as my template and traced the scottie outline on the pumpkin with a ball point pen. Then I freehand-sketched the other elements I wanted, making things up as I went. (I'd make a terrible artist. I hate to plan things out ahead of time. For me, the creative process is all about the slow reveal as a project develops, with chance and chaos playing their parts in producing the final result.) Naturally, things were a little lopsided and uneven, but generally I was satisfied with the bare bones of the design on the pumpkin's surface.

I knew I wanted all the lines of the design etched into the pumpkin for an engraved effect, but I wasn't sure of the best way to do that. I browsed the various electronic tools available at the craft stores, but I wasn't sure any of them would be appropriate. (Woodburning would have created just the effect I wanted -- if these pumpkins were made of wood. However, there's a big "warning" sticker on the bottom of each pumpkin that says "Flammable," so applying any kind of heat at all, even with an embossing gun, was too big a risk to take.)

Finally, I remembered I'd gotten a simple linoleum block print kit for Christmas, which I'd never opened. I tried the smallest carving point, and it was adequate for engraving lines of my scottie design.

However, it was MESSY, with flecks of plastic all over the place; and it was time-consuming. It was effective, though, and I was happy to move on to the next step of my project.

Here's where I learned an unfortunate fact about working with simulated pumpkins: Everything stains the surface. Even a simple line of ballpoint pen ink is impossible to remove. I tried Scrubbing Bubbles, rubbing alcohol, plain old Dawn and water, cleanser, hairspray, and Alcohol Ink solution. All I did was disturb the surface to the point I was afraid the orange would start to flake away. I was stuck with many wayward pen marks and not sure what to do about them.

Instead of worrying about it, I got out a bottle of acrylic craft paint in black. I dabbed it over the lines a little at a time, then wiped away the paint to leave the carved lines filled in. Immediately I learned that acrylic paint also didn't want to come off the pumpkin's surface. This time, though, the effect wasn't so bad. It left just enough darkness behind to create a antiqued effect, including crazing. This also helped camouflage some of my pen marks. (Again, this part of the process was very messy.)

The final step was to paint in parts of the design to make them stand out. This worked pretty well, and it didn't take nearly as much time to complete as the previous steps. To make the painted sections pop a little more, I brushed a couple of thin coats of matte acrylic varnish over them. (This, I hoped, would also offer some protection to the paint.) I'd thought of coating the whole thing with matte spray, but I could just imagine my entire pumpkin melting before my eyes. (This once happened to me as a teenager when I tried to spray paint some Styrofoam balls to make Christmas ornaments. It was a horrifying experience.)

Mom was pleased with her one-of-a-kind scottie Halloween decoration (although my sister, Diamonqueen, mocked it; and J. Hooligan called it "ridiculous"); and I was pleased with the outcome of my experiment to craft with a fake pumpkin. I don't intend to try this again, though, unless someone comes up with a better technique than mine. I still have that other simulated pumpkin, and I've yet to decide what I want to do with that.