Unicum

Hallowe'en Pumpkins '13

Haven't posted much in the last year - I still haven't gotten around to posting the Octonaut on a white pumpkin from last year.  Leaf bought me a craft pumpkin, but I haven't been particularly inspired this Hallowe'en, I'll save it for later.  Did a simple pumpkin with the Ronald McDonald House logo on it.  We've just had an afternoon of fun a trick-or-treating at RMH Toronto.

The joy of childhood.

A big snowfall yesterday.  Went out to shovel this morning, about 30 cm.  The boys came out to 'help'.  While I did the driveway, Odin shovelled a path.  Not the path, a path.  Down the steps, 15 feet into the front lawn, a sharp right down through the rock garden, perpendicularly crossing the driveway, a wide loop through the septic field meandering back to the driveway before heading to the top of the biggest pile of snow that I had just shovelled.  When it was Mars' turn with the shovel, Odin continued his path with the snow scraper from the van, going up and over the mound of mulch, then spiralled to the top of the second biggest pile of snow I had shovelled.

He got an extra treat for being so helpful.

Hallowe'en Pumpkins '12

Rough version of Master Yoda pumpkin pattern

Master Yoda Pumpkin

I want to do a Yoda Pumpkin this year.  Had a hard time finding a stencil because my usual trick - "yoda colouring pages" didn't give me exactly what I wanted.  Changed it to "Master Yoda colouring pages" and narrowed down by selecting black and white and line drawings.  Found a fairly simple one on the first page of results.

Played around with MS Paint this time (normally I don't) to help visualize the final result.  I'll tape the black and white stencil to do the initial carving and use this as a reference.  Orange is pumpkin skin, yellow is carved pumpkin skin, and white is carved completely through.

The fine lines on his face and hands are going to be tricky, they will be easy to mess up or split off, but I think the final product will be awesome. I'm also going to try a trick with the lightsaber - I have a toy light up one that I want to insert into the pumpkin for an extra cool effect.

A few less wrinkles for simplicity - this is the 700 year old Yoda - and some awkward transitions from positive to negative space, but I think the final result looks pretty awesome!

Not sure what 2nd pumpkin will be.  No help from kids with ideas.  Mars says I should make a "pile of poo" pumpkin and Odin maniacally giggles at that.

2nd Pumpkin is Cookie Monster.  Used my usual pattern/stencil finding trick: "Cookie Monster colouring pages." A fairly simple stencil, just skin carved where the pattern is white taking care not to accidentally break off the chocolate chips.

Instructions for Skin Carving a Pumpkin (with Tinkerbell example)

Pumpkins 2011: Batman Pumpkin, Batman Logo Pumpkin

Pumpkins 2010: Tinkerbell Pumpkin, Transformers Pumpkin with Autobot and Decepticon logos

Pumpkins 2009: Scooby Doo and Shaggy Pumpkin, Mystery Machine Pumpkin, Yoda Pumpkin, Boba Fett Pumpkin

Pumpkins 2008: Ernie and Bert Pumpkin, Soccer Ball Pumpkin

Pumpkins 2007: Calvin and Hobbes Pumpkin, Spiderman Pumpkin, Toronto FC Pumpkin

Pumpkins 2006: Darth Vader Pumpkin, Homer Simpson Pumpkin 

How to find FREE Pumpkin Stencils/Patterns

Halloween must be coming.  My visitor count is spiking.  Free Pumpkin Stencils/Patterns, Tinkerbell Pumpkin Stencil/Pattern, Transformers Pumpkin Stencil/Pattern, Scooby-doo Pumpkin Stencil/Pattern, (and variations in the wordings of those) are the most common incoming searches to my blog.

Its funny, because searching for free pumpkin stencils on the internet gets you free* pumpkin stencils or crappy pumpkin stencils (* crappy pumpkin stencils are free, but the one you want costs $3.95).

Order me for $3.95

Free on the internet (with free instructions too!)

Do these Tinkerbell pumpkin carvings look similar?  Both come up when you search google for "Tinkerbell Pumpkin Stencil".  One costs $3.95, one is free (with no asterisk).

Look familiar?

Finding FREE PUMPKIN PATTERNS is easy.  Search google for
"tinkerbell colouring pages" (note the 2nd result!!),
"transformers colouring pages"
"Scooby-doo colouring pages"
"Batman colouring pages"

You can find just about any themed pumpkin stencil you want by substituting "Pumpkin pattern" with "Colouring page" and doing a google image search.  Most of my pumpkin carvings have been done doing just that.

Instructions for Skin Carving a Pumpkin (with Tinkerbell example)
Pumpkins 2012: Master Yoda Pumpkin, Cookie Monster Pumpkin
Pumpkins 2011: Batman Pumpkin, Batman Logo Pumpkin

Pumpkins 2010: Tinkerbell Pumpkin, Transformers Pumpkin with Autobot and Decepticon logos
Pumpkins 2009: Scooby Doo and Shaggy Pumpkin, Mystery Machine Pumpkin, Yoda Pumpkin, Boba Fett Pumpkin
Pumpkins 2008: Ernie and Bert Pumpkin, Soccer Ball Pumpkin
Pumpkins 2007: Calvin and Hobbes Pumpkin, Spiderman Pumpkin, Toronto FC Pumpkin
Pumpkins 2006: Darth Vader Pumpkin, Homer Simpson Pumpkin