Thread: Jack-O-Lanterns

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Jack o lanterns have been a tradition for a while but to me it's a classic piece of decor that cannot be forgotten. They are carved in all different ways now to make them look, creative, silly or spooky. Now don't stop reading now because you think i'm a weirdo person who does little halloween crafts. I'm into the brutal stuff but i still agree that scary jack o lanterns are where it's at.
I still do the classic style with triangle eyes and a jagged mouth. Cut out a hole from the top and drop in a battery powered flickering candle. Jack o lanterns can be brutal all depending on their presence. For example at my haunted hay ride i slam down a jagged looking jack o lantern on a stump in the pitch blackness. Thats all you can see from the ride for a few seconds and boy does it creep people out until they hear the rev of my chainsaw in the darkness.
Does anybody else have an easy jack o lantern design that is a bit off of the classic design while remaining spooky? Pics would be awesome!

Try http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns.php. You pay $20 & get all access to all their patterns. They have tons of cool ones.

I used them a couple years back... great patterns. Plus you get to see what you are getting ahead of time.

I printed out everything so I would have copies down the road also.

My sister carved me a Freddy Krueger Jack O'Lantern once. They also did, last year, a scarecrow in country getup, holding a whiskey bottle, and propped him up against a wall in sitting position. A drunk guy.

My go-to jack is the puking pumpkin. All the slime and seeds come out the mouth so no cleaning is required! I'm a lazy carver...

I keep a gallery of free patterns I've designed. You're more than welcome to download 'em. They vary in difficulty... but most are challenging.

http://jadewik.deviantart.com/gallery/7488214

Carve celebrity jack O' Lanterns, famous Jacks from Halloween history, like;

The Jack drawn on the back of Charlie Browns head,
The Jack hurled by the Horseman in Disneys "Legend of Sleepy Hollow",
The Jack from the opening credits of "Halloween",
Any Jack from "Trick R' Treat",
Any Jack from "Nightmare Before Christmas" - the Scarecrow is especially popular,
The one-eyed Jack from "The Addams Family",...

These might be a good place to start.

I complete agree that Jacks cannot be forgotten! Last year, I found that the best price on pumpkins was at Home Depot of all places! I always look for the best prices because I like to do lots of them. I'm pretty quick at it too. I can usually finish 3 or 4 in the time it takes my husband to get through his one. But I'm of the opinion that the simple, free-handed traditional jacks are much scarier. Although sometimes I get the pattern bug, and I'll use a paper pattern. Someone on the forums just a couple days ago told us all about Betty Crocker having patterns for the three monster cereals on it's website. I'll probably have to do those this year.
These are some of our jacks from last year:


I use these Pumpkin Strobes. I stocked up on them at WalMart a few years back, I think they were $2.50. And I also found a few at the 99 Cent Only store. But, I checked WalMart last week and now they have them in LED.

Originally Posted by Shannie-Boo

I use these Pumpkin Strobes. I stocked up on them at WalMart a few years back, I think they were $2.50. And I also found a few at the 99 Cent Only store. But, I checked WalMart last week and now they have them in LED.

If you mean those red "half cone" lights (about twice as thick as a standard "tap light" pumpkin light, you might want to buy one first and test it, or bring batteries and see if anyone's ripped one open already. About four years ago they had similar ones, one setting was color changing, the other was a swirling ring of red LEDs that gave a very good fire effect. The next year they were strobes. I bought one but the light was incredibly weak. I don't think they sold any and they weren't even worth buying for clearance! They've had them every year since then and I suspect it's still the stock from 2008 or so.

Originally Posted by RCIAG

Try http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns.php. You pay $20 & get all access to all their patterns. They have tons of cool ones.

I totally signed up to them this year! Can't wait to get started If only my local supermarkets had pumpkins in stock... :/