Thread: Making Pumpkins - any new methods or ideas?

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Ever since going to Universal HHN in 2008 and walking through their haunted 'pumpkin woods' I've wanted to try and create the same. The thought & cost of carving a huge amount of pumpkins just isn't a viable option, and so I will need to go down the fake pumpkin route.

I was over in Florida last September/October and brought back around 25 pre-made ones from the likes of Target, Walgreens & K Mart, but although I saw the Funkins at Michaels, I thought they were both expensive but also on the small side. Nearer the end of my holiday they were on sale at 50% off, which made the larger ones $10 & I would have been tempted. However, the problem with them is that they take up so much space in the luggage e.g. I'd be lucky to get 4 or 5 in a large case.

With the ones I got at Target, Walgreens & K Mart having their features already in place, it meant I could stuff clothes and other items through the openings and therefore, essentially, they took up no space other than the thickness of the shells.

But although they are pretty good and can of course now be subjected to some "customising", I still want to make my own.

I have tried Stolloween's method, and variations of his method, but I'm still not happy with both the results & the time they take.

So my question is; Has anybody come up with an easier, quicker & better way of putting a fake pumpkin together?

I've come up with all sorts of ideas (in theory) myself, although none as yet that I have tested in any way (but will soon), but wondered if anybody else has haid a 'breakthrough' in 'kin making?

To me (sad I know) it is the 'holy grail' of prop making, as I just love pumpkins - I love the massively oversized ones in the theme parks in Florida but trying to find a way of reproducing same is bugging me.

Any suggestions would be most welcome!

I also tried making a stolloween pumpkin and was a bit frustrated (impatient) with the process. What if you could make a mold of a large pumpkin and make copies like many people do with skulls?

I haven't tried this method myself but I know I've seen it somewhere (just can't remember where or maybe it was a variation of it for something else), using Great Stuff (or the UK equivalent of expanding spray foam) to cover a large beach ball, balloon, etc., letting it dry then pop the ball or whatever & then carving it into a pumpkin shape?

As for the various paper mache methods, you can speed up the drying process with fans & heaters. It's a pain waiting for it all to dry but usually I end up doing mine in the summer outside so one side is practically dry by the time I finish!

Originally Posted by Miss Phantom

I also tried making a stolloween pumpkin and was a bit frustrated (impatient) with the process. What if you could make a mold of a large pumpkin and make copies like many people do with skulls?

Yeah me too - That guy is a nigh on genious but he must have a hell of a lot of time on his hands!

I have thought about making a mold but I can't come up with a quick & cheap method to cast them. I certainly don't want to go down the plaster route as they would be heavy and liable to water & general damage.

There must be an easy method, just I can't come up with anything yet. It's so frustrating! And yes, I'm impatient too!

Originally Posted by RCIAG

I haven't tried this method myself but I know I've seen it somewhere (just can't remember where or maybe it was a variation of it for something else), using Great Stuff (or the UK equivalent of expanding spray foam) to cover a large beach ball, balloon, etc., letting it dry then pop the ball or whatever & then carving it into a pumpkin shape?

As for the various paper mache methods, you can speed up the drying process with fans & heaters. It's a pain waiting for it all to dry but usually I end up doing mine in the summer outside so one side is practically dry by the time I finish!

Yes I've seen that somewhere too. I did try it last summer but didn't have much luck. I used giant balloons which, when inflated, were about 18" across, but other than one, each burst either whilst I was half way through covering them, or just after I'd finished but the foam hadn't gone off/set. The one that I was successful with took about 1.5 cans and needed a LOT of shaping & sanding before I had anything like a pumpkin shape. And there were a lot of pourous bubbles which meant the surface was nothing like smooth.

And the cans cost about $9 over here, so I spent $15 on just one successful one, add in the failures and it was about $30 of foam!

So for me anyway, that wasn't the answer.

When using mache, if the weather is good then I agree - one side dries whilst you do the other side. But over here, our summers are usually ok here in the south, but are very changeable from one day to the next. We occasionally get into the early 30s here but a typical summer day is around 23-25 degrees, which is ok, but you can get that one day and rain the next!

But even so, I just found it such a labour intensive way, although with patience you do get good results. But then the problem is sealing it as we can get very wet (and windy) autumns over here. So I'm hoping to find a non-paper way of doing them.

I've been thinking about fibre glass but again, that looks an expensive way to do it.

As I said on the other reply, it's just so frustrating that in this day & age we can't come up with a way of making the perfect (or as near perfect) pumpkin in a quick, easy & cheap way.

I am in the middle of building a Pumpkinrot style scarecrow right now, and it is time consuming!!! It is not a great deal of work, but takes so long to get an end product. I just have not seen any commercial pumpkins large enough to do something similar so I am suffering through the mache process.

What about sealing the paper mache-d project with something more weatherproof?

Check this site out for casting and mold ideas. Doing a roto type casting would use a lot less material.
www.smooth-on.com

The Great Stuff method was used by Elowther - the owner of Haunted Overload (pro-haunt). Went to to a seminar where he showed how he made his giant pumpkin. He used chicken wire as the frame. I was thinking if you did the same (but smaller scale) using one layer of chicken wire and then with cheesecloth wrapped around it (to make the holes smaller) and had several ready-to go you could make, I dunno, four or so out of one can? Here's a picture of him making his giant one:








Here's a link to the whole slideshow that those pictures came from: http://s92.photobucket.com/albums/l3...20TW%20slides/

Just thought that you'd have to turn them to get all around coverage so you probably have to do this in stages so the dry side would be on the ground and not stick. So, something to consider...