Creative Corner

I was suppose to shop groceries but when that pretty pumpking was staring up at me, begging me to take it home and give it a face I could not resist. Pumpking lanterns are so cool and I've been glancing their way for ages it's just that I don't celebrate Halloween, especially not the U.S. version, and therefor having one sends the wrong message. But, I figured, who cares?

So I got home and got creative, spending some time on Google to find inspiration- what I really wanted to do was to carve out a real face in relief but I realize that since I've never practised anything like that I would fuck up a perfect pumpkin. Instead I found this:

And made a couple of drawings that became a stencil and eventually ended up on the pumpkin face. Remember to fold the paper unless you want to do Harvey Two-Face; I wish I'd thought of that- would've been so cool! I was rather taken by a Joker pumpkin- face but, maybe next year. Or I'll do an other one?

I didn't intend for it to become a lion cub, I was aiming for an ordinary cat, but there you go. The funny thing is that I bought a calendar to day because I found a picture in it of the cutest lion cub ever:

So maybe I got a little subconciously inspired, but to be honest, I just made a mistake and made the nose broader than I intended and voilá: a lion! Some mistakes make great results!

I've peeled away only the Surface. Decided against peeling more on the head. Thought it might be too much.

Finally got through! Really tough that, you don't just hack away with a kitchen knife; I had to use really small pen-knifes or what-ever-they're-called and take a little bit at a time. Took at least four hours. Not much to look at like this but:

 

I'm pretty pleased. Came out a lot better than expected- I didn't have much faith in the design, perhaps mostly because I wanted to do something else originally and didn't think these type of faces could be so effectful. Also, I'm usually a lot more clumsy when it comes to carving and half expected to accidently push out an eye or something (on the lion of course) or cut myself but aside from minor mistakes and shallow cuts that I didn't even feel, things went well and I'm pleased as punsch. It's not my first pumpkin lantern, my second actually, but I made the first one at work a couple of years ago, a classic pumpkin face with the jagged mouth and big eyes, which caught fire becasue I put a big marshall in it...This one is the first for myself and it has a lamp in it. No candle, no fire. Don't want to burn down my home...