Thanks, I'd love to try a couple designs but the weather is too warm for October pumpkins to last even a week. I think the pumpkins of my Minnesota childhood were frozen solid by Halloween.
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
I'm not good at carving at all, but I was able to carve a pretty cool pumpkin last year by not cutting all the way through.
On the complicated patterns, transfer them to the pumpkin, then with an x-acto knife cut just through the skin (about 1mm). When you're done, carefully remove the skin.
Put a candle inside and check the translucency. If it's not bright enough, remove the candle and carefully scrape the meat out behind the pattern from the inside. Check the translucency often, and keep going until you get the desired brightness. Works a treat (or should I say a trick-or-treat)! Ha!
I'm going to give away my geekyness here, but I did a fair amount of research into jack o lantern preservation last year and found a nice study someone did that indicated not using a preservative was best. Let me see if I can find it, it was really cool.
It's pretty entertaining. A little lax on scientific method, but hey, it's a kitchen experiment. One glaring thing I noticed is that they didn't put a light inside, which would add heat and accelerate mold/decay. Even an electric light will put off some heat, so watch out.
I noticed that a lot of rot happens on the bottom, they speculate from accumulation of moisture, so I'm going to drill holes in the bottom and elevate mine this year to keep it dry. I might spray it with starsan to kill bugs, but otherwise I'm going au naturel.
It's pretty entertaining. A little lax on scientific method, but hey, it's a kitchen experiment. One glaring thing I noticed is that they didn't put a light inside, which would add heat and accelerate mold/decay. Even an electric light will put off some heat, so watch out.
A local discount store sold small black boxes that do LED light displays for under $5. It fits in a pumpkin and does a strobelike illumination show but remains cool. There are many similar LED products now that could be an answer like a simple LED flashlight.
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I noticed that a lot of rot happens on the bottom, they speculate from accumulation of moisture, so I'm going to drill holes in the bottom and elevate mine this year to keep it dry. I might spray it with starsan to kill bugs, but otherwise I'm going au naturel.
Last night was chilly in the forties but warmed quickly in sun. A pumpkin will decay very quickly in the 70/80 degree range but do well in a cold snap where temps seldom top 50 degrees.
Last evening I got a good shot of seasonal arthritis as a reminder that the pumpkins I'll carve 3 weeks from now will hurt. I keep my diamond sharpening block close at hand for pumpkins.
Full price on the box strobe is not what you will find from discounters.
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
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