Pumpkin for Halloween - original decor ideas. Spooky Halloween Pumpkin - How to Make a Jack-O-Lantern How to Make a Jack-O-Lantern from a Pumpkin

The main attribute of Halloween is a pumpkin head. In fact, few people know why a pumpkin with carved eyes, a mouth and a candle inside is considered a symbol of the holiday. It turns out that there is a legend about Jack, who managed to deceive the devil. The cunning drunkard Jack cannot go to either hell or heaven, so he wanders the earth, lighting his path with a jack-o-lantern made from a pumpkin. This is where the name of the pumpkin came from - Jack-O-Lantern. Now let’s figure out how to cut out the Halloween flnarik correctly.

Let's see how this is done in the video presented in Russian, since Halloween is now celebrated in Russia, and not just in the USA, Ireland and other countries that love this holiday.

Today, there are a lot of ways and recommendations for carving pumpkins for Halloween. You can see what the result is in the photo:

A master class will help you understand how to carve a Jack-o'-lantern from a pumpkin.

How to carve a Halloween pumpkin: a master class for beginners

Materials:

• pumpkin;
• sharp knife;
• scraper or regular spoon;
• awl or thick needle;
• paper;
• marker;
• scissors.

1) When choosing a suitable pumpkin, you need the fruit to be dense and smooth surface no stains or defects. It is desirable that the vegetable has a height of more than 20 cm, is ripe, symmetrical, with a hard, dry stalk at least 5 cm long.

2) Using a felt-tip pen, draw a round, square or other shaped lid. The hole for the candle is made on top of the pumpkin, and for the jar with lanterns - on the bottom. Cut out the drawn lid using a sharp knife and carefully remove it, taking it by the tail.

3) Clean inner part remove the pulp, fibers and seeds from the vegetable with a special scraper or spoon until the walls become 2-3 cm thick.

4) To give the pumpkin a facial expression, you need to come up with a face and draw it on paper. Color over the areas that will be cut out with a marker. Attach the image to the pumpkin with tape and pierce the outlines with an awl.

5) Use a sharp knife to cut out the picture, carefully adhering to the boundaries that you drew.

6) All that remains is to do the lighting. You can use an ordinary candle by placing it in a glass. To prevent the vegetable from burning, the lid must be removed. A lamp in the form of a cord with light bulbs, which should be wrapped around, is also suitable. glass jar. Place the lamp inside the pumpkin, take the wire out through the hole at the bottom and plug it into the outlet.

It is believed that on the eve of the holiday such a talisman should be placed near your home so that no evil spirits could come close. That's why pumpkins are carved at Halloween. Unfortunately, the Jack-O-Lantern made from pumpkin will sooner or later have to be thrown away, as the vegetable may begin to spoil. A great alternative to this craft is a paper pumpkin.

Let's look at some ways to make it.

Making a pumpkin out of paper

Paper pumpkins can be cut in the same way as paper snowflakes. You will need a piece of paper orange color, scissors and pencil. Suitable paper is matte colored or decorative with a corrugated texture. Fold a sheet of paper in half with the front side inward and draw half a pumpkin with any face from the fold line. Next, cut out the design along the contour. Lay out the sheet and align the fold line. The result is a pumpkin that can be attached to the wall or used to decorate a fancy dress costume.

Paper pumpkin with surprise

To make the craft, prepare strips cut from double-sided orange paper 2-3 cm wide.

Fold them in half to determine the middle. Glue each pair of strips together in the form of a cross. Then glue the resulting parts together to make a snowflake. You can use a stapler instead of glue.

Place a surprise in the form of a candy, toy or chocolate in the center of the craft and connect the opposite strips, giving rounded shape pumpkins.

You can make a tail for a vegetable from green paper by cutting out a strip and twisting it onto a pencil in the form of a spiral. Make leaves from corrugated paper.

Paper crafts are budget option decorations, and making them will be a lot of fun.

Video on the topic

Halloween appeared several centuries ago. According to an old Irish legend, it was invented by a blacksmith named Jack. He was a heavy drunkard, and also very stingy. Jack deceived the devil twice and received a promise from him not to plot all sorts of intrigues for him, but soon the blacksmith died without having time to take advantage of this.

After his death, the Irishman did not go to heaven or hell and was forced to wander the earth. Satan threw a piece of coal to the blacksmith, which he put in an empty pumpkin and began to wander around the world with this makeshift lamp.

How to make a jack-o'-lantern

To do this, you need to choose a pumpkin of the correct spherical shape and a bright orange color. To make a pumpkin head, any size fruit will do, but the most best lamps obtained from medium-sized pumpkins.

In addition, you will need:

• sharp knife;


• spoon;


• awl;


• scotch;


• scissors;


• stencil.

Make a stencil. Traditionally, the pumpkin head is depicted with 2 eyes and a nose in the form of triangles and a large mouth. But modern masters cut out a wide variety of subjects. You can also draw them on a piece of paper and use the drawing as a template.

Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of the pumpkin. Do this at an angle so that later it stays in place and does not fall inward. Clean the fruit and pulp. Use a spoon to scrape out the walls; their thickness should be no more than two centimeters.

Attach the stencil using pieces of tape to the side where the face will be. Now make punctures with an awl along the contours of the design. In this case, the holes should be located quite often at a distance of 2-3 mm from each other.

Remove the template and start cutting out the design with a sharp knife. Cut through the walls of the fruit. Do this slowly and carefully. To cut small parts, use special knives for carving. After cutting along all the contours, remove the cut out parts and carefully cut the flesh at an angle so that it is not visible from the front side.

Immediately coat the cut areas of the pumpkin with a small amount of vegetable oil, so the pulp will not deteriorate for quite a long time, and the lantern will last longer. Traditionally, a burning candle is placed inside the Jack-o'-lantern, but it will be much safer if you place a regular battery-powered lantern inside the pumpkin.

There is very little time left before Halloween, which means that the preparation of costumes and makeup, the search for “horrible” Halloween recipes and horror stories for home decoration are in full swing. As you know, a pumpkin for Halloween is considered a mandatory attribute, because it is main symbol holiday. Surely, it will be in every home of those who celebrate Halloween. Ever wondered why pumpkin? I’ll tell you a terrible secret, originally it was a turnip, and not even in America, as many people think, but in Ireland! In general, the story of the Halloween pumpkin, or more precisely Jack-O-Lantern, is creepy to match the holiday, so before you cut out another scary face, it’s worth getting to know Jack better.

Once upon a time in Ireland there lived a very cunning and stingy farmer named Jack. One day, while drinking ale in a tavern, he met the Devil himself, they drank together, and when Jack had no money left to pay for another glass of booze, the Devil agreed to pay in exchange for the farmer’s soul. To do this, the Devil had to turn into a coin, and the cunning Jack, instead of paying, simply put this coin in his pocket, where there was a silver cross, which did not allow the Devil to take his original appearance. The Devil, caught in a trap, agreed to any conditions, so Jack bargained for himself several years of a quiet life and a promise to never take his soul to hell.

Some time later, Jack died, and since he was a sinner on earth, the road to heaven was closed to him, and he had no choice but to visit his old friend the Devil. But the Devil, remembering his promise, refused to let the farmer into hell, but gave him smoldering coals from the fire of hell so that Jack could light his way. To make the Devil's gift burn longer, Jack carved a lantern from a turnip and put coals in it. Since then, Jack's lantern has been a symbol of a restless soul that wanders in the dark, illuminating its path with smoldering embers. When Halloween began to be celebrated in America, the turnip was replaced with a bright pumpkin, which quickly gained universal recognition and became the main symbol of the holiday.

Naturally, no one will just put a pumpkin on the table; a huge red vegetable is a dubious decoration. Therefore, from year to year, many people cut out a wide variety of faces from pumpkins, clean out the pulp and put candles inside, in general, they try in every possible way to create a semblance of a Jack-o-lantern. Since the Halloween pumpkin is the main symbol of the holiday, we will tell you how to make a Halloween pumpkin and share several cute Halloween pumpkin options. Sometimes, in order to create something of your own, original and unlike anything else, you need to see a few other people’s ideas for inspiration, so look at our selection and get inspired!

1. Pumpkin in a pumpkin
As a rule, a Halloween pumpkin is a very evil creature. Try creating a pumpkin monster that eats another horror monster. Halloween is, after all, a competition among pumpkins. You will need a huge pumpkin and a very small pumpkin; if you cannot find pumpkins of suitable sizes, you can take one of any size and one orange. Come up with a scarier facial expression and cut it out. When you cut out the mouth, it is better to start with a narrower part and do not try to do it right away big hole for a small pumpkin or orange, it is better to make it narrower and then trim it, because if the mouth turns out to be too big, you will have to look for a larger “victim”.

2. Famous character.
Agree, anyone can cut out 2 triangular eyes, a nose and a terrible crooked mouth, but this happens from year to year and everyone is pretty tired of it. Therefore, we suggest that you review all the horror films in your house and choose a couple of the most charming characters, for example, Frankenstein or Jack from the cartoon “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” At first glance, it seems that only a professional with ten years of experience can cut such a miracle, but this is not at all the case. Arm yourself with a felt-tip pen, the better, which is on water based so that it can be easily erased, take a pumpkin and draw the face you like on it. Keep in mind that you will have to cut with a regular sharp knife, so try to avoid too small parts.

3. Bats
Bats can be considered another symbol of Halloween. Since ancient times, these wonderful fluffy lumps with thin leathery wings have inspired fear and horror in many people, which means that it is quite possible to frighten guests with these cute creatures. And to avoid theatrical fainting, carve mice into your pumpkin. Moreover, you can arrange the bats in any order, or you can try and cut out eyes, nose and mouth in the shape of mice. At the same time, depending on the position of the wings, you can change the facial expression, make it cheerful, sad or angry. To cut out small parts of mice, use a small, thin, sharp knife or a regular utility knife.

4. A real lantern
Have you noticed how everyone cuts out faces all the time and calls them Jack O'Lanterns? Why exactly faces? A lantern must be a lantern. Ancient or modern, garden or camping, but a lantern. Do you share the same opinion? Then arm yourself with a thin knife and a black marker or black acrylic paint and a brush with synthetic bristles. Choose an image of any lantern you like, draw it on the pumpkin and cut out the part through which the light should be visible. Place a candle inside, just first you need to clean the pumpkin from the pulp, and your Halloween pumpkin will take on an original look.

5. Snowman Jack
Although Halloween is considered a time of rampant evil spirits, not everything about it has to be scary. As you know, there is a place for good and bright things always and everywhere. And there’s very little time left until winter, so let’s remember the snowmen. Snowman Jack, greeting invited friends right outside front door, will create a real sensation. Prepare a hat, a collar from an old shirt, several large buttons, glue, markers and a cork from wine bottle. Using glue, glue on the collar and buttons, cut out the eyes and mouth, and glue on as a nose wine cork. Draw pupils, eyebrows and ears with felt-tip pens. Such a fat good fellow will be a wonderful decoration for your home for Halloween.

6. Lacy pumpkin
Since we're getting off topic jack-o'-lanterns, then why not also distract from the topic of the ugly, and try to do something beautiful. For example, master painting techniques. A painted pumpkin for Halloween is, of course, original and beautiful, and you can also say with one hundred percent certainty that you will not find a second pumpkin like this anywhere else. And also this great gift guests to the end of the celebration! In order to make such beauty, you don’t need to have a red diploma from the academy. artistic creativity, one brush is enough, acrylic paint, several contours on the glass and a pair of toothpicks. Cover the pumpkin with an even layer of acrylic paint, let it dry so that your handprints do not remain on the paint. After the paint has dried, there are several options for continuing the decoration: you can immediately pick up the outline and use it to draw leaves, mysterious patterns and dots, or you can first take a toothpick and use it to draw some unusual pattern on the pumpkin, and then decorate it using a contour. In general, do not limit your imagination and awaken the artist within you!

7. Functional pumpkin
As they say, why should good things go to waste, let's try to make a pumpkin not only beautiful, but also functional. You can come up with many examples, here are just a few of them. If you are throwing a real holiday and inviting guests, then a Halloween pumpkin can turn into an excellent refrigerator for you. Chilled drinks are always welcome, so cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the core and stuff it crushed ice. Place bottles of beer, lemonade or juice in ice and serve. Such a spectacular dish will definitely be remembered by your guests and will be used throughout the holiday.

Let's not waste time on trifles, because we're talking about about the holiday. On your festive table pumpkin can become completely indispensable if you use it instead of dishes, for example, for salad or punch. This hamburger pumpkin will look original. Cut the pumpkin in half, remove the core, instead of the usual cutlet, put a large chop, garnish with cheese, lettuce and tomato slices, and instead of sesame seeds, glue the seeds that you peeled from the core to the pumpkin. To make pumpkin punch you will need 1 liter apple juice, 350 ml pineapple juice, 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 large apple, a few cloves and 1 large pumpkin. Using a small round scoop, make several balls out of the apple and stick a clove into each ball. Pour apple, lemon and pineapple juice into the pan, add cinnamon and cut out apple balls. Heat over medium heat for a few minutes, without boiling, then cool slightly. Cut off the top of the pumpkin and carefully clean the middle, removing all the seeds. Pour the slightly cooled punch into the pumpkin and serve.

A Halloween pumpkin in itself can be a great source of inspiration, and in combination with the tips and ideas presented here on how to make a Halloween pumpkin, it will surely lead your imagination to create something of your own, original and unforgettable!

Making a Jack O'Lantern, how to carve a Halloween pumpkin and turn it into a lantern. We present to you step by step wizard class with photos and descriptions of each stage. Find out how to make your own Halloween pumpkin without missing a finger.

Do you want to decorate your home with an unusual and slightly creepy lamp? In Ireland and the UK, Halloween pumpkins are present in almost every home! It is believed that it helps to scare away evil spirits that become active on the eve of All Saints' Day.

Everything you need

Romantic people may try to make a “Jack-O-Lantern” in a deep forest or in a cemetery. We will tell the reader how to make a pumpkin for Halloween with your own hands in a more comfortable, home environment. You can use yours for work kitchen table, do not forget to take care of good lighting! Prepare these things in advance:

• Two sharp knife- small and large
• Black marker, felt-tip pen or gel pen
• Drawing of a pumpkin with an ominous grin
• One tablespoon
• Candle small size
• Insect dummies and other “decorations” - to taste
• Actually, the pumpkin itself, from which you can cut a lamp

There shouldn't be a candle more pumpkin, we will put it inside the lamp when the work is completed. Also prepare a small bowl or plate in which you can place the pumpkin pulp and seeds.

Carving a pumpkin with your own hands - 5 steps

Stage 1. Now you will learn how to carve a Halloween pumpkin. In order not to spoil the fruit, you must first apply “markings”. Using a marker, we draw eyes, a nose, and a grinning mouth on the pumpkin.

We used a ready-made photo that we took from Google Images for the request “pumpkin for Halloween photo”; you can download another picture or use your own imagination.

Stage 2. Cut off the top of the pumpkin. For this job you will need big knife. Try to cut out the top carefully, in one motion. About the same as the maniac in your favorite horror movie does.

But if you don’t succeed with “one blow,” then don’t be discouraged - continue to chop up the unfortunate fruit.

Stage 3. Scoop out the pulp and seeds. Here we cannot do without a tablespoon, which we prudently stocked up before the start of “”. Don't throw away the pumpkin seeds - they can be dried and fried. They are healthy and very tasty.

Stage 4. Cut holes for the nose, eyes and mouth. It is better to do this with a small knife - it will be more accurate and there is less chance of cutting your fingers.

Stage 5. Spray the inside of the pumpkin with varnish. The fact is that a prepared Halloween pumpkin with your own hands dries out quite quickly, becomes deformed and even begins to mold. Therefore, if you want the “Jack Lantern” to serve you longer, its “insides” should be varnished. You can use any hairspray for these purposes.

Not enough creepiness?

Now that you have figured out how to make your own Halloween pumpkin, you need to decorate the craft. It's time to get into the gloomy spirit of the ominous holiday and show your imagination. For our part, we are ready to give you a couple of ideas.

If there is a joke shop in your city, then visit it - this is a real Klondike! Here you can buy “wormy” fingers, dummies of hairy spiders and dried insects and other “cute” things. If you paste them over a pumpkin, it will look much more piquant! You can also paint a couple of “bloody” spots on the surface of the lamp.

Don't want to spend money or don't have a specialized store within walking distance? In this case, you will have to “sacrifice” the old broken doll. Disassemble the toy into separate arms, legs and head, then attach them in a chaotic manner to the finished pumpkin lantern.

We guarantee that this Halloween decoration will look truly sinister, especially in the dark.

And, of course, don’t forget to place a candle inside the lamp. A flickering light that casts mysterious silhouettes on the walls will help create a gloomy atmosphere in the room.

Why did the pumpkin become a symbol of the holiday?

According to an ancient Irish legend, it all started when a certain blacksmith Jack met Satan. Like many Irish people, the hero of our story loved to drink. So he invited the Devil to have a couple of drinks at the local pub. As one would expect, the Prince of Lies and all sorts of vices found no objections to such a proposal.

Jack was a little stingy, so he suggested that Satan turn into a coin so that he could pay for the drink with counterfeit money. The devil agreed and turned into a coin, which the blacksmith immediately put into his pocket. And in this pocket there was already , so the Prince of Darkness was trapped.

However, Satan managed to persuade Jack to let him go, in exchange for a promise not to harm the blacksmith and not lay claim to his soul.

When sinner Jack died, his soul was not allowed into heaven or hell. The devil only gave the blacksmith an eternally burning coal from the underworld as a farewell. Jack put the coal in the lantern he made from a pumpkin. Since then, the spirit of the former blacksmith has been wandering around the world, illuminating its path homemade lamp, and cannot find peace in any way.