Wednesday, October 31, 2018

'Punkin' Disorderly

Wooo! It's Halloween again, wooo!

Our neighbourhood was quieter than your actual grave this year, in fact. No visitors, no roaming trick or treaters, child-sized or teen and gangly. A sorry state of affairs, but the diametric opposite of newer suburbs like Churton Park where, allegedly, a greater proportion of Asian families have readily taken up the Americanism of the 'holiday' and gone all-in. Maybe. We might have to get in the car next year and see for ourselves.

That didn't stop a little bit of home craft for another year, though, and this year, as in 2017, Jet Junior got into the pumpkin-carving lark by designing his own pumpkin's face - all deliberately mismatched eyes and lopsided toothy-peg mouth. He's a natural! For myself I did two: one small butternut variety (like Junior's) for a workplace table display as we had a themed office lunch, and a bigger one for home - both a little more traditional, with triangled eyes and sawtooth grins.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the Jack Pack of 2018...


Learnings for this season: Butternut pumpkins are pretty easy to carve with a sharp knife and an ice cream scoop, and ideal size for a kid's lantern. Their smaller interior, however, means the lid inside is more likely to dry out and get scorched by the candle inside. My tip: consider making a tight hole in the base to fit a tealight candle almost flush with the 'floor' of the fruit, or even safer, opt for battery-powered mock tealight LEDs. Cooler, less hazardous, and aside from the no-flickering aspect, every bit as good as a naked flame.


Jack-o-Lanterns also like being turned into magic lanterns!




3 comments:

  1. You've 'pumped' up the volume! Incredible work - the annual 'Jet pack' of grinning gourds, beautifully photographed if I may say so, have become as much a fixture of my Halloween as a certain Airborne Beagle is to my Christmas. Amazing work, and Pumpkin Padawan Jet Junior is catching up on you fast!

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  2. Just had another look at the 'magic lantern shots - you really have made a unique discovery there - copyright it - quick!

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  3. Aww, thanks, Al! And I'm as keen to keep it an annual tradition as long as I have face ideas and a happy audience :) Those magic lantern shots were a happy accident, to be honest. Glad you liked them!

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