BS: Jack-this-Lantern

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Raptor
Date: 27 Oct 06 - 08:54 AM

I did it and it was a lot of fun.
Thanks all.

I expected more teasing.

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: KT
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 11:38 PM

and after you light the candle and put the top back on, turn out all the lights and sing a scary song!

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 07:02 PM

We run a pumpkin carving contest every year. It's coming up this Sunday. Here are some pictures of a previous one. Scroll down to the bottom.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Tig
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 02:42 PM

Then you can save the slightly burnt and going soggy item until Bonfire Night, relight the candle and use it to light sparklers through the eyeholes.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: MartinRyan
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 05:14 PM

Maybe a rooster? I'd draw the line at queens - British or otherwise!

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 04:45 PM

Can't hardly use barley or lentils now, can we?

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: MartinRyan
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 03:30 PM

Surely a record..

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Raptor
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 03:25 PM

A potatoe Jack-o-lantern?

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 02:43 PM

Living in Idaho as I do, I should also put in a plug for both sugar beets and potatoes.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 01:52 PM

Turnip. First get a turnip. English people will call it a swede, but it isn't; they're just misled. Seamus Kennedy will back me up on this.

Turnips are important because they give the requisite burnt turnip smell when you light the candle in them, and that smell is a hugely important part of Hallowe'en.

Once you've obtained your turnip spend several wrist-jarring hours trying to chisel out the insides. The pain is worth it. Besides, the blood makes it look spookier.

Carve pointy teeth and evil eyes and a skull-like nose (i.e. none). Light stumpy wax candle and put it inside. Hope that there's enough oxygen coming in through the holes you've carved to keep the flame from going out.

Sit back and enjoy the aroma, and wait for compliments and/or remarks on how "it's not a turnip, it's a swede, and duh, pumpkins are easier to carve".

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 11:07 AM

Agreed Bunnahabhain, when I do ours I scrape out quite a bit of the flesh after I remove the seeds. This gives a more eiry glow to the whole pumpkin rather than just the light shining through the carved features.

One year we got some paper templates, which are available in craft stores and carved one which looked identical to Vincent Price. A little more precise work, but the effect was great.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: bobad
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:57 AM

Extreme Pumpkin Carving

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:41 AM

You don't need to cut all the way through on the design.

If you want to do something more intricate, such as celtic knotwork, then it works best if you scoop it out thourghly, to leave a thin layer of flesh inside, and then just cut the design into the skin, and leave some of the flesh behind it intact. A really, really sharp knife, like scalpel is very useful.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: GUEST, Topsie
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:37 AM

As well as toasting the seeds, collect up the rest of the insides that Rapaire told you to fling around the room (rinse the bits that went on the floor), put in a baking try, sprinkle with olive oil, or goose fat if you have any, and roast in the oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:53 AM

Dry, then lightly toast the extracted seeds in the oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:52 AM

Then leave it outside and watch it slowly decompose for a couple of weeks - that's when it looks it's scariest, as the jowls cave in and the blue fuzz grows over it's eye sockets.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Becca72
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:48 AM

The worst/best part is scooping out all the guts.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:47 AM

Safety Tip: best done sober... sharp knives and all that...

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:43 AM

take a knife and cut at an angle a sorta circular lid..(so it won't fall thru the hole)..then draw a face with a marker...THEN, when you are happy, carve that face.

Subject: RE: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:36 AM

First, you gotta get a pumpkin or a turnip or something to carve up.

Then you do a complete lobotomy on it. Use a big spoon to get the brains outa the pumpkin. Fling them around the room to give it that "Hollow Weenie" decorative touch.

Then carve stuff like a face on the front of the now-empty skull-like thing.

Stick a candle inside to make the face show up at night. Hint: it works better if you light the candle.

Another hint: these instructions are invalid if you cook the thing first.

Subject: BS: Jack-this-Lantern
From: Raptor
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 09:29 AM

I'm gonna carve my first pumkin ever but have no clue as to go about it.

Can you advise me or make fun of me, if the mood so strikes you.

Raptor

I'm kind of bored and needing a little attention over here.