There are a ton of pumpkin dioramas out there. I’ve been wanting to try one with my spare craft pumpkins, and finally got around to it.
Here’s the bare pumpkin. I refuse to pay full price on these. I suspect this came from Target for a few dollars. The actual Funkins that craft stores sell are crazy expensive.
Rough cut on the opening. I plan to use the cut out piece as a base, tilting it toward the front to create a “stage.” I later regretted this–it ended up crowding the pumpkin and obscuring things. I tell you this so you also do not think this is a good idea.
I wanted the background paint job to look like twilight. Sorta worked. First us of my new airbrush.
Next, I hot knifed the opening to add scrolls. I like this bit a lot.
Yes, it happens I have a Dremel bit that is exactly the right size for string lights to fit snugly. A purple string will light the sky.
Long time followers may remember these tiny tombstones from a few years ago. I love these things, and wanted to give them a starring role.
I cut squares to fit the tombstones’ supports so they could be more solid before gluing, and so they could be positioned slanted back a ways. After I had those spots planned, I drilled small holes in front of each stone, plus more for the upcoming tree, for orange string lights.
Winding armature wire together to make a spooky tree.
Wrapped the tree in washi tape. It’s wonderfully flexible, so I can bend it way down to put things in the pumpkin, then pose it in place. It will also be wired with some orange lights. In hindsight, I wish I had wrapped the tree in something brighter, as it kind of disappears in the final piece.
Some final touches on the pumpkin; the edges of the opening get gold paint.
The outside gets an almost-dry rub of gold paint on a paper towel.
Stones and tree are in place. Orange lights are wired. Now to cut up a Halloween garland from last year and glue it down as ground cover. After this, both hands were too busy to take a photo as I maneuvered the stage into place.
Sky gets wired. I should have done this first, because I decided to drop most of the string down inside the pumpkin, behind and under the stage.
What I learned: Don’t crowd the field.
Raffle status: way too delicate to ship; however, I would be pleased to remove the mini tombstones and send them off.
Light ’em up!
