Spooky Moon

Him: It’s a little pumpkin family!

Me: I prefer to think of it as an evil pumpkin overlord and its minions.

Him: Of course you do.

So I’m a little late posting. Forgive? I think these adorable little pumpykins are worth it. I had this beautiful wool/alpaca mix from a sheep farm in Nehalem that was just begging to be felted into pumpkins. I don’t do a lot of sculptural felting (as in, this is the first time), so pumpkins were a good, simple project.

For the smaller pumpkin, I didn’t use filling, but for the large (3-1/2″) and medium pumpkins, I pulled some alpaca out of this huge bag I got for a song. Illustrations are from the making of the medium pumpkin.

Here’s the wad of alpaca wool that became the center of the medium pumpkin. I wound it in an approximate pumpkin shape, then I started poking.

Once it was compressed a little and in the shape I wanted, I wrapped the armature in my colored roving.

Then the poking, and the poking, and the poking. I go at least three rounds, compressing and shaping. I used a multi-needle tool on the ends to really smoosh them down, as they were stubborn.

Once the pumpkin was compressed and shaped, I added indentations by poking in a straight line.

When the lines were done, I added a wisp of brown roving to accentuate, then I trimmed off the fuzzy edges and poked in what was left.

I gathered some variegated green roving for a stem, in a roughly stem-like shape.

I poked and poked, mostly against my foam block so the small stem was easier to work with. Sides, then top, then all over again, leaving the bit of roving I was holding unfelted. This is the part of the process where I usually poke myself. When the stem is in good shape, I trim a bit off the end I’m holding, and spread it out like an octopus. I use this bottom part to attach the stem to the pumpkin.

Voila! Pumpkin family Evil overlord and minions!

Linkies:

• Cookies and Cups gives us really yummy-looking spider crispy treats. Mmm.
• Otis the cowpire craves candy! Help him get all the candy before sunrise in this adorkable flash game.
• For you paper-folders (I have never had the patience or dexterity), here are a bunch of Halloween patterns from Origami Club. I like the setup–you can view either a diagram or an animation for instructions.
• Too much here to note, so I’ll just point you to Family Fun’s Halloween page. So much goodness.
• C.R.A.F.T. has 20 unique pumpkin ideas. Love the henna and the mod podge.
• Glorious Treats has candy corn cheesecake mousse.  Sounds decadent.

Finally, a classic with a twist. Here’s This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the music is my favorite version of the song, by Marilyn Manson.