It's Alive! Making a Scarey Jack O' Lantern Out of Clay

By Devil Bear, Oct 2007
Photos by Mommy and Daddy


In Celtic folklore, Jack was a man who double-crossed the Devil out of getting his soul. When Jack died, because of his shananigans, St. Peter wouldn't let him through the pearly gates of Heaven, and of course the Devil wouldn't have him either. Instead Jack was doomed to walk the earth with nothing but a burning ember of coal which he carried around in a carved out turnip. Pretty sad, huh?

In old Ireland people claimed to have seen Jack's turnip lantern glowing in the darkness every Halloween, when it was said that spirits came back to walk the earth. They called the light "Jack of the Lantern", which over time became "Jack O'Lantern."

For Halloween the people of Ireland and Scotland took to carving their own Jack O'Lanterns out of turnips and potatoes, and would put them in front of their homes or in windows to scare away any bad spirits that might happen by. And when they went out, they dressed in disguises or carried Jack O' Lanterns to fool the spirits into thinking they were spirits, too, and so leave them alone. When people from Ireland and Scotland moved to America, they used the native American pumpkin for making Jack O'Lanterns. Most people think this was a monster improvement.

Today we're making a Jack O' Lantern out of clay, so you can reuse it every year. It will be about the size of Jack's turnip, but we'll make it look like a pumpkin, and it will end up being a lantern because we'll put a candle in it. The best part about this project is, you don't have to know a thing about working clay to make your Jack O' Lantern look cool and creepy. The messier the better - and little monsters like making messes!

Before we get started I just want to say that clay is a distant relative of the dreaded Blob. You should never feed your clay, or it could take after its wicked cousin and go on a feeding frenzy - eating you alive. With proper care, your clay can be transformed into nearly anything without incident, and once it is dried it is of course rendered completely harmless.

Also, the directions here are for creatures with hands. But if you don't have hands or fingers (I have paws for example), you might want to get your mom or dad to help out. If they don't have fingers either (say they have tentacles instead), you'll just have to improvise!

Go to the local art store, (Aaron Brothers, Blicks, Pearl, or Michaels), and get: DAS non-toxic air drying modeling clay (one 17.1 oz brick makes two pumpkins), and the cheap pack of plastic modeling tools with "spoon," "knife" and "fork."



As you can see, the handles of these plastic tools are also useful, including one with a "finger" end and one with a ball end. I make suggestions on which tools to use, but do whatever works for you.

Now, from around the house, gather:
A handful of cotton-tipped swabs - unused preferably
A small bowl of water
Scissors
Plastic-wrap or wax paper
A smooth, hard, non-porous surface (a plastic cutting board, or a cutting board with wax paper taped to it will work)
A smooth edged paring knife (adult use only)
A tea candle

Using the plastic "knife" tool, cut off about 1/2 of the clay brick and put it on the work surface. Tape closed the remaining clay in its original foil pack, so it won't dry out or escape. Remember: do NOT feed your clay!

Dip your fingers into the water and form the clay into a smooth ball. If it gets too wet let it sit to dry a few minutes. Smooth away the cracks and folds. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Figure A: The clay ball.

Once you have a fairly smooth ball, put it on the work surface. Using your thumbs, push a hole into the top of the ball, letting the bottom stay at least 1/2 inch thick. Keep the opening at the top small - but no less than 2 inches.

To control the shape, keep your thumb on the inside, and your fingers on the outside. Gently press your thumb and first two fingers together, working your way around the ball. We are hollowing out the pumpkin, but we don't remove the clay, we merely push it away to create the inside.

Figure B: Hollowing out the ball.

Try to keep the sides about 1/2 inch thick all around. Wet your thumb in the water if the clay gets too dry. If the shape gets too wide at the bottom, push in and lift up all around at the bottom either with the spoon tool or your fingers.

Once you are happy with the shape, allow your pumpkin to sit and air dry about 2 hours. To keep him from sagging, cut the cotton swabs in half and with the cotton tips up, use them as stints inside him as he dries.

Figure C: jack-o-lantern drying with stints inside.

After some drying time, use the finger-ended handle of the spoon tool and score lines from the bottom to the top of the pumpkin. The lines should be closest together at the bottom/top and widest apart in the middle. Now dip the ball end of the fork tool in water, and smooth over the lines. This creates the dented-in segments of the pumpkin.

Figure D: Scoring lines.

Let the pumpkin dry about two more hours - it should become firm, but not too dry.

Now, pick the best side for the jack-o-lantern face, and using the handle of your fork tool, make the face with dashed lines. Keep the design simple & traditional, because it will be very difficult to carve anything else. Make sure the mouth is high enough from the bottom so that when you carve it out you cut through to air on the other side. Temporarily remove the cotton-tipped stints on the face side.

The next part is just like carving a real pumpkin, only smaller. Carve out the face of the pumpkin using the paring knife. Use the finger tool to poke in and remove the carved pieces. Hold the ball-end part of the "fork" tool on the opposite side to support the face, rather than risk stabbing your fingers. The carving may get messy - don't worry about it. You can fix any mistakes later. But honestly, any mistakes will make the pumpkin look even creepier!

You may need to reshape him a little here. Put the stints back in. For carving mistakes, use the tiny carved out pieces of clay to do a patch job. Mash the pieces into tiny flat patches, wet them on one side, and put that side down on the place you want covered. Smooth the patches with one of the tools.

Let your jack-o-lantern dry thoroughly overnight. Then CAREFULLY lift him off the board, and turn him upside down so the bottom can dry. Let this dry another day. If you make a lid for your pumpkin, wait until he dries for the best fit.

Now, put a tea candle inside your new creation, and watch it come to life!