Steampunk Pumpkin Lantern

Steampunk pumpkin lantern for Halloween? Yes, why not? As years go by, I become more and more interested in traditions. For instance, I enjoy making "pálinka" in these past years, which is an absolutely traditional Hungarian beverage. As of now I've installed a small but complete distillery with a real "kisüsti" copper cauldron and a distilling apparatus even. But let's not wander away from All Souls' Day, this story is not about "pálinka".

What inspired me is an article on a small American blog I saw back in the end of the summer. Even I don't know how that became a steampunk pumpkin lantern but it's a fact that Laura is a real Halloween fanatic...

I wanted to pimp my lantern up a bit so I put a larson-scanner kit in its mouth, about which I'm sure Knight Rider comes to everyone's mind. And indeed: Glen A. Larson had a lot to do with the series back then.

After I was done with that, I started to search for a few suitable images which I could carve into the pumpkin later on. I've found a lot more than that, the internet has tons of patterns and templates, you only have to search for them. In the end, three stencils were the winners, and two of them went on the pumkin: a Frankenstein-face on the front, fully carved in, and on the back went a carving, which is only half centimeter deep, but makes a great mood when lit. My colleague, Németh István helped with the lining of the cat-in-the-window stencil, many thanks to him for that.

Only the pumpkin left. I managed to get a big and well-shaped one, weighing 13 kilos. I will, of course, dry the leftover pumpkin seeds and fry them.

After three hours of carving, I made a simple top hat as well, so that the pumpkin would have that genuine steampunk feel. Originally I planned on buying one, but I dropped the project because of time shortage... That's why I resorted to the use of creativity and handiness; I made it out of cardboard, which I painted in quickly.

Instead of candles, I used a modern solution with LEDs inside the pumpkin and on the fence, too, for decoration. The "bulb" went into an vintage E14 bakelite socket.

And it's done! Let's conclude this post with some photos about the finished pumpkin-lantern, and thus I wish all steampunk fans a Happy Halloween! (more photos in the gallery)