While autumn has not yet squandered all the summer warmth, it is so pleasant to spend more days outside the city and in nature. By the way, on the eve of the Catholic holiday of All Saints Day, October 31 is Halloween. It is famous for its long history: it is believed that on this day the worlds of the dead and the living unite. But for most of our fellow citizens, Halloween is an occasion to arrange a masquerade, feast and have fun with friends. It is widely celebrated in English-speaking countries. In the tradition of the holiday, bazaars and fairs, bright decoration of the house and the plot, a fun feast. Children in carnival costumes carol on Halloween night, getting sweets. It is believed that this way you can pay off evil spirits.
Where did the “pumpkin lantern" come from?
The celebration of Halloween for many is associated with the appearance of a pumpkin and with a frightening physiognomy cut out on it. But not everyone knows that such a pumpkin has its own name. Her name is Jack's Lantern. But what kind of Jack are you talking about? It turns out that there is an old Irish legend about the old sly Jack, who was either a farmer or a blacksmith. But the fact that he was a drunkard and a gambler, letting all his earnings go to the game is well known.
Actually, according to legend, the first lamp Jack made himself was from turnip, but in America pumpkin is cheaper and, you see, it’s still a much more picturesque vegetable
It looks like the simplest, but no less spectacular, Jack lamp. Craftsmen can make real masterpieces from pumpkins, organizing exhibitions and competitions on this subject
So, he had a chance to somehow talk with the devil and even sell him his immortal soul for just a mug of hop-ale. But he also managed to deceive the devil, not only once, but twice. To pay for the ale drunk by Jack, the devil turned into a coin, but Jack simply appropriated the money, putting it in his pocket, where there was already a silver cross. The cross did not allow the devil to take his former guise and, in order to get out of the trap, he promised the cunning drunkard a calm and long life. And the devil said that Jack’s soul will never go to hell.
But years passed, and old Jack died. Because of his sins, the path to paradise was closed for him. He was not taken to hell either, since the devil knew how to keep his word. Jack had to go to eternal wandering. It was good that he had a pumpkin with him, from which it was possible to make a lantern with charcoal from hellfire inside. Since then, this lantern has been illuminating Jack's way, and Halloween cannot go without pumpkins. Halloween pumpkins are believed to illuminate the path to purgatory for lost souls.
Let's make a flashlight yourself
Let's start by choosing the right pumpkin. Estimate the place where this decoration will be located, and estimate the desired size of the vegetable itself. Pumpkin is best to choose a large, regular round shape and a bright orange color. For work, prepare tools, materials and utensils:
- water-based marker or felt-tip pen;
- thin and sharp kitchen knife;
- stationery knife;
- rubber gloves to protect hands;
- a tablespoon;
- bowl for pulp and seeds;
- alcohol and cotton wool;
- some tea lights.
The process itself and the sequence of actions are perfectly presented in the video that we invite you to watch.
So you can make your own original "Jack Lantern", appreciate the ideas proposed. Perhaps inspiration will tell you your own version, unlike any other. We will not dwell on the simplest face, the manufacturing process that you just saw. Let's see what else they depict.
Option # 1 - the character of the famous "horror"
Pay attention to popular characters from modern cartoons. For example, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” or “The Corpse of the Bride” are exactly those films that you need. Choose Jack or Frankenstein or any other character that causes a surge of creative strength and energy. Do not be afraid to make a mistake! Make the initial sketch with a felt-tip pen, which erases perfectly. Try to do without small details, then it will be easier to work.
A recognizable character from the cartoon will be very popular with children, especially teenagers. However, Halloween allows even respectable and important adults to become temporarily irresponsible mischievous
Option # 2 is another popular symbol.
Bats have always been considered a symbol of horror and fear. These emotions are just in tune with Halloween. Cut their silhouettes on a pumpkin. They look spectacular on the walls as a shadow, and when candles burn inside the pumpkin. Silhouettes of bats can be placed around the entire perimeter of the vegetable, arranging them randomly, and even better to make them look like a traditional scary face. Use a clerical knife to make small parts.
Using bat silhouettes as a Halloween decor is a tradition. You can cut them out of paper, spray them on a plane through a stencil: it still works great
Option # 3 - a monster devouring a competitor
The more characters on this holiday, the brighter it is. If you imagine that a pumpkin is a monster, as they imagine it, then why not conceive a whole pumpkin battle. Let the monsters fight for the primacy on Halloween, and the strongest and most evil will win. If you can’t find a suitable little pumpkin, you can use an orange. Do not cut large openings immediately. It is better to increase them in the process.
The fight of monsters, embodied in a hypertrophied pumpkin form, ceases to be scary, although the little monster that got into an alteration is still a little sorry
Option # 4 - a flashlight, so a flashlight
To create such "Jack Lanterns" you can use not only round, but also elongated pumpkins. So it will be even more spectacular. Apply the image of the lantern to the surface using a black marker or acrylic paint and a brush with artificial bristles. Those parts that are glazed in an ordinary lamp, you just need to cut out, so that through them comes the light from the candles placed inside. And it’s easy and spectacular!
Images of a flashlight can be very diverse. You can change the shape and color of the pumpkin. So Jack's lights become different from one another, but all in their own way interesting
Option # 5 - Jack the Gatekeeper
Halloween is an autumn holiday, but winter is coming, and New Year will come for it. Why not remember it right at the end of October? Take two pumpkins and make good Jack out of them. Let him balance the forces of evil and keep them out of the house. For a pumpkin “snowman” you will need a hat, several large buttons, a collar from an unnecessary shirt or a neckerchief, a cork from a wine bottle, a felt-tip pen and pins. Cut a good face from a smaller pumpkin, the cork will be instead of the nose. Secure the scarf around the neck and buttons with pins or glue. Eyebrows and pupils can be represented with a felt-tip pen. Let Jack standing at the gate or at the entrance to the house meet the guests.
Funny Jack in the form of a pumpkin snowman does not look scary or dangerous at all. Let him guard the entrance to the house, letting in only those whose intentions are pure
So, quietly moving to the street, we proceed to decorate the site itself.
Lighting the garden for the holiday
A special holiday requires special lighting. Make it easy, it is much more difficult to choose one of several of the most attractive options. However, you can even combine several ideas by placing lamps in different corners of the garden. Several plastic containers, felt-tip pens and candles that are inserted inside, and the first funny lights are ready.
There is an idea to make a highlight using empty tin cans. Before starting work in such a jar, you need to pour water and freeze it. This is done to make it easier to fulfill the plan, without flattening the jar in the creative process. We apply a drawing to the container and break through it with a hammer and a nail through and through. Remove the ice, remove traces of the marker, and the jar should be painted, giving it orange, black, golden or any other color. It remains to place a candle inside and arrange or hang the cans.
Plastic bottle ghosts can be very funny. They will effectively fit along the wall of the house and create a special festive atmosphere
Although the first option with an arch and ghosts is still more picturesque, preference should be given to safer can fixtures. They are also able to delight the most demanding critics.
If the garden plot already has lighting in the form of, for example, lanterns under the arch, you can decorate the arch itself with branches, cattail and reeds, and cover the lamps with a white transparent cloth, tying black ribbons around the throat of the resulting “ghosts”. The closest attention should be paid to fire protection measures. Keep the fabric warm. Dry grass and foliage burn like gunpowder. Therefore, it is better if it is not so beautiful, but safe.
Decorate trees and lawns
Lovely and absolutely safe ghosts can find their place on trees or on lawns. Lightweight fabric, marker pens, and balloons are all you need to create a fun company of ghosts who have thought to play in the branches. If sticking sticks of approximately the same length into the ground on the lawn, with banks or pots on their free end, you will get the basis for a fun dance of dancing ghosts.
No special efforts are required to create such an original round dance of ghosts, having fun having fun right on the front lawn
By the way, there are ready-made horror stories that will also serve as an excellent garden decoration. For example, a skeleton falling asleep in a hammock, reacting to a person's approach with a gesture or sound. Not scary little skeletons made of plastic can decorate an ordinary New Year's garland. Placed between the trees, it will not burn brightly, but will create the necessary atmosphere.
And also, to decorate the site, you can use a scarecrow. You can learn about how to make it yourself from the material: //diz-cafe.com/postroiki/ogorodnoe-chuchelo-svoimi-rukami.html
Final touch: entrance to the house
The traditional wreath that decorates the door of the house before the New Year can be exchanged for a black mourning bow, but do not forget to decorate it with sparkles. Even a bunch of straw or a wreath of black crow feathers will come in handy. Black, orange, golden yellow, bronze, white and black - these are the main colors of jewelry. Decorating the front door or the blank wall of the house, show your imagination to the fullest.
Both options for entering the entrance are simply stunning. You can only envy guests who will see all this beauty and magnificence in reality
Can:
- arrange pumpkins or their models everywhere;
- to rake up more fallen leaves, gilding it with spray paint;
- make lush bouquets and wreaths of dead wood;
- decorate the entrance with branches or garlands of triangular flags;
- cut out silhouettes of witches, bats and ordinary mice and spiders from black paper to attach them to the wall of the house.
The imagination of a creative person is limitless, but it is important to stop in time and show a sense of proportion, without losing a sense of humor. After all, Halloween is a mischievous and funny holiday, when people laugh at their fears, rather than instill them.
In order to see a real witch in Halloween, you need to put on a scruff of the neck, go outside at midnight and go backwards
The garden got its share of fun decorations. Everyone who looks at the house and the plot outside will appreciate the effort spent on creating a festive atmosphere. It remains to surprise and please those who will be invited to the house and to the table.
