How to make an Halloween Gourd Jack-o-lantern Tower

You can make a Jack-O-Lantern Tower out of gourds for Halloween. It is fairly simple, attractive, fun to make and much more permanent than a pumpkin tower.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Three large dried gourds
• Orange spray paint
• Black oil paint
• Small artist paint brush
• sand paper
• "Gorilla Glue"
• One rock
• Jig or hand saw

1. 
   Uncleaned Gourds

   Take your three large dried gourds and make certain they are cleaned and dry. If they are covered with mold (normal if you grow you own or buy them at a farmer's market) they will need to be cleaned. Before you can use them, you must clean a thin layer of mold off the outside. Using warm soapy water, a plastic scrub pad (I like the green pads)and a lot of elbow grease, the mold and a film layer will come off your gourds. Once removed, the gourds should look like new wood. (Some people like to dip their gourds in a weak solution of bleach, then rinse, to ensure the mold doesn't come back.) Once dried, you can cut the gourd like wood.

2. 
   cut to stack

   Now that your gourds are clean and dry, cut off the long sections and make your gourds look more like pumpkins with the tops removed. Remove the seeds and interior material (like white paper) do this in a well ventilated location, the interior of gourds are dusty, you may want to use a dust mask. Sand the cuts smooth. Stack one gourd on the other and see how they look stacked. When you find the stack you like, put a stone in the bottom gourd and using the "Gorilla Glue" them one on top of the other. If necessary tape the three gourds together with blue painter' s tape to stabilize them. The "Gorilla Glue" will expand a bit sealing the connections between the gourds. Let dry overnight.

3. Now your gourds are glued together. Use orange spray paint, Walmart carries Krylon paint in "pumpkin". Use light sprays and multiple coatings to cover your gourds. When you have the color and coverage you like, let dry overnight.

4. 
   Finished

   You should now have three gourds stacked on top of each other and painted to look like pumpkins. Take your black paint and paint Jack-0-Lantern faces on each pumpkin. Let dry overnight before using. For outside use coat with a waterproof coating.
   
   Use on your porch, in a house display, or as a centerpiece.

Tips & Warnings

• Put a rock in the bottom gourd to stabilize the tower.
• Use spray paint in a well ventilated space and use a drop clothe for overspray.
• Supervise children around power tools and paint.

Resources

• How to Make a Real Scarecrow
• How to make Halloween Gourd Figures
• How to Make a Black Cat Standup
• Halloween T shirts
• halloween T shirts

[momose]

on 10/25/2009 Good instructions for a clever and inexpensive idea. Thanks, Charles Buchanan! And congratulations on being eHow's Featured Author today! *****