The Pumpkin punt

I saw a really cool fall display with a big white pumpkin.

I began a hunt for a large fake pumpkin....

and I found nada, zero and not even a large 

orange pumpkin.

I was not deterred.

I was determined to have a large white pumpkin.

So I began searching online for a tut

on how to make your own pumpkin.

I found out that there is a huge underground

of people that make things from materials that 

I had never heard of.

I GOT EXCITED.

I searched for my own raw materials and started  cutting 

and glueing and trying to figure out 

what the heck I was doing...

I had this vine pumpkin and figured it would be a great armature for what I wanted to do.. I found these plumbing tubes at Home Depot for 2.47 for 4..... that is after I looked several places for foam tubes for swiming..
found one in the basement!

I covered it in foam because I wanted the finished gourd to be larger....

I then began splitting the plumbing foam tubes in two and tapering the ends and hot glueing them onto the base.

I mixed up this concoction that I had learned about on the internet...called MONSTER MUD.  It is a mixture of drywall compound and latex paint....
I applied it liberally over the entire surface.  THIS WAS FUN!!

what i don't have a picture of is the disaster I came to see the next morning...cracking and peeling MONSTER MUD!!
I was so mad.  So I went back to the drawing board and went back to the hardware store for something that could handle the bounciness of the foam...
I got some wood filler and smoothed it over...and mixed another batch of MONSTER MUD..and slathered...
and it worked!

I smoothed between each layer of MUD and latex paint.  It added the elasticity that I needed. YAY!!

I smoothed and sanded and realized that it had been a long time since I had sculpted...and I remembered how much I
loved it in college.  I almost hated to finish it...

but i did and then painted the stem and added a few details.  More drying time and then it was ready for debut!

Look at him there in all his whiteness and glory...Just so fun don't you think?  I had a bit of MONSTER MUD left over and I started looking around for something else to smother it on...hmmm.
Oh and the Pumpkin Punt?
Isn't that what you do when you are out of options?  No more running aound to find a pumpkin...
I punted and made one!