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Project

Filigree Pumpkin

Pale pumpkins, such as 'Long Island Cheese,' work best with open-worked designs.

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Source: Martha Stewart

materials

  • Pale pumpkin

  • Keyhole saw

  • Fleshing tool

  • Masking tape

  • Metal tubes in different shapes (we used brass round telescoping seamless, brass square telescoping, bronze rectangular, brass hexagonal telescoping, and 1/4-inch-wide aluminum square, from smallparts.com)

  • Strand of 25 miniature outdoor lights

  • Glass jar

steps

  1. Cut a hole at the bottom of pumpkin with keyhole saw.

  2. Clean the inside of pumpkin with fleshing tool, removing seeds, pulp, and fibers.

  3. Wrap masking tape around circumference of pumpkin to serve as a guide.

  4. Using a metal tube, punch a band of equidistant dots.

  5. Using additional tubes, punch a repeating design, continuing until band is complete.

  6. Remove tape. Punch a mirror-image design below the existing one and shifted over slightly so that the pattern appears to undulate.

  7. Wrap lights evenly around jar, securing strands with tape so lights don't touch. Set pumpkin over jar.

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