# Quick and Easy Jack-o-Lantern display



## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

Last year I was a bit rushed at the last minute to set up my front lawn (this year I'm making up for it), here's an idea I had from things laying around that worked out pretty good.

Here's all you need.

Rod iron tiki-torch (not the wicker kind)
Tiki-torch oil
Jack-o-lantern, of a face, not the artistic drawing type-like kind. (Hopefully, you already have one)
Twine

Fill the torch with oil (whatever you normally use)
Cut the bottom of the jack-o-lantern out in about a 30 degree angle, leaving about a 1 inch hole in the bottom.
Poke 2 holes on either side of the jack-o-lantern, about 3 - 4 inches apart
Place jack-o-lantern on top of torch
Tie one of twine around the circle base of the torch
Bring it up on side of the jack-o-lantern
Put it inside on hole, and out the other on the same side
Bring the twine back down to the bottom of the circle and tie off good and tight, but not so tight it cuts through the pumpkin.
Repeat on the other side, and in front (using face openings, I had tried hiding the twine first, but it looks cool crossing the face anyway) and back, just make sure you don't run the twine through the center or else it will burn.
Make sure it's good and secure.
Stick it in the ground, far enough away from where people may be walking.
Drip fake blood (or real, whatever) along the bottom of the eyes.
Remove top of jack-o-lantern
Fire it up!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

thats neat but how long before the pumpkin turns black?
Has the wind blown them over ?


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## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

Lilly said:


> thats neat but how long before the pumpkin turns black?
> Has the wind blown them over ?


You could keep them going for a few nights before they turn black on the outside, depends on how big the flames are (you can control this by how much of the wick sticks up), but you can also move it around a bit so it does go straight out the top. We only had them up a night or so, but you could always put smaller tea lights in them up until Halloween night.

The poles split off at the bottom, and stick in about 6 - 10 inches or so, so they are pretty secure. We had no problems with them falling at all, but you may want to make sure the pumpkins aren't that big, around the size of a human head, and the ground is fairly dense. I actually keep 6 of them in the backyard during the winter (sans pumpkin of course), stuck in the ground, and have never had one fall over.


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## pyxl (Oct 17, 2005)

excellent idea. I'm going to do this one for sure. The only thing I may do is create a "base" that will allow the pumpkins to sit without twine. Cool idea.


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## PrettyGhoul (Oct 7, 2005)

*Very cool idea incubus0! I think it's one of the best ideas for jack-o'-lanterns I've seen this season (last season?) and the blood makes it perfect. I'm glad you posted the pictures, thank you.* :jol:


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## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

Did anyone else try it?

We had 6 of them up. One had a flame that was a bit too high, scorched the eyes out, but made for a nice effect. Here are some picks at the end of the night.


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