# Pumpkin sentinels tutorial



## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

*Pumpkin sentinels tutorial 2016*

I have always loved the Pumkinrot Sentinels since the first time I saw them and knew one day I would make my own. Over the years I have read tutorials by others and have picked up ideas from them. There are some on this site and I will link to them later to make sure they get credit for their ideas and to give people more to consider when doing this project. 

(Edit to add this is a good thread to check out http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/106714-our-ode-de-pumpkinrot.html )

I also figured out some of my own twists for the project. I recently made a pumkinrot type sentinel and posted pictures on some Halloween pages and had a lot of people ask for tutorials. I've learned a lot and have been inspired by what others have done and youtube video channels like Stiltbeast Studios. I hope that this tutorial can give people ideas and help them with creations of their own. 


The Sentinels I made cost around $ 85 to $90 in materials. The first one took about 8 to 10 hours to make. I will be finishing the 2nd one which I am using for this tutorial will have about 5 to 6 hours in it. There are probably much cheaper ways to do this that take longer, but the time time I save is worth the money to me. I am not a professional and am basically looking for a fast cool prop. I am sure there are better ways to do this, and If anyone decides to do this I hope they share their ideas also.

the main materials I used.

1. Large styrofoam pumpkin from Michael's. It was about $37 on sale although it was listed at $70. I personally would not pay $70 for it but you can normally find ways to get things for 40-50% off at Michael's.

2. Costco Skeleton which is about $40. You are only using the torso. I save the skulls and will probably put them on stakes for my forest of despair. I also save the leg bones. They make a pretty cool border for other props. I've used bones as the border for door, ran string lights through them and had a pretty cool effect.

3. Some epoxy

4. about a 3 to 4 foot length of flexible copper.

5. a 10 foot piece of 2 inch pvc pipe and y fitting with a 45 degree angle.

6. A roll of plastic tarp

7. 4 deck screws.

8. some hickory Gel stain. it cost about $15 but can be used for multiple projects.


Basically we are taking the pumpkin head and skeleton to create this.






























First thing is the pumpkin head. The problem with this pumpkin is that it is styrofoam all the way through. Funkins sells large artificial pumpkins that would probably be better for this, but are about $120 each after shipping. Too rich for my blood. 

So my goal became to hollow out the front 1/2 of the pumpkin while leaving the back 1/2 solid. This took about 35-45 minutes to do. I used the combination of a drywall knife and Dremel to do this. (Note do it on a plastic tarp to make it easier to clean up the mess)



















Once I felt I had enough hollowed out, I drew the design for my eyes and teeth. Then I used a drill bit Dremel piece to cut the design into the pumpkin. I used the drywall. Knife to deepen the cuts so I could pop the eyes and mouth out.



















This left me with a lot of exposed styrofoam. As you probably know, if you spray paint styrofoam it melts so I had to cover that up. First I tried primer from a can..... that failed. I had a roll of gorilla tape one the table. I decided to put the tape over the exposed styrofoam. It took about an hour but worked well enough that I was happy with it. Part of the reason I spray painted the face black was to make the tape look less obvious. I was also able to spray paint the tape .












After this I spray painted the pumpkin a different color pumpkin orange and then did a misting/ top coat of back paint. 










https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160826
/aa9890c86510115a9c55d85f456b34c1.jpg










So the head and preparation took a bit under 2 hours.



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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

Now I put the head aside and started working on the body. First thing I did was pop the head off then used a sawzall to cut the spine where it met the hips. 










I was originally going to mount this on an 8 foot length of pvc pipe (an idea I saw someone else do, and using creepy cloth to cover the pvc....but realized I have two trees that are basically the entrance to the forest of despair part of my display, so I will be mounting the Sentinels to the trees and making it look like they are growing out of the trees. But am keeping them on the pvc for now as it makes it easier to build and modify them in the garage.











I cut about a 1 foot section of pvc pipe which I'm putting the skeleton torso in via the spine. I used great stuff foam to keep the skeleton in place. 

First I prepped the pvc so that foam would not come out the bottom. I drilled a couple of holes in the pvc, inserted an cut to size a couple of dowel rods, then cut the lid of a great stuff cap which I inserted into the pvc.














































Once I had the pvc prepped, I put the skeleton in, added great stuff and waited for it to dry.




















Once I did this I posed the arms the way I wanted them, then used deck screws to lock them in place.











Prepping the body took about 1.5 hours.

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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

This next part is putting some of the pvc together and adding the head to the skeleton. 

Basically you put the y joint on long piece of pvc then place the skeleton in the 45 degree joint and a 10 inch or piece in the top joint.




























Now we want to attach the the head to the skeleton. First cut a hole in the pumpkin that you can insert the upper half of the spine. (Btw... it probably would not hurt to reinforce the upper spine a bit. They are weak spots on these skeletons) 



















Even though it is styrofoam, the pumpkin is not light enough or sturdy enough to leave it like this so we are going to do something to the top to make it stronger.

At the top there is a stem affixed to the top of the pumpkin. I used gorilla tape to reinforce it then drilled a hole in the stem with a 3/8 bit and also the pvc pipe.. I got a 3 foot piece of copper, epoxied the one end into the stem and ran the other end through the pvc pipe. This takes some of the pressure of the spine. We will be covering the stem area and copper tubing with plastic and plastic corpsing them later.



















































































This all took about 25- 30 minutes. I will be finishing this up tomorrow plastic corpsing it then staining it.
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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

Reserved again 

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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

And one more reservation 

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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

Spent an hour to a hour and a half mostly finishing this up tonight. Just a few touch ups and some dry brushing after the stain dries. All told about 5 and a half hours into it. 

First thing I did today was add the long fingertips. I went out in the yard, walked about 10 feet and picked up some branches off the ground. I broke then to the right size and used gorilla tape to attach them to the skeletons finger nails. 



















Then I used the stiltbeast method of plastic corpsing to finish things up. I wrapped the copper tubing making sure to flair a bunch out at the stem to cover up the gorilla tape. Then did the arms and finally the body.





























Finally I applied the stain. Now all that is left is dry brushing and it is done.





































I will be cutting one off the pole and attaching it to a tree later to see how it looks. 

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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

I set one up on a tree. I think they will work well as the Sentinels to "the Forrest of Despair " part of my display. 





































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## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

looking good & creepy 

amk


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## AmyTx (Sep 5, 2016)

Looks great! How did you attach it to the tree?


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## internet troll (Nov 7, 2014)

AmyTx said:


> Looks great! How did you attach it to the tree?


I used a couple of 4 inch lag bolts.


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## debbiedowner67 (Sep 13, 2015)

These are so scary. I'm going to need you to make me some LOL


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## lowdwnrob (Jul 14, 2008)

Great job. I have been thinking on how to build a creepy scarecrow for my front yard and thin I just figured it out. Thank you.


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## Therewolf (Aug 31, 2015)

I bulit and then rebuilt one over the past 2 years. 'Grim' as I call him has a wooden frame of 2x2 with blocked 2x4 hips and shoulders. I wrapped the frame with chicken wire and then filled it with spray foam. This gives an excellent texture. Painted with camoflage paint. First year was areal pumpkin head, but was too small. Last year built a new head of spray foam around a beach ball. Turned out awesome. This year I need to improve the hands and 'feet'


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## Therewolf (Aug 31, 2015)

2016 and 2017 'Grim'


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## Therewolf (Aug 31, 2015)

Here is where I learned to make the foM pumpkin head. Tip.. don't skimp on the foam, better to be thick than too thin. https://youtu.be/MSrQGKiFyVA


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## lowdwnrob (Jul 14, 2008)

Therewolf said:


> I bulit and then rebuilt one over the past 2 years. 'Grim' as I call him has a wooden frame of 2x2 with blocked 2x4 hips and shoulders. I wrapped the frame with chicken wire and then filled it with spray foam. This gives an excellent texture. Painted with camoflage paint. First year was areal pumpkin head, but was too small. Last year built a new head of spray foam around a beach ball. Turned out awesome. This year I need to improve the hands and 'feet'


The pumpkin looks amazing


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## vonbodan (Sep 18, 2018)

those look awesome


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## Kwll2112 (Sep 14, 2016)

My wife really wanted pumpkin sentinels and decided to build the heads from paper mâché. It took her a long time to make the heads, requiring several coats. I think the heads came out well, even though they are heavy and are on the fragile side (no dropping allowed!). I made the bodies out of PVC and I think they came out pretty good. The inside sentinel is a butler for the skeleton dining, so his head is a little smaller than the others. Hopefully these will last for the next 6 years we plan on doing Halloween, as she doesn't want to have to make them again.

I wish we could have found some plastic or styrofoam pumpkins that A) was big enough and B) would have worked for what we wanted to do with them. Because the heads are so heavy that it's difficult to get them to stand on their own (in fact, the 2 sentinels in the courtyard need their heads tied up to the roof to keep them from falling over!).


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## hevnsnt (Oct 14, 2017)

dude, that black spray face is dopeAF


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