# Replicating Pumpkin Sentinels (Pumpkinrot)



## Trex (Nov 6, 2010)

Looks great and nice tutorial!


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## SaltwaterServr (Jul 28, 2014)

Very nice alternative way to build ribs. I gotta see how much irrigation line I have lying around since the growing season is about over with. I've got a very big scarecrow to make and this is a great way to go at it!

The white shop towels, I'm guessing they're just Lowes or Home Depot paper towels that are beefed up versions of home kitchen paper towels?


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## RiverBoarder (Oct 9, 2007)

Pulling up a chair......
Looking forward to this one. Great job 

Peace,
Ken


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

SaltwaterServr said:


> ...The white shop towels, I'm guessing they're just Lowes or Home Depot paper towels that are beefed up versions of home kitchen paper towels?


Yeah, I got mine from Lowe's. They were in the paint section and come in a cardboard box. I think 200 per box. They have blue ones as well, but for the reason of not wanting to have to prime before painting, I specifically looked for white.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Wow, ambitious! I'm looking forward to following your progress, looks real good thus far.


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## DvlsToy (Apr 6, 2012)

Always wanted to make these myself. good luck, waiting to see the turn out.


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

*Step Eight: In Which the Arms Are Added*

For the arms, as I mentioned before, one could simply use PVC angles and pipes and create a sturdy structure. And this is a good way to go. You could then add mass to them to cover the joints with newspaper and corpsing, but I wanted to go another way. If one would refer back to the original image of the Pumpkinrot Sentinels, you would be able to see that they have a distinctive organic nature to them. They look as if they were made from evil and pumpkin vines.

So what better source to draw from than nature herself? 

After selectively pruning some of my trees of dead branches, I reviewed my options, made some decisions about arm position, and set to lashing them to the torso with my good old friend duct tape.









I let the branches extend past the joint at the shoulder to create sort of a spike. It is unnatural looking and disjointed which adds to the total air of creepiness. Plus, you can see Pumpkinrot has done the same thing.

















As you are attaching your arms, and deciding on what position to make them, think about what your sentinel should be doing. In my mind, this sentinel is just starting to reach out for you. In that light, I tried to have his left arm more casually at his side, while his right arm is bent up, ready to extend. Lash the sticks together in this way.



















*Step Nine: Adding the Hand(s)*

I decided to only have my sentinel in possession of the one hand. I kind of like the idea of have one arm look like it was broken off. Take a number of smaller sticks and lash them together to make a finger like arrangement. The longer the better in my opinion. And don't be afraid to break away from anatomical norms. This is an evil pumpkin demon and as such, should not conform to the human standards.



























*Step Ten: Corpsing...again*

Go over the taped lashes with the same corpsing technique as before. This time around, I used a brush on the strips and used less adhesive overall...hopefully this will help the dry time. 

















































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OK that's all for now...when we return, hopefully we will be wrapping up the painting of the sentinel and then we can begin discussing options in lighting.

Happy Haunting


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## RiverBoarder (Oct 9, 2007)

The organic look is great....
Mind sharing product info on indoor/outdoor glue and approximate drying time on the torso.
I am assuming you will use a craft pumpkin for the head, if so what size? Did a quick query on craft pumpkins and didn't see anything larger then a 14".

peace,


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

Thank you so much for doing this tutorial. I have been wanting to do one or more as well and will now maybe next year attempt it due to you posting this. 
Sincerely,
Ellie


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## NotTheBatesMotel (Sep 28, 2013)

Thanks for the tutorial. Looking great so far!


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## SavageEye (Aug 30, 2010)

looks great, love your technique so far.


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

The pumpkin I am using is the Funkin Mac 

If you wanted to go bigger, you should look into making your own. There are numerous tutorials out there on this process so I won't get too into it, but I would stuff a trash bag full of newspaper, squish it down, run masking tape from top to bottom to create the ribs, then paper mache...

The outdoor adhesive: I got it from Lowes...I cannot recommend the brand I bought as it is the first one I've used, but I do know that others have used (and recommended) Henry 663 outdoor carpet adhesive. But it is in rare supply.


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## deadrail (Oct 20, 2013)

This looks great. I really have to try it.
Thanks


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

OH MY GOD! 10 DAYS OFF AND I'M STILL WORKING ON THIS!

I had to go out of town the last three weekends in a row...totally screwed up my plans.

This morning I gave the sentinel a permanent mount...it is an adjustable flag hanger.

I am so behind! GAH!


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## darkrosemanor (Sep 30, 2008)

Looking GREAT!!!!! Well done and the tutorial of the process is incredible! (Thank you for the shout out, too!  ) HAPPY HAUNTING!! -DRM


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## StanFam3 (Oct 5, 2009)

Pumpkinrot is the KING of Halloween in my book. Love him! (Total fangirl squealing!) 

Yours turned out fantastic!  Job well done, and thanks for sharing how you did it!


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Loving the tutorial, looking great!!!


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

StanFam3 said:


> Pumpkinrot is the KING of Halloween in my book. Love him! (Total fangirl squealing!)
> 
> Yours turned out fantastic!  Job well done, and thanks for sharing how you did it!


It's not yet done  But thank you...still needs paint and a head!


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## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

Looks great! I like the use of the flag pole hanger. Looking forward to seeing it all put together.


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

Thank you for showing so many pictures. (c:


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## SaltwaterServr (Jul 28, 2014)

Looks great!

My FIL wanted me to work with him this week to help fix our fence that blew down from the bad weather two weekends ago. I told my wife, "is he serious??? This close to Halloween??? Nah uh, we're calling a contractor to fix it."


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## mysticallibra (Oct 4, 2014)

This looks fantastic! Great job, I can't wait to see it finished!


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## ryanlamprecht (Oct 8, 2009)

More pictures! More pictures! More pictures, Please... I can't wait to see how it's progressing. So far it look awesome.


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

Welcome Back Haunters!

I left you with some small changes, but now I am on the home stretch. I used this weekend to my advantage and progress was made!

I believe we are on Step 12 so let''s just go with that.

*Step 12:*

I did a quick test of putting my funkin on there (a funkin Mac to be exact) and realized it was not sitting properly. I used one of the elbow pieces I had left over from not using them on the arms and created a little control over the head to lift it up off the chest some.









*Step 13:*

I used black spray paint to cover all exposed hardware and structure, including up inside Agatha (named by my wife and I love it.) I then did some haphazard spraying of areas that I wanted to appear darker. This was not neat or pretty...but just rough and dirty.

















*Step 14:*

Enter the wood stain. I used Minwax's Red Oak for that somewhat goopy but not quite fresh dead look. I recommend playing around with different shades to figure out what is right for you. I used a sponge brush and just threw it on there. No finesse, just slop it on. You can also see I threw some stain onto the pumpkin. This worked wonderfully. I slopped the stain onto the Mac and then wiped it with a shop towel. This left a fair amount in the crevasses of the funkin while clearing away most of the stain on the ridges. It distressed it just enough. Of course, I made the mistake of doing this before I carved it...DON'T STAIN BEFORE YOU CARVE!

























*Step 15:*
One thing that is worth noting is that Pumpkinrot takes an extra step to paint the inside of the cuts of his heads black. This is a very important step to make the head look sinister. Without it, especially with funkins, you leave big white cuts and that is just not scary.

What I did was to use gaffers tape (available on amazon) to mask the area. Gaffers tape is great for everything in your haunt because it's really sticky and strong but is designed to not remove the finish. After masking the area, I carved the face a'la Pumpkinrot. Honestly, I could have done any number of faces, but he just nailed it (or she...never sure about that one.) I then used black, self priming spray paint to paint the insides of the cuts. I tried with a brush and it was just too hard.

A warning...some spray paints will dissolve some foams. DO A TEST ON A SCRAP PIECE OF FOAM FROM YOUR JACK BEFORE YOU SPRAY THE HEAD. You do not want to spend all that time carving only to dissolve your funkin.

























*Step 16:*

NOW you can stain the skull. As I said above, I used the same stain as the body, slopped it on with a sponge brush and then wiped it away immediately with a shop towel.


























*Step 17:*

Assemble.

























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OK that is all for now! I will post again when I have it installed and illuminated.

Happy Haunting!


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## ryanlamprecht (Oct 8, 2009)

Any more pics?


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

ryanlamprecht said:


> Any more pics?


HAha...was that not enough? Ok Ryan here are some more.

Here you can see the support structure...this image was captured with a flash so you can see "how the sausage was made." I am going to be hiding the support with corn stalks.








Lighting Agatha is going to be tricky. She is dark enough that unless you are hitting her with a strobe you will lose a lot of the torso. There is a battery powered red LED string in her head and I am hitting her with blue and green clip lights from below.








There is a "strange fruit" tree behind her. The tree is being hit with a strobe.
















These were all from my testing last night...the haunt is not yet fully set up but it is good to do dry runs in my opinion.


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## Lady Dy (Oct 2, 2013)

You did an awesome job!!!


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## Tim Correia (Aug 7, 2014)

Hi, I'm a newbie but I have to ask, Where do I find foam pumpkins for carving? I would love to try this.
Thanks


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi Tim! I can tell you're a newbie because you have a name instead of some maniacal moniker 

I use Fun-kin brand foam pumpkins. They are a bit more costly, but they have a thicker wall and are molded from real pumpkins. This extra step makes them much more appealing than other brands. Other options, and more inexpensive options, are to go to Michael's Crafts or Jo Anns fabrics or any other craft store and look in their seasonal department. Now will be the time to do so since it will most likely be on sale, but they might also all be off the shelves at this point.

I buy 3 a year, carve and save. That way, 20 years from now...I will have a whole yard full of Jacks 

Happy Haunting


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## Tim Correia (Aug 7, 2014)

Great, thanks, I really appreciate the help.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Awesome job! Your methods seem similar to mine - start with a plan, then make it up as you go! lol Your flag pole mounting has given me an idea for mounting my pumpkin king - small deadbolt latches turned sideways. I may be abke to mount the bolt to the spine and the bracket to the pole. Thanks for the inspiration!


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## budeena (Jul 4, 2011)

You mentioned the flag holders. I wonder if you made them so they could be affixed to the entrance of a haunt using flag holders. If you only made the torso up and draped the lower portion. With the light from their heads, this would really make your entrance pop!


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

budeena said:


> You mentioned the flag holders. I wonder if you made them so they could be affixed to the entrance of a haunt using flag holders. If you only made the torso up and draped the lower portion. With the light from their heads, this would really make your entrance pop!




This is definitely an option. And one I thought of. But I got protective and wanted it further away from sticky little fingers


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## Zombiegrl (Sep 8, 2014)

Looks fabulously frightful....such a great job


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## luizacarmo (Nov 22, 2014)

great job !


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## JohnnyBlaze (Oct 3, 2014)

First post! Been lurking for some time now. Going to try my hand at making one of these. Here is a couple of pictures of what I have started. Will post more as I move along on the project. Head is lit up with a remote control 16 color led light I got off Amazon.


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## frostytots (Jul 3, 2014)

Looking great! We're thinking of doing a few similarly. Love them!


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

I've expanded upon the tutorial and posted it on Instructables.com

Please go and vote for my tutorial in the halloween decor contest! 

Thank you all so much!

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Pumpkin-Sentinel/


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## Hammersfall (Sep 21, 2015)

Awesome work


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## Daveferatu (Oct 2, 2015)

Hi,
just thought I'd post my Scarecrow based on your sentinel. After seeing it a month or so back I just had to try one!
Hope you like it!
Thank you again fortinbras79 for the inspiration and guide.


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## fortinbras79 (Oct 24, 2011)

This looks AMAZING! I am so glad I could help you do this  Nicely done


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## Daveferatu (Oct 2, 2015)

Cheers fortinbras79 and thank you again!
The only problem I had was the head, we can't get the funkins in the UK unless we pay a load on import postage etc, but my girlfriend found a foam one on Amazon.co.uk which I ordered (found it was coming from China!) and luckily it arrived a few days before Halloween, trouble was it's polystyrene not foam and so took an AGE to carve out and not spoil it. Anyway I managed to do it and carve out a lower hollow through to the face carvings and after spraying the carvings black (another of your tips - I masked it all before drawing and carving so it was OK to spray then remove the masking tape!) and inserted red led lights all was done and loads of people commented on it which was great!
So thank you again!!


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## TheBatHound (Nov 3, 2015)

THIS is an awesome post! Man I know I've found my 'home' away from home! Thank you for taking the time to give us your step-by-step tutorial on replicating the wonderful look of the Pumpkinrot displays!


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## Dyne (Sep 25, 2013)

This is my partially complete (no arms yet) Sentinel. He has an orange LED bulb from Walmart in his head and a green one in the torso.


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## Plainfield scarecrow (Nov 13, 2015)

*My version*

My version of pumpkinrot's scarecrow


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## Zombiegrl (Sep 8, 2014)

Plainfield scarecrow said:


> My version of pumpkinrot's scarecrow


love their faces!! love also the way you did the stalk...


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## Josh Voorheez (Aug 17, 2015)

This was the instructables I used to make my trio!! Loved it and was super easy to follow, thank you for it! The 2 on the end's were holding lanterns, and the black headed pumpkin was my favorite.


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## ryanlamprecht (Oct 8, 2009)

Where are you getting these short wide fake pumpkins? I've looked everywhere and can only find the round ones and the tall narrow ones.


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## hickoryislander (Oct 27, 2015)

fortinbras79 said:


> HAha...was that not enough? Ok Ryan here are some more.
> 
> Here you can see the support structure...this image was captured with a flash so you can see "how the sausage was made." I am going to be hiding the support with corn stalks.
> View attachment 227380
> ...


I love how you did the lighting, but What exactly are clip lights? If anyone has a amazon link to them that'd be great too! Maybe I just don't recognize that name...


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

Thanks for this. It looks fantastic! I particularly like your method for creating a realistic rib cage - great idea!


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## Robin Graves (Aug 12, 2011)

That look awesome.


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## Amadaeo (Oct 22, 2012)

Doing your instructable, and decided to do a few small changes. To prevent the irrigation hose from popping off if I overtighten, I just added small washers to assist. Also, the indoor/outdoor carpet glue stays pretty tacky for a long time, so I am using a light dusting of talc / makeup powder to prevent that. 

Now, I goofed and didnt get the paper shop towels..I had gotten the really thin linnen shop towels..so I applied them for the body...I'm using 1 ply paper towels to add / cover the seams...and when the towels get semi dry....I tear / rub/ roll to make them look like torn flesh. This is my first crack at it..so experimenting as I go. Also added supports on all sides since I decided to play it safe...I'll drape the lower half in either creepy cloth or such to mask the pole and give it a little more body....






View attachment 335057







Since i'm in the navy, I have to hustle..I'll be gone for most of Oct, home just before halloween...so gotta get this done...


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## Amadaeo (Oct 22, 2012)

One last angle....


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## CrazyMom (Oct 12, 2016)

Thank you for this post! 

Awesome. I'm about half way done after one day!


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## chachabella (Jul 3, 2013)

So who paints the inside of the head black and who paints the inside yellow to help reflect the light?


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## Dglass4321 (Sep 26, 2018)

I hope someone can offer some advise; I am building the torsos for five of these but am unsure of how the shop towels are attached. Do you wet the towel with the adhesive and then apply it to the ribs or do you place the towels on the ribs and then brush on the adhesive? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

Dglass4321 said:


> I hope someone can offer some advise; I am building the torsos for five of these but am unsure of how the shop towels are attached. Do you wet the towel with the adhesive and then apply it to the ribs or do you place the towels on the ribs and then brush on the adhesive? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.


Both approaches will actually work. It depends on what look you want in the end. By wetting them down first, it will give you a rather fluid, wet look that allows you to rub them into the other layers with a great deal of smoothness. But if you want it to look a bit more rough around the edges, use a paint brush to paint on the glue mix and then rub the towel into that paint. When it dries, there tends to be more texture to the finished product. But either way, you'll probably be happy with the end result. Just remember you can always add more liquid if things aren't sticking the way you want. Paper mache is very forgiving.


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## VenomStorm (Aug 11, 2016)

Travis Raney, the washer idea is simple yet brilliant. I had two pop on my groundbreaker skeleton who I make with this exact method. Has anyone tried house paint instead of carpet adhesive? I have used the Mr. Chicken method for corpsing for my goundbreakers and it works brilliantly. Just get latex exterior house paint in a dark color you like. Then dip your shop towels as presented in this tutorial. This gives you a nice dark base to work with and you can go right into detail painting and drybrushing. Once the paint dries you have a very solid prop. I’m planning on making sentinels in a year or two, and will probably use house paint instead of the adhesive as my base.


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