Make wooden Jack-o -lanterns you can reuse for many happy Halloweens HEAD TOPICS

Make wooden Jack-o -lanterns you can reuse for many happy Halloweens

10/21/2022 9:09:00 PM

These DIY jack-o' -lantern boxes are creepy versatile and simple

Source

Popular Science

These DIY jack-o'-lantern boxes are creepy, versatile, and simple. For some spooks that last all season, make these wooden jack-o'-lanterns and save yourself from the mess of rotting fruit. All I did to trim my boards was3 (5-inch by 12-inch) for the front and two sides1 (6-inch by 5-inch for the top-top]3. Glue the pieces together to form a box.Continue by installing the back of the box in the same way. This board is shorter than the others to create an opening where you can slip the tea light into the box when it’s fully assembled, so you’ll need to position this board at the top of the box, not the bottom. If you haven’t carved your design yet, the top and bottom probably don’t matter at this point in the process. If you have, make sure the bottom of your design aligns with the tea light opening. Read more:
Popular Science » 'I would have kept this a secret': McDonald's Halloween buckets a hit with San Antonians The Most Popular Horror Movies (And Where to Stream Them) McDonald’s nostalgia sells at marked up prices on eBay 34 Halloween Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Hacking - CNN

CNN News, delivered. Select from our newsletters below and enter your email to subscribe. Read more >> 'I would have kept this a secret': McDonald's Halloween buckets a hit with San Antonians'I would have kept this a secret': McDonald's Halloween buckets are a hit with San Antonians The Most Popular Horror Movies (And Where to Stream Them)Where to find 20 of the most popular horror films on streaming: McDonald’s nostalgia sells at marked up prices on eBayMcDonald’s adult Happy Meals are sold out at most restaurants nationwide but those craving nostalgia can fork over big bucks for the toys and the new Halloween buckets on eBay. 34 Halloween Crafts for Toddlers and PreschoolersLooking for Halloween crafts to get kids in the Halloween spirit? Get inspired with these easy Halloween crafts for toddlers and preschoolers. Kim Kardashian’s Kids Teasingly Call Her Out Over Rat Cupcakes - E! OnlineKim Kardashian was called out by kids on her Instagram Stories after she claimed to have made their Halloween cupcakes. See her hilarious reaction. It didn't work. I'm not clicking. I want you to know that. I'm sorry. I think you meant for this to be an article about how Jamie Spears admits Britney Spears conservatorship was not about her mental health but gaining control of her assets. Speaking of which, where is Britney's money? JusticeforBritney No one cares 1.news release .Shudder  (which, as an all-horror streaming service, is particularly valuable at this time of year), and even ad-supported hubs like Tubi or Pluto TV.were on sale on eBay Wednesday with a set of three sealed toys listed at an unfathomable $300,000. Cut your boards to size. Normally, woodworking projects start with fully milling the wood , but sometimes, precision milling isn’t necessary.S. In this case, as long as the boards are reasonably flat, you can use them for this project, making this the perfect opportunity to reuse some of those scraps you may have lying around your working area. But for most classic horror favorites, they are usually licensed by a separate distributor. All I did to trim my boards was joint the long edges down to size on my table saw . 18 through 31, while supplies last. Then I squared up and trimmed the ends to length using my crosscut sled. Be smart: Look closely at eBay and other marketplace listings and check shipping costs before placing a bid or purchasing. This process was more than adequate for creating a nice, tight box. "I know a lot of y'all are looking for the McWitch - green bucket," West wrote in the post. If you’re reading it after that, it could be out of date. You’ll be able to hide any gaps later with a coat of paint. These are the size boards I cut, but you can adjust these measurements to match your design and whatever wood you have on hand." West also noted that the location started serving the McRib on Wednesday. 3 (5-inch by 12-inch) for the front and two sides 1 (5-inch by 9-inch) for the back 1 (7-inch by 6-inch) for the base 1 (8-inch by 7-inch) for the top-base 1 (6-inch by 5-inch for the top-top Pro tip: If you’re buying your wood, take your time at the store to sort through the lumber and find the flattest boards. Instead of just looking at it straight on, look down the full length of the board on all four sides, but particularly along each long edge. "Poor workers. Flashback: Past collabs have also been popular and when McDonald's launched the Travis Scott Meal in September 2020 it led to nationwide ingredient shortages. This is the best way to see the waves and warps. Spending 10 minutes searching for the best boards can save you a lot of headaches later on. The Facebook post follows. [Related: ] 2. (Optional) Carve the face. If you’re working with a scroll saw, you should draw, carve, and finish the face of your jack-o’-lantern on the front panel before you proceed. You can find more directions on how to do so in steps 6 and 7. If you’ll be using a jigsaw for this, you can skip this and continue to step 3. 3. Glue the pieces together to form a box. Assemble the four sides of the box by smearing wood glue on one long edge of the front board, and pressing one of the two side boards against it. Make sure the edge is flush with the face. Drive brad nails through the sideboard into the edge of the front board to hold the two together while the glue dries. Then repeat the process with the other side. These three simple boxes will turn into spooky jack-o’-lanterns. If you don’t have a brad nailer, you can use clamps for this step. The nailer is just faster, particularly if you’re making more than one box at a time. Continue by installing the back of the box in the same way. This board is shorter than the others to create an opening where you can slip the tea light into the box when it’s fully assembled, so you’ll need to position this board at the top of the box, not the bottom. If you haven’t carved your design yet, the top and bottom probably don’t matter at this point in the process. If you have, make sure the bottom of your design aligns with the tea light opening. 4. Assemble the tops. The top is very basic. Glue the 6- by 5-inch board flat on top of the 8- by 7-inch board, roughly centered. This creates a square top hat effect. Clamp or brad nail the two boards together while the glue dries. Continue by drilling a small pilot hole in the center of the assembled piece. This is where you will screw the stem of the hat or the eye bolt to hang it. 5. Sand, sand, and then sand some more. Once the glue has dried, it’s time to sand. I use 120-grit sandpaper on my orbital sander. The priority is to flush the edges with the faces to hide some of the seams. This also helps make cutting the face with a jigsaw easier, as the saw won’t get hung up on the lips. I didn’t try to remove any pits, scratches, or imperfections in the wood, for two reasons. First, you’ll be painting your box bright orange which will hide a lot of those imperfections. Second, I’m aiming for a weathered look, which means holes, marks, and scratches fit the aesthetic beautifully. If you’re aiming for a more polished, pristine look, then by all means—keep sanding. 6. Carve the face. I used a jigsaw to carve out the face, and the box shape created a stable platform for me to cut on that was deep enough for the saw blade to move up and down in. If I’d done it before assembling the box, I would have had to find (or build) a place to cut while clamping the board down to my bench, which seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort. The holes make it easier to carve the faces into the jack-o’-lantern. The process with a jigsaw is pretty easy and took about 10 minutes. First, draw your design on the front of the box. Make sure that the face is oriented so the opening in the back panel is at the bottom. Next, drill a series of holes in the design large enough for the saw blade to fit into. A 3/8-inch drill bit worked for my blades. The placement of these holes can make the difference between an easy path for your saw and a hard one. Put one hole in each corner of the design elements (eyes, nose, mouth, at the tips of teeth), so that you can cut from hole to hole along the line, and then back the other way as needed. This will allow you to make longer, smoother cuts, and reduces or eliminates the need to cut yourself space to turn around in, which leaves ugly, jagged edges behind. 7. File and sand the inside of the cutouts. No matter how careful you are, jigsaws almost always leave behind some jagged edges. Sand these down as smooth as you want to match the aesthetic you’re going for. Because many of the face features are relatively small or oddly shaped holes, I found sandpaper hard to use. Instead, I used a variety of files to get into all of the nooks and crannies. A round-back file was particularly useful. When I’d gotten most of the features smooth with the files, I went back over it one more time with a piece of 120-grit sandpaper wrapped around a small scrap of wood. This couldn’t get everywhere but did a decent job. I also used this to round over the sharp edges of the holes. 8. Paint it like a pumpkin. You can paint your jack-o’-lanterns using whatever colors, techniques, or patterns you like. But If you want to replicate the weathered, rustic look of the pumpkins in the photos, you’ll have to go through a two-step process. The black base will give the jack-o’-lantern a weathered look. Start by painting everything black—top, box, and base. I used regular black spray paint for this, but use whatever you have on hand or that you’re comfortable with. Then, paint over that black foundation with several light coats of glossy orange. I wanted the top and base to remain black, so I applied the new coats of paint to the box only. By doing light coats, the black underlayer shows through. I kept adding new coats until the vast majority of the box was orange, but there were still some specks of black, as though the paint had started to fade and discolor over time. It took about three coats of orange to achieve the look that I was going for. 9. Pumpkins, assemble! Now it’s time to put everything together. The first step is to screw the stems to the top. My lanterns are designed to sit on stairs, so I used a 2-inch long piece of branch that my kids chose from a tree in my backyard as the stem. If you’re planning to hang the lantern, you can also use a dowel, or install an eye bolt. [Related: Five science tricks to scare up a better Halloween costume ] Then it’s just a matter of using wood glue to attach the top and bottom to the box. However, this was slightly tricky to clamp, so I used gravity and cyanoacrylates (CA) glue instead—a strong, fast-acting glue that bonds well to a wide variety of surfaces. A few dabs of CA glue at each corner kept the top from sliding. To add some clamping pressure, I just placed some heavy objects on the tops of the lanterns—screw boxes, my drill, a container of wall repair spackle, and some other random items. A few hours later, the combination made for a perfectly adequate glue-up. 10. Light it up. The last step is to slip a flickering tea light inside the box through the opening in the back, flip it on, and then turn the lights off. The result should be a spooky, glowing Halloween decoration you can use inside or out. Happy Halloween! Jean Levasseur Jean Levasseur is a DIY contributor at Popular Science. He’s an avid woodworker and a stay-at-home parent of twin boys. When he’s not chasing the twins around the house or trying to fix or build something, Jean is a fiction writer, musician, and avid gamer. .