STYROFOAM brand foam crafts

Shadow Box Jack-O-Lantern

Though this primitive folk art Jack appears to have lost his head his quirky toothsome grin says he's enjoying himself to the hilt this Halloween.
   Completion Time - 
2-4 hours
   Designer - 
Denise White

Materials

STYROFOAM Brand Foam
  • Ball, 5" or 6"
Other Materials
  • Acrylic paints: white; dark orange; black
  • Acrylic antiquing medium
  • Wooden shadowbox large enough to fit foam half-ball
  • Decorative paper
  • Heavyweight cardboard
  • Lightweight, air-dry paper clay, 3.17 oz. package

Tools

  • Serrated knife
  • Candle stub or paraffin
  • Fine-line black permanent marker
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Paintbrushes: medium flat; shader; liner
  • Disposable palette
  • Water basin
  • Paper towels
  • Smooth rolling pin
  • Scissors
  • Fine-grit sandpaper
  • Hammer and tiny nails
  • Sawtooth picture hangers, two
  • Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks
  • Thick, white craft glue

Instructions

  • 1. Wax serrated knife with candle stub or paraffin. Cut foamball in half.
  • 2. Condition paper clay in hands until smooth and pliable.Roll out thin using rolling pin. Cover one foam half-ball withclay and trim excess; let dry. If cracks are visible once claydries, fill with more clay and let dry again. Sand lightly,leaving some rough areas for character.
  • 3. Use flat brush to paint pumpkin orange; let dry. Applysecond coat; let dry. Hand-draw or transfer face pattern ontopumpkin. Use shader brush to paint eyes white. Paint pupils,nose and inside of mouth black. Let dry. Paint teeth white; let dry.
  • 4. Sand pumpkin lightly, including face, to impart aged look.Apply antiquing medium over entire pumpkin and immediatelywipe away excess with paper towel.
  • 5. Paint faint shadow around facial features. To do this, dipshader brush in water and blot on paper towel so it is stillwet but not dripping. Dip one corner of brush into black paintand then work it into brush. When you paint, you should get ashadow that blends out to almost nothing. Practice on scrappaper until pleased with technique before applying to jack-o-lantern.
  • 6. Paint shadow box white, inside and out; let dry. Applysecond coat; let dry. Sand and antique in same way as pumpkin.Use marker to write sentiment around front edge as shown.
  • 7. Cut cardboard to fit back opening of shadow box. Gluedecorative paper to cardboard; trim excess. Glue pumpkin to center ofpaper. Use tiny nails to attach cardboard to back of shadow box.
  • 8. Nail sawtooth hangers to top back edge of shadow box, oneon each side.If you enjoyed this project, look here for more inspiring ideas:Friendly JackPrimitive Pumpkin WizardPrimitive Pumpkin Kitty