The Slacker's Guide to Pumpkin Portraits

Happy Almost Halloween!  In a complete deviation of the purpose of this blog, I wanted to document the steps I took to create my Bernie Sanders jack-o-lantern, minimal as the likeness might be.  I call this the "slacker's guide" because this is pretty much the bare minimum you can do if you're ambitious with your pumpkin plans but not a gifted artist.  Here's the final product, along with our beloved presidential hopeful it's supposed to resemble:

Twins, right?  I originally had the idea to do Donald Trump, but that was way too scary.  If I had to spend several hours looking at a mug, I much prefer Bernie's.  I did some research into how to carve detailed faces on pumpkins, and it required skills at Photoshop or the equivalent, so I fiddled around with doing it without these.

STEP 1: Choose a photo.  One where the subject is front on, not looking to the side at all (unless just his/her eyeballs are, like Bernie here).

STEP 2: Prep it.  Your goal is to make a stencil where the dark areas are black, the light areas are white, and everything else is gray, with high contrast.  Upping the contrast to make the darks black enough adds shadows to other features, like the eyes, at which point you use Photoshop to fix that.  But I don't have the software or skills, so I decided to render it semi-stenciled and do the rest manually.  I did use iPhoto and Sumo Paint online for basic edits.

I got a photo off the internet...

Cropped it...

Made it black and white...

and upped the contrast to the maximum...

But this wasn't contrast-y enough.  So I saved this image to my desktop, imported it to iPhoto again to get a fresh start, then increased the contrast a second time.

I still wasn't satisfied with the contrast, so I re-imported it again.  Upped the contrast more, and this time I upped the exposure too to make the whites whiter.  

STEP 3: Remove excess black background.  This is only if you care about saving printer ink.  If you have MS Paint, you're good to go.  I do not, sadly, so I used an online photo editor called Sumo that did the trick.  Go to Sumo Paint, and click "Try Online."  Go to File, Open from My Computer, and get your image up.

Oops!  Bernie grew a mole on his noggin.

Go to the Eraser tool, then choose your ideal shape.  I went with Diamond.  On the right, make sure to change the color to white (unless you really need to use up cyan printer ink or something).  I also recommend increasing the diameter of your erasing tool.

Erase away the background so you can print just your subject's face!  Make sure to leave a border so you can tell where noggin ends and abyss begins.

When you're done click File, Save to Cloud, and after a bazillion seconds it'll show it huge on the next page.  I simply right clicked on the image and chose "Save Image."

Step 3: Print it!  I opened the picture with a Google Doc, shrunk it a little bit to fit my pumpkin, and printed from there.

Step 4: Blacken the blacks.  The idea is that you have extreme areas of black (uncarved pumpkin) and white (carved away pumpkin), and anything in the middle you will partially carve away but leave some pumpkin flesh intact.  It is important that you cannot have "islands" of black, since the face needs to support itself, so find a way to have all black parts connected.  I used a Sharpie to enhance my black areas.

Looking more and more like FDR!

Optional: cover the print-out with a blank sheet of paper against a window and trace the black.  If it's recognizable, you're good to go.

Then you're ready to carve!  Cut out your face and tape it to your hollowed out pumpkin.

Use a pin to make a dotted outline of expanses of white, through the paper, into the pumpkin.

Peel the stencil back, and cut out those areas.  I used an X-acto knife for the detail work.

Keep doing this down the face.  I cut each area smaller than it needed to be, since more can always be carved.

After I got most of the white cut, I just eyeballed the rest, comparing it to the print-out I had.  I found it helped to remove just the outer skin on areas I wanted to be non-black, then you can alter the depth of the cuts based on how light that part should be.

I decided it was "finished," but it didn't look right.  So I reduced some of the black spots and added more hair.  It was supposed to have a curved line on the left side of his forehead to separate hair from head, but it fell off.  Oops!

I recommend going into a dark bathroom and checking how it looks often.  Here's the finished product by day...

And by night...

Happy carving!

How to Fur-Line Boots

I know I know, I have been writing far too many posts that deviate from this blog's purpose, and it's time for me to start a proper crafting blog.  But until then, here's to versatility!

I just finished this weekend's snowed-in crafting/sewing project, and, feeling quite pleased with myself, I wanted to share my process.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....home-fur-lined boots!

Wow!  Ooooh!  Aaaahhh!

Materials:

1. Pair of boots with extra room in the leg

2. Fake fur.  I bought one foot of 60-inch fur. 12" was good to cover the height, but I had extra lengthwise, inevitably

3. Velcro

4. Glue, maybe

5. Pencil, ruler, sewing machine

A little super-fascinating background...

I bought these Merrell boots several years ago, and they served me well.  However, they were on the way out the door to retirement because one of the zippers was totally broken and the heels were worn down.  I decided to treat myself to new boots this year, and I wanted fur-lined ones because they're super cozy.

The "fur" I bought, made from real polyester sheep.

But, to my dismay, perfect boots were nowhere to be found.  After exhausting local shoe stores and the internet, it looked hopeless that I would find boots in my size that served my needs before winter was over.  So I pulled these boots out of retirement and brought them to Paul's Shoe Repair in Amherst for a new zipper.  "Paul" told me he could redo the heels as well, and it was in the shop that very day that I had the idea to take on the project of making a fur lining myself.  

Brand new zipper

New heel

One complaint I had with these boots is that the calf openings are very wide.  I have big feet (these are 11s, I think!) but that doesn't mean I have enormous calves, Merrell!  A bonus of this project was that the fur filled that extra space, giving them a slimmer fit.  For this reason, if the boots you're lining already fit your leg well, they might be too tight if you add fur.

Well-worn boot

Although furry boots are perfect for winter, they can be too much for fall and spring.  For this reason, I wanted my fur lining to be removable, and I opted to have it Velcro into place.  This means when the fur's not in I'll have permanent Velcro inside my boots, but oh well. 

I didn't have too much confidence that this project would be successful, since I was completely winging it, but I am pleased with the results!

Step 1: Attach Boot Velcro 
 I used self-adhesive velcro for the inside of the boot because I obviously couldn't sew it in.  My experience with self-adhesive velcro has been bad, since it falls off, but I was feeling lazy.  I did already lose one of the bottom pieces because I wore the boots mid-project and the action of putting my foot in the boot dislodged it, so I re-attached that one with Aleene's Fabric Glue.  If the others fall off, I'll just glue them in as well.  I did velcro along the very top of the boot, up to the zippers, and at the bottom of the leg part above where the material changes.

Use the soft side, please, or you will regret it when the fur's not in!  Ow!

On the bottom...

...and on top

Step 2: Geometry

I had planned to just cut a rectangle of fur and trim it to match the layout of the boot, but as I began measuring the inside I realized the boot is made of three triangles, as you can see above, so therefore the lining should be too.  I dusted off my old 10th grade geometry skillz and measured these triangles.

Outstanding precision and handwriting on my part

Step 3: Cut out pieces
I used geometry tools of yore (ruler, square....pencil) to measure out my three triangles, leaving seam allowances of 1/2" on the sides and 3/4" on top.  I decided not to hem the bottom, because it would be bulky inside the boot and unnecessary. 

Look at that spread!

  

Step 4: Sew!

Connect the side pieces to the center piece...

I used a regular stitch...

Followed by a zig-zag stitch...

 

Then trimmed those seams to 1/4" and flattened them using more zig-zag.

Then hemmed the sides...

 

And top...    

Step 5: Add Fur-side Velcro

I sewed one long piece of rough-side Velcro across the top, the bottom of it lining up with the bottom of the hem.  I didn't go all the way up because I wanted some fur to stick up and be visible above the boot.

I used three separate pieces for the bottom because of the angles.  #geometry

 

 Regular stitch plus zig-zag, for strength...

Ta-da!  All done!  I forgot to take a picture of the other side, and now they're all snug in the boots.

Step 6: Fluff

Because fur gets stuck under the stitches, it looks a little nicer if you just pull some of it out with your fingers.

Step 7: Insert into boots

You know what to do; Velcro to Velcro (dust to dust).

Conclusion:

I am generally pleased with how they came out.  Even with the large initial calf openings, the addition of fur has made the boots snug, so I can't wear them with multiple layers of leggings.

You might notice that since the fur is attached at the top and bottom but not sides it just sort of hangs there, and I'm going to try leaving it like that.  Once they're zipped up the fur's not going anywhere.  In fact, the Velcro isn't necessary at all, but it's nice to keep boots together as a unit when I take them off at the movies, for example.

The linings also don't look fabulous, but they're invisible inside!  I'm excited to start wearing these boots again!