Felix the Cat Pumpkin

Thought that I would share how I carve my Halloween pumpkins. From start to finish this took a little over 2 hours.

Pictures are taken with either my Sony Cyber-Shot 7.2mp or iPhone. I kept switching for some reason :)

Here are the tools I use: chisels, flat-tip screwdrivers, sharpie, and my awesome X-acto knife kit.

Draw your image. I use coloring book pages and found this one by Googling "felix the cat socialist." Just kidding, that's only half true. Felix is an older fella, he's cute and I figured he may offer some nostalgia...

The black marks represent portions that will stay. That includes the lines of the eyes. The body will remain in tact, I just didn't bother to finish coloring it in black since it is cleaner to color it in at the end. I use my sharpie, although I'm sure paint would work so long as you are careful. Sharpie will only stick to the pumpkin skin.

I cut the top off of the pumpkin at an angle (see the knife) so when I replace the top it will not fall through, even if the pumpkin shrinks a little bit. Also, I keep the hole bigger towards the back of the pumpkin so that I have more room for my image at the front.

Now, clean your pumpkin.

Now cut around the areas you want removed with the x-acto.

You can see where I've already cut and removed some of the tongue. Here I am cutting around the eye area.

Now use either a chisel or screwdriver to peel off the skin. I am using a screwdriver since this was the smallest tool I had, the chisels were 1/4" or 1/8" which were too large for this area.

I needed to add a border around Felix so his body would really pop out. After continuing on, I realize one foot is bigger than the other. Re-cut it with the smaller x-acto and am peeling it off with another x-acto here:

Better :)

Almost finished. It needs to be cleaned - dirt, leftover skin removed, and evened out - then sealed. I normally use Vaseline, but WD-40 works. You need to do this because the skin will dry out and shrivel, distorting especially the fine lines.

And now it is finished :), kind of. You need to put a candle in it to see how much needs to be shaven off. The walls are probably too thick for the light to shine through. In the beginning you can just scrape the inside of the pumpkin where the image is. Then you can start putting a candle in and shave in the areas you need to (remove the candle first :P).

I'll take a picture of it lit up tomorrow night for Halloween.

<3

Previous years' Disney pumpkins

Here are some pumpkins I've done in previous years. I was not in the mood to do a pumpkin like this this year, my wrists are a bit sore from gaming being the main reason. These pumpkins took anywhere from 5-6 hours to draw and cut.

(Sorry, these pictures are from my Myspace account. I would have to dig them from deep within my files to find full res pictures. Anyways, you get the idea).

Bambi

Eric Cartman (South Park)

Lady and the Tramp

Simba and Nala

These pictures were taken with a huge LED flashlight inside. The pumpkins look fine in person with just a candle or two, but for picture purposes I had to use something more powerful. I had a Lilo and Stitch pumpkin but forgot where the pictures are. Anyways, these pumpkins were all made using the same method. This is just the way I do them, hope you have enjoyed.

Thanks for looking :)

Reflections @ Balboa Park

GB and I decided to drive down to San Diego and visit Balboa Park. I love this place and don't get to go as often as I like now that I live up north and am too lazy to do anything but kill zombies and watch movies on tv. I have probably gone here five times during the day and dozens at night, again due to my PMLE. Although there is much more to see during the day, night has its own charm and creepiness that I love.

We took approximately 600 pictures with my Sony Cyber-shot. I'll probably post them in several blogs. This one is titled reflections because I will focus on the photos of the buildings and scenery as they reflected off of the water, namely the fountain and the reflecting pool.

I do not have much experience taking pictures at night. As many as 1 in every 3 shots was blurry. Some turned out pretty cool though, I'll try to find the manual at my mom's house and learn a bit. Here are some of my favorite shots :)

Reflecting pool, facing outwards from the botanical gardens

The length of the reflecting pool, forgot what building this was :P

Eucalyptus @ the fountain. I wish it was turned on :( damn budget cuts.

Ruben H. Fleet Center, reflecting off fountain :)

Fountain again, San Diego Natural History Museum. Apparently this is a favorite place for people to get married. If you're a dinosaur?

And finally, a shot from the fountain, facing the main roadway... and a little bit of romance <3

Well that's the end of that. We're heading to Coronado in a bit so I'll try to use my new-found night photography skills to use. Except I forgot everything I learned so... ya.

:)

Can you find the bobkitty? BK's very own blog

Two posts in one day, how can this be? Well we were on a bobkitty hunting adventure and here are some pics that he/she may be in.

Or should I say, he/she is DEFINITELY in the picture just maybe behind a rock or tree or something. So here they are, full res taken with my 7.2megapixels of power. Can you find him?

These were taken on our way back from Palomar Mountain. We decided to take the other route towards Lake Henshaw. Another. He took this and the previous one.

I took this next one, so I'm pretty sure BK isn't in it. I don't think I was even looking in the right direction.

Last one :)

Well we know he is in these pics :). I was really glad that he decided to venture onto the road, otherwise we never would have found this place. I've never seen a place like this, it was so peaceful and beautiful.

If you can find the bobkitty, let me know!

Update 10/24: Spoiler (highlight with your mouse, I've typed it in yellow/beige. Clever, I know).

The bobcat is in the first picture,  slightly left and up of center, just between the two middle trees, past that huge stump. He's very, very small, meaning we were very, very far away. Lol :) At least we got a picture of him...

:) 

Palomar Mountain Observatory

The trip today to LA Garment District was canceled due to rain. That's what we get for not googling the weather, but that's fine. :) I had a nice day relaxing in bed. Here are the rest of the pictures from Palomar Mountain and the Palomar Mountain Observatory.

Spacey :) Although I'm pretty sure there is a reason for this, architecturally.

I need to learn how to take pictures inside and through glass! Anyway, this is a shot of a model of the mirror which is what... well I don't know, it's on the website. Something like the telescope points... somewhere... and the light comes from... some place... and bounces off this mirror and... pow!

I'm great with music, psychology, sociology, and biology... but anything physical science related I am terrible with. Anyways, it was the company Pyrex which figured out a way to make this mirror. Apparently it's not easy to melt that much glass and get it to set properly. I believe I read that polishing the thing took a couple decades. Amazeballs!

Again, but with more of the telescope in the background.

Just missed it! Well maybe next time I'll know what I'm talking about :)

A bust of George Ellery Hale, astronomer, innovator, and founder of many observatories like this. What's Gerard Butler doing ruining my shot??

A nice view outside of the observatory, equipped with camera post:

It works! (taken with my iPhone)

Wider shot of the observatory.

There were signs all over telling people not to pick these plants (in both English and Japanese, no less). People must really like ferns. Regardless, they contributed to some nice scenery.

We found a very special wild Dachsund.

And apparently there was also a Miata meet :)

Notice the copper Corvette on the far right? lol

He would look extra big in one of those cute cars.

Not sure what is happening here:

On the way home, hillside. That pool is ridiculously huge.

And then there are a few more pictures from when we took a strange road and he screamed 'SHIT' because he saw a bobcat. We turned around and drove into some leaves and left all of our stuff in the truck and ran around for a while. I didn't catch him except for his legs as he hid into some trees. Bobkitty shall get his own blog, I'll post the pictures full size (this means I'm serious) and maybe someone can find him?

:( Well WE know he's in there. Somewhere.

<3 Hope to make it to garment district soon!

Trip to Palomar Mountain

I love Fall. My PMLE really limits what I can do during the day, so a day of cloudiness and cold makes me happy. The bf had been wanting to bring me to the Palomar Mountain Observatory, so here are some pictures of the trip. :)

These are taken with my Sony Cyber-shot 7.2mp camera and are as usual, clickable! (Although they may be huge, sorry :P).

Nice and cloudy :)

We liked the pink trees. Plumeria I believe??

Going up the mountain now :). Took a few of these pictures blind (stuck my hand out the window) and luckily some came out nice.

I like the contrast of the road, dead bushes, and greenery. That line is the antenna... had to think about that one for a minute.

Here we are at the top of the mountain, just outside the observatory. I believe this was Gus Park, or was it Gill? A nice picnic sort of area with huge granite and trees. LOTS of shade :)

Shot through the trees :). Didn't mean for the tree to be so dark but I like it looks against the sky. I need to learn how to use this camera. Or cameras in general.

Here are two different species of trees which grew into each other. Team work :)

And here is the observatory. Looks like something out of Atlantis to me :)

I guess I'll stop here for now. :) I'll post the pictures inside the observatory and a few I took afterward in a day or so. It's been a tiring day and tomorrow I'll be going to Los Angeles garment district to hopefully get some accessories! Leaving bright and early to be back in time for piano lessons in the afternoon. Hopefully I'll make it back in time.

<3

Inspiration

Been full of lots of ideas and projects this week. Mainly thinking about them, hope to start getting some of it done very soon. Kinda depends on the weather :)

Here is a flower arrangement from the past Del Mar Fair. I loved all of the elements together, I want to make one, just maybe a smaller version. I'll try to do it some justice.

Haven't checked it out full screen yet. Just as I thought, it got 1st place :)

And here is another one I liked. I believe the theme was 'banana split.' (I forgot what the other theme was)

I'll get started on these eventually, but right now I have to focus on my pumpkin!

:)