Happy Halloween!

Earlier this year I spent a good deal of time creating centerpieces for the National Oz Convention, in the form of candy containers based on the corn mansion of the Scarecrow. While I was working on  them, I kept thinking that Jack Pumpkinhead's house would also work well in the same style. In fact, I considered making both for the convention but decided, in the interest of sanity, to stick to one design that I had already figured out and knew how to do!

Anyway, once that was over, I began to think about Jack again, and this is the result. I've based the piece on John R. Neill's wonderful illustration showing Jack's house in the 1909 book, The Road to Oz. Once again, this is a candy container - the pumpkin lifts off to reveal a central core for hiding sweets.

 Here you can see the door open, with Jack at home ready for visitors. The process started with an artificial foam pumpkin, which I carved and embellished before making a mold and casting in paper mache. There are still a few details I want to adjust, but the general scheme is finished. There are a number of similarities to the Scarecrow's house, but as Jack designed both, that shouldn't be too surprising!