Don’t you hate it when you have a bad rain or snowstorm in the winter and your power goes out? It’s not fun to suddenly have no heat, no lights, and no way to cook food. Still, when it happens you try to make the best of it, right? Put on extra clothing and snuggle up with some blankets. Cook things, just outside the door, using the barbeque grill. And, of course, you’ll have to have lights. You probably have flashlights, or candles, and those are great. But what about something a bit more festive? I’ve got an idea. If it’s the fall of the year, and whether your electricity is off or it isn’t, why not make some pumpkin hurricane lamps? It doesn’t take much effort and you can sit back and watch the glow of the light from atop a pumpkin.
Wash and dry the pumpkin before starting the hurricane lamp project. There are many ways to make a lamp by using an ordinary pumpkin. It’s up to you if you want to first decorate the pumpkin. You can spray paint it, cover it with fabric or decorative paper, or just use the pumpkin as it is. You also have the choice of making the pumpkin to have a jack-o-lantern face or other chosen features.
No matter what design you want for your pumpkin it’s important that you cut the stem of it off, way down. Use a sharp knife to cut away at the stem until it’s very short and flat. If the stalk isn’t trimmed far enough down, and isn’t flat enough, the candle you’ll be using won’t sit properly on top of the pumpkin.
Set the candle on the stem area of the pumpkin. If needed, and if you have them, use pieces of wooden skewers to hold the candle in an upright position, but place the skewers very low into the candle. Insert the sticks at an angle where they go in the pumpkin then into the bottom of the candle.
Settle a hurricane lamp glass – the shade – on the pumpkin, over the candle. That’s it! If you do no decorating to the pumpkin whatsoever, and the stem is already cut low, you can make a pumpkin hurricane lamp in less than a minute.
The pumpkin lanterns look pretty for a Halloween party, a Thanksgiving dinner, or even a fall wedding. They’re attractive, and really easy to make, yet unusual and eye-catching.
Pumpkin Hurricane Lamp