Breaking Bad Pumpkins

For this year's Halloween I'd decided to do a set of pumpkins with images from AMC's Breaking Bad

So here's a set by set of how you set about carving Heisenberg and the Let's Cook pumpkins

Sorry for the jumble of pictures, I got arrived away and forgot to take as many as I could

As of the 27th October this Instructable has been featured. A huge thanks to all who have made this possible!

Obviously you'll need a pumpkin (or three)
Also gather a spoon to hollow the pumpkin
A set of very sharp knives
Dress makers pins
Greyscale template
Music, tea and patience


If you want to save the seeds for next year, you'll also need a sieve to wash the seeds

Just cut a circle out of the top or the pumpkin to get access to the inside, and start scooping out the guts

Save the seeds of you want to grow your own

Start with a picture of the subject, I used a fan-art by Norbface of Walt.

Start by opening the image in an editing software. I use Paint.Net
Find the setting to convert the picture to Black and White.
Then find the setting for "Posterize" or similar. This separates the image into different shades of grey according to the depth that you should carve to alter the light intensity.


Feel free to use my greyscale if you want

Just print onto plain A4 paper

I forgot from last year how I attached the template so I decided to wet the paper and stick it to the pumpkin.

DO NOT DO THIS

The paper looses all structural integrity when wet and even sharp knives end of ripping it in the wrong ways

Get the template and start anchoring it at certain point with dress makers pins.

This will keep the paper dry until you start cutting

Start cutting along the lines that separate the different areas, and try not to let the pumpkin juices seep through the template

This will destroy the template, so either have a device with the picture or a second print out handy for reference

Start carving out the parts that are meant to be carved out

On the template, white areas are almost completely removed, light grey areas carved until very thin, darker grey is thicker yet and the black areas are untouched, leave them at the thickness of the pumpkin and leave the skin on

I managed to take a few photos of the Let's Cook pumpkin with the rough hacks then smoothing out the design

If you've started, you might as well finish it!
I started at some point around half past 8

The first picture was taken around 10 I believe
By no means is this a quick process

And after many song filled hours, around 12:40am the second picture was taken

The final picture, the cover picture, was taken at around 2am