Red i Design & Display Halloween Pumpkin

Halloween Pumpkin

The brief

A shopping centre in Glasgow wanted to install a Halloween photo opportunity for their customers and as it was Halloween, the obvious choice was a giant pumpkin that members of the public could get inside and have a photo taken of them peering out of the cut-out eyes and nose.

Just back from taking delivery of the pumpkin, it arrived today at lunchtime, glad we booked it with 1 day in hand! Many thanks again, I’ll send a photo when it is in situ! Ian is really impressed with how it was packaged by the way!

Philippa Porritt – Owner – Red-I design & Display Ltd

Prop process images

  1. Giant halloween display pumpkin after it has been sculpted from polystyrene and covered in foil.
  2. Giant halloween display pumpkin with fibreglass cast coat.
  3. Giant halloween display pumpkin looking in from the back.
  4. Giant halloween display pumpkin on show at a shopping cente.

The Process

We began by sculpting the pumpkin in polystyrene. We had to make sure that the cut-out nose and mouth were positioned in such a way that adults and children alike could look out of them without the height differences affecting the look of the pumpkin face.

Once the shape was sculpted, we added tin foil prior to hard-coating with fibreglass. Once the pumpkin had its fibreglass hard-coat, it was ready to be sanded to a smooth finish. After the giant pumpkin was sanded it was ready to be primed and painted.

As it was hollow and also had to be a particularly narrow depth to allow it to fit through some tight spots before gaining access to its final position, we had to make sure it was balanced just right so that it wouldn’t topple and cause injury to the many members of public using it. To make sure that the pumpkin prop was balanced we had to add weight to its lower section and build an integral base that counter-balanced the weight.

Project Image

Giant pumpkin prop with family inside having picture taken.

The Result

The prop arrived a day early as requested by our client and looked great, and, most importantly, it fit through the tight spots and was balanced and safe to use by members of the public.