My 54mm cornfield....with pumpkins!

Recently I posted about how I made my 54mm cornstalks...which you can see here.

I was intending to make a twelve-inch square cornfield on four bases, but as I was coming down the homestretch I realized that I wouldn't have enough twist-ties to complete the last square.  I needed 24 stalks, I had 14.

In the 19th century is was a common practice to share the ground between corn and  pumpkins - one grows high and the other grows low.  So I embarked upon making a nice pumpkin vine to make up for the shortfall in cornstalks.

Out came the wire strippers and a six-inch length of speaker wire.

After much twisting...

the copper  vine was complete.

I've been working with Sculpey for years; it's a polyform plastic clay that you bake into permanence. It's really fun to work with.  I used Sculpey  to make the pumpkins, and with a toothpick I made the characteristic ridges of a pumpkin.

I plugged the unbaked pumpkins into the stalks that were waiting for them on the copper vine and put them in a 275-degree oven for 20 minutes.

With pumpkins firmly attached, I started painting the vine...

and the pumpkins.

Then I laid out lots of leaves to cut out and paint. Fortunately, I have a pumpkin vine growing from my brushpile right now, so I had a ready reference nearby.

 

I hot glued the leaves on to the vine and attached the vine and pumpkins to the base, also anchoring the pumpkins with hot glue.  At that point I painted the leaves.

The result is a very satisfying pumpkin vine ripening in the red soil and bright sun of a western Maryland cornfield.

Pumpkin pie anyone?  I'll save you  a slice.  Until then...

Soldier on!

Mannie