Making 200 Carvable Pumpkins from Spray Foam

Sorry in advance because I'm about to break your heart. There are easier and way cheaper ways. I know because I cast 100 foam skulls from Great Stuff. A surprisingly simple and CHEAP method of making the mold is to use tube silicone caulk - the clear stuff from any big box store. Make sure you have enough on hand. Cover your pumpkin with a light coat of petroleum jelly, squirt the tubes of silicone into a bucket half filled with water. With rubber, latex or nitrile gloves, gather the silicone into a ball and start spreading it on your pumpkin. It'll stay in place. You have a little time to work if you end up needing more tubes and you can make later repairs the same way to your mold if needed. Downside is the silicone mold wll need to cure for a while. Keep washing it until it quits smelling like vinegar. If you cast too soon it can warp the foam. Then - just a spritz of water is all you need for a mold release between it and the spray foam. Finally, it would be life changing, and much much cheaper, to invest in a Great Stuff spray gun and start using the big cans of foam. So easy to keep reusing and the solvent cans work great for cleaning. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

The pure joy you had when you pulled that first foam mold was priceless! Bravo! It's always a sad day when the mold starts to fail.

Great video! Your trial and error make the comments so much more valuable. If I didn't see the hard way I might be tempted to ignore the advice and do exactly what you did. Thanks for sharing.

That was a great “test”, yielding close to 200 pumpkins! I’m definitely going to try this. I have a few other ideas that I’m planning to try, incorporating this method. DIY Foam is definitely a cheaper option than the retail versions are sold. Thanks for the idea!

Love the diving into a project with no experience. Learning as you go is great.

Hey, day late and a dollar short, but my 2C: I would set up on a smooth sheet with a clay border around the pumpkin instead of the cardboard. Spray mold release on your pumpkin. Brush some silicone over your pumpkin, then Mix thyvex in your silicone to make it thicker, brush on the first couple layers to build up the walls. After mold is made use molding epoxy or plaster cast (I use plaster bandages) to make a hard shell to hold the shape. Make a flat top on the cast layer so it sits flat when you flip it over. MOLD RELEASE IN YOUR MOLD, then your foam. Should help the silicone last longer. Either way, it was really cool and I want to try spray foam for casting now!

I've subscribed. I enjoyed this channel. Good Humor, but you still learn alot. He makes the mistakes for you.

spraying water on the mold will help it skin over faster . Brake clean sprayed in the nozzle and the top of the can will clean it right up for future use.

Came for the pumpkins, here for the Smugglers Room t-shirt. Always good to see a fellow Swarzy Fan in action. The pumpkins were a labor of love, I had a similar yet adjacent year casting paper mache vintage style pumpkin Pails. Kudos.

You can apply silicone in thin layers. Use WED clay to make a small wall, and brush it on.

Awesome results! Thanks for sharing the learning experience! Some great comments already and I can’t wait to see next year’s version!

Man that was so good making the mould made me laugh out loud Soz. I admire your determination to make all those pumpkins and they look amazing well done Grant 🎃

The Cement is in there for weight to keep the pumpkin from being blown away

You can use silicone calk, thind with mineral sprints.

How about using smooth on brushable latex then make a mother mold out of plaster . And use sika fence post expanding foam . Thats what Im going to do after watching this .

Been wanting to do something like this great job and tips definably will be eating for next year video 😅😅🎉🎉

Awesome video!!! Keep up the great work.

I’m really impressed with your dedication to keep spending money in order to save money.

Water! Before and after you fill the foam, spray it (mold and inside pumpkin foam) with water. It helps it set up quicker. You can spray, fill, spray, wait four minutes, pat down, wait a few minutes, remove. It's still soft but it will be set up enough to do another. Awesome build! I will have to give this a try.

Fill a bowl with silicone then place the pumpkin master in with weight to hold it in place