Marble-O-Lantern!

Want to add a new dimension to your pumpkin carving for the Halloween season? Add marbles to your pumpkin as an easy and great way to add color and extra glow!

The only supplies you need for this technique are a drill with a sizable bit and a collection of fun marbles. Cut out a lid, hollow out your pumpkin and drill away. Now that you have your holes, fill them with marbles!

The fully round ones worked better than the half round ones because they stayed in place better, but feel free to try either.

Using marbles is a great technique if you have little ones who aren't quite ready yet to use a knife. You can either drill holes for them and let them pick their own marbles and pop them in or they can drill their own holes with adult supervision.

This technique can look great with random marble placement or as a planned pattern for those who get intimidated by coming up with elaborate ideas year after year.

Drill bits can still be tricky and sharp so adult supervision is advised for and young pumpkin carvers. It's still safer than a slippery knife!

If you are a skilled and experienced Jack-O-Lantern master then perhaps you are simply looking to augment your carving.

We expanded the technique to make a hauntingly staring owl, although, glowing marble eyes would look mystical on any animal. You'll notice we chose the orientation of the marble pattern to resemble animal eyes and to look symmetrical.

Once we were feeling confident with our new technique we went big and used the marbles to create the constellation Leo with a superimposed lion carving (otherwise the constellation just looks like a duck). Once again, we paid attention to the pattern of the marbles to make them look as much like stars as we could. The result is a stunning sky piece that really lets those stars pop with a brilliant glow!

This is a simple technique that has the potential for millions of different possibilities. Get out there and create some unique and eye catching pumpkins!