Carve a Pumpkin With Automated Eye Movements and Make It Into Soup!

I carved a winter pumpkin and used a watermelon radish and other vegetables to give it an automated, mechanical eye. And when I was done, I roasted the whole thing in the oven and made it into soup.

Supplies

Kitchen Knives

Boxcutter (optional)

Apple Corer (optional)

Cutting Board

Pumpkin

Carrots

Potato

Watermelon Radish

Electric Drill (optional)

Bamboo Skewers

Step 1: Cut Your Pumpkin

Cut 3 holes in your pumpkin:

A small one in the front, just big enough for the "eye" to be suspended within.

A second one around the first hole on the front.

And a third large hole in the back of the pumpkin.

Cut the hole in the back of the pumpkin and clean out the seeds.

Then, cut the hole just big enough for the "eye" to fit and then cut another hole around that hole, leaving the cut pieces intact.

SAVE THE PUMPKIN PIECES YOU CUT OUT!

Step 2: Cut Your Watermelon Radish

You don't have to use a watermelon radish, they just have beautiful patterns in their centers that are reminiscent of a human eye.

When you cut the radish, leave enough space to attach a carrot to the backside. Then, hollow out the back of the radish with a knife or apple corer so that a carrot will fit inside the hole. Use a skewer or whittled down carrot to secure the carrot in place.

Step 3: Whittle Down Carrots to Make Hinges

Use a knife (or boxcutter) to whittle down at least 4 carrot pieces that will act as hinges to allow the "eye" to have a full range of motion.

Step 4: Install the Eye and Hinges

Use a knife, apple corer, or drill to make holes in the pumpkin and radish where the whittled carrot pieces can be placed to act as hinges.

By placing the "eye" on a vertical hinge within the circular pumpkin piece and then placing the circular pumpkin piece on a horizontal hinge on the pumpkin face, you will be able to achieve a full range of motion when then carrot attached to the "eye" is moved.

Step 5: Make a Crank Mechanism

Cut off one end of a large potato so that it can stand on its own when placed cut-side down.

Use the apple corer to make a hole at the top of the potato.

Find a carrot that will fit through the potato allowing the carrot to spin easily with in the hole. Whittle down the carrot if you need to.

Take one of the circular pumpkin cut-outs that you saved.

Use the apple corer to make a hole in the center of the circular pumpkin cut-out.

Push the carrot crankshaft pointy-end-first through the pumpkin cut-out then through the potato.

Slide the pumpkin cut-out onto the carrot until it is pressure fitted tightly enough to hold onto the pumpkin cut-out, leave some room between the pumpkin cut-out and the potato so that the carrot can still spin easily within the potato, moving the pumpkin with it.

Finally, make another hole in the pumpkin cut-out where the carrot that is attached to the "eye" can be attached. Make sure that the carrot can spin within the hole so that it follows the movement of the pumpkin cut-out without being twisted by it. You may need to use a skewer or whittled carrot piece to hold the carrot in place while allowing it to spin within the hole.

Step 6: Turn the Carrot Crank and See the "Eye" Move!

Turn the carrot crank to make the "eye" move!

You can automate it by tightening a drill chuck down on the carrot that turns the pumpkin cut-out or just turn it with your fingers.

And if you use a corded drill, you can zip-tie the trigger down and plug it into a motion detector outlet so that the eye only moves when something gets close to it!

Step 7: Roast and Make Soup!

When you're done playing with it (assuming it hasn't been left out too long!), you can just coat the whole mechanism with cooking oil and roast in the oven. All the ingredients can easily be combined with a little broth to make a tasty soup!