Let's face it, Jack O' Lanterns are everywhere. When you see a carved pumpkin on every porch, they are no longer original. No matter how you do it, Jack O' Lantern are all basically the same. So how can you think outside the box and make an original. A Jack O' Lantern ice sculpture is a good place to start.

In this instructable I'll show you how to easily make a Jack O' Lantern out of ice.

This is my entry into the Halloween contest. Please vote and rate it. Comments are always appreciated, especially constructive criticism.

Step 1: Materials

Very simple things needed for this project:

A pumpkin Trick Or Treat bucket ( $0.94 at walmart )
water
red and yellow food coloring
a freezer

Step 2: Mixing the Water and Freezing

Fill the pumpkin to the top with water. Add in a couple drops of red and yellow food coloring. When done, put it in the freezer for about 1-2 days. It takes so long to freeze because of the amount of water.

You can make the ice clearer by using distilled water and boiling it. This makes the ice noticeably less cloudy, but this step is unnecessary.If you choose to do this, wait until the water cools before freezing it. I made the mistake of not waiting until the water cooled. I ended up melting a hole in the pumpkin and defrosting my freezer. Not to mention getting orange ice all over my food

Step 3: Draining It

This step is strictly optional By draining the ice, it will be done freezing sooner, and you can hollow out the inside and put a candle or other light source inside. a Light would be preferable because, obviously, candles are hot. You can put dry ice in the middle as well. This will make fog come out the top, along with keeping the ice from melting.

Step 4: Crack the Case

Once your pumpkin is nice and frozen, it's time to crack the case. Carefully, take your pumpkin out of the freezer and set it down somewhere outside. Get a handsaw and begin sawing the edges. Cut all the way around the sides until you can pull them apart. Carefully slide the pumpkin out and admire your work.
You'll notice that the color all collected in the middle and bottom. Apparently, food coloring is more dense then water and less dense the ice. This means once ice starts to form, the color moves down as it freezes.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

Now that you have your Jack O' Lantern ice sculpture you can do several things. It can be a decoration outside your house, or a giant ice cube in a bowl of punch. Either way, be creative with what you do with it. Just know that now, you put all those puny pumpkin Jack O' Lantern to shame.

One cool idea to try out is to make it bubble with fog. Hollow out the inside by draining the pumpkin when half frozen. Fill the inside with small amounts of dry ice. This will make it foam and keep it from melting.

Happy Halloween