[Ariana]

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1. Make a ***SKINNER BLEND LOG*** from equal amounts of conditioned Orange and Yellow Clay. I used a full package each of Premo Orange and Yellow.
2. Condition a package of Brown. Run it through the pasta machine at Setting #2 or #3 depending on how many settings your pasta machine has.
3.Lay it on a flat surface and square up the edges. I use a small quilters cutting board to help save my blade edges and give me straight even lines to use as guides.
4. Lay your Skinner Blend Log on the edge of the sheet of brown, squaring up the end and the edge.
5.cover the log with the brown, rolling it until the log is totally covered.
6. Over roll the log so that the starting edge makes an impression on the rest of the sheet.
7. Pull the log back just a little and slice along this indentation. Butt the edges up against each other.
8.Slice the excess off the other end of the log
9. Smooth down the edges. I use the end of my needle tool and ROLL it over the seam a few times. This will usually give the edges a good blend.
10. You should end up with a nice Skinner Blend Log covered in Brown! Keeping both ends flush and neat.
11. ***REDUCE*** the covered log. Bring it down to about 3/4 inch in diameter.
12. Lay it on your work surface in a horseshoe type shape cutting the ends till they are even and you have the full design on the edges.
13.Cut the log in two even pieces. 14. With the heel of your hand, partially flatten down both logs. 15. Now Cut these two flat logs both in half.
16. Cut each half in half.
17. Now you have 8 equal pieces of your original log.
18. Squeeze the edges of all the pieces to an almost point on one side.
19. Now to the other side.
20. The piece should start to curve like a half moon.
21.You can lay your finger into the curve of the piece to help unify the shape.
22. All the pieces should look similar to this, some can be thinner or flatter, but the basic shape should be the same.
23. We are now preparing to assemble our Pumpkin! These are in no way going to be exactly the same, but you can eye ball them into sizes if you like, the smaller ones will go in the center. 24. Take two of the crescent pieces and line them up together on one end, slowly ease them together trying not to trap any air bubbles between them.
25. Smooth the two pieces together until you have something that looks similar to this.
26. Now add a few more of the pieces, being careful not to trap any air bubbles.
27.Continue adding the pieces. Check out the look that you are getting while adding the pieces, and move them around to make the best looking pumpkin.
28. In the end you will have four crecents going one way and four crescents going the other way!
29. Once you have them in place the way you want, start in the middle, squeezing them just slightly to try to work out any air bubbles and pack them together. Work towards the ends keeping the log even.
30. I lay the log on the table and use a gentle rocking motion to help pack the cane and stretch the outside layers just slightly to give it more of a pumpkin look.
31. You can see now how the pumpkin look is developing nicely!
32. I use the end of my needle tool to make an indentation on both sides of this log to make room for the stem and to increase the pumpkin look.
33. You can see from this photo that I have bent one of the pieces down a little more than I'd like, but we are just going to have to live with it!
34. Take another sheet of the brown clay at Pasta Machine setting #3 or 4. Lay one end in the center of the crease for the stem.
35. Ease it down into the crease and rub it down a little bit so that it doesn't move. (That needle tool is something you'll be seeing a lot of here.)
36. Wrap the sheet around your cane and overlap the edges. Use a sharp edge to cut through the sheet and then butt the edges together.
37. Cut the excess off the ends. 38. Smooth out the clay, making sure there aren't any air bubbles. I will be posting a lesson on taking out air bubbles one of these days! 39. Keep smoothing and easing the log into the shape you are looking for. The clay might be very soft at this point, and it never hurts to keep easing it back to the shape you want.
40. Make a really hard indentation in the top section. You decide which is the top. This is where the stem is going, so you need to make a good bed for it to slip into.
41. Hey, so far so good!!! But you know, we want to see how it really looks!!! And I have found that it is a good idea to keep an eye on your pattern, so we are going to cut back to the picture.
42. I'll admit that Marie Segal HATES it, but I love my Corn Starch. I dip my blade in corn starch and it will cut through the softest canes. So that is what you see on my blade!
43. Hey, look at that, tell me that isn't cool!!!!! There is nothing like the feeling of that first cut into a cane!!! WOW!!! Pat yourself on the back, you're doing a great job!
44. Grab a piece of conditioned green clay. Flatten it and play with it until you get a log just about the shape of a stem.
45. Fit it into the crease with enough room for the outlining clay to fit with it! You can eyeball what will look good with your pumpkin, and if you like large stems or small stems.
46. After your stem is shaped, lay it on a piece of the brown clay at setting #4
47.cover the stem with the brown, making sure to cut off the excess.
48. Work out all the air bubbles. AIR BUBBLES ARE OUR WORST NIGHTMARE!

49. Place the Stem in the crease in the cane. Pressing down enough to get it to stick, but don't change it's shape!
50. I use a lot of the Kemper Modeling tools to help pack my canes, here there is a great tool for getting into the creases.
51. Take some scrap brown clay.
52. Roll it into a log.
53. Place a log on one side of the stem.
54.Now place a log on the other side of the stem. This will reinforce the connection between the two sections!
55. I use my tool here to spread the log part of it going up and the other part going down.
56. Doing the same with the other side. You can see how our pumpkin has taken shape! The decision now is whether we are going to leave it a whole pumpkin, or put it into a circular log. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Pumpkin Project!!!