The first Jack O’Lanterns were carved from Turnips (or arguably rutabagas)
According to legend, Jack was a wicked man, who managed to cheat the devil himself, and as a result, Satan agreed that he would never take Jack’s soul to hell.
However, being such a wicked man, when he died, Jack found himself unable to gain entry to heaven. He pleaded with the devil to take him, but he reminded Jack that per their agreement, he could not take him to hell, and so with nowhere else to go, Jack would be doomed to wander the earth for all eternity.
Jack asked the devil to at least give him a lantern to light his way, and the devil tossed Jack a burning coal, which jack stuck inside of the turnip he had been eating when he died to use as a makeshift lantern.
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When my wife and I first moved in together, we had a small apartment without much room on our patio for Jack O’Lanterns. Undeterred, I went back to the original concept and started carving turnips, which fit much better on the outside of our windowsill.
To hollow them out I use a forstner bit that’s a little bigger than the LED tea lights I stick in them.
I think they have a lot more character and are a lot creepier than pumpkins.
The cool part about that combo (rotary tool and wood) is the tool and bits last forever. You’ll make many mistakes, but cheap wood is a cheap medium to practice on. The primary thing you’ll lose is time and progress, but that’s fine. Keep going with the other squares. You can also go pretty slowly to mitigate mistakes.
You can also look into wood burning kits. They’re soldering irons with various tips. Combine the two arts and you can get some intricate effects
I haven’t done all that much carving, but I’ve carved little gnome totems I’m quite proud of. Roughly hand sized. I cut the rough shape with a band saw (not necessary, just faster than by hand), then used a mix of dremel bits and carving tools to work the shape. I didn’t have all that much confidence in them until nearly the end. All I saw was the flaws and mistakes. But then, you realize, nobody knows what you saw in your head, nobody knows the source material, and, in a world of mass 3D Printing dragons, the wild variance between your crafts gives it a deeply personal and artisinal touch.
You can make that Ur board. You can make coasters.
(but the actual finishing work of wood is 50% of the battle and something I skip a lot)
At markets I often see stalls selling what is obviously just printed or laser cut in bulk for things like chopping boards and coasters.
Happy little accidents make it look like it was made by someone rather than something.