Jack O'Lantern

Created: 2023-10-29 Updated: 2024-10-29

Second Iteration: 2024

Since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice came out this year, I decided I had to try making Beetlejuice as a jack-o-lantern. I used the same techniques as last year, but it was much more difficult to make a photographic image. I used carve-through highlights this time instead of just glowing eyes. The code has been updated to pull random files from a particular folder, quotes from the first Beetlejuice this time.

Video of it in action (mp4)

First Iteration: 2023

My first Jack O'Lantern since childhood. I used some clay sculpting loops and a hobby knife to carve the image. This carving is in the likeness of the Spooky Space Kook from the classic Scooby Doo episode. I couldn't resist souping it up with electronics: Amber LEDs simulate candle flames, and a proximity sensor triggers a sound clip with synchronized LED animation.

Video of it in action (mp4)

The Internals

A capsule from a toy dispenser protects the pair of LEDs. I used two for more brightness, and animating them independently makes the candle flicker more realistic. Some steel fishing weights hold it in place inside the pumpkin. The cable feeds out and plugs into the cable from the other pumpkin. I used an old headphone cable cut in half.

The main action is the smaller pumpkin, made of foam. An Adafruit PropMaker 2040 board is the brain. (The same as my sound effects board project.) It runs off of a Li-Ion battery. An ultrasonic sensor works as the eyes, triggering when something crosses its line of sight at a set distance. A speaker salvaged from an old set of computer speakers produces the sound.