DIY a Vintage Vegetable Automobile . . .

Whoever thought watermelons could be so spooky or mobile? See it also in the Tome of the
 Unknown from Over The Garden Wall.

       Now that I've made the car, I might as well make some veggie dolls! But, I'm afraid that will be a craft for next year . . .

Supply List:

• one dried gourd that is shaped like a watermelon
• newspaper or newsprint or paper bags
• masking tape
• white school glue
• acrylic paints, including: white, red, black, several greens
• 4 recycled ribbon rolls (for tires)
• wire to shape the steering wheel
• two wooden beads for headlights
• Sculpey for seeds to glue inside the tires
• Mod Podge
• paper mache pulp

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Draw where you will need to cut out the seats on the outside of a gourd. Cut out the top along this line.
2. Stuff the inside of the gourd with newsprint and then mask off the seat using tape.
3. Use a hot glue gun to apply the tires made from ribbon spools onto the sides of the veggie car.
4. Glue on the headlight lanterns; I used wooden beads for these. 
5. Shape steering wheel from wire and glue this in place.
6. Mix up paper mache pulp and apply a coat of this inside the ribbon spools. 
7. Sculpt small zucchini seeds with oven baked clay, cook and apply inside the tires to look like the photos below. I guess some folks think that these are cucumber wheels but I think they are zucchini wheels!
8. Coat the entire construction using either gesso, white acrylic or white enamel paint. Any of these will do.
9. Use acrylic paints to transform your auto into a watermelon car, just like the vintage one seen below!

The crank on the front of our "automobile" is a watermelon vine. The gourd has a carved away
top to make room for the melon pulp seating. The steering wheel is a wire "vine" too. 

The wheels are made from recycled ribbon spools. These are then filled in with paper pulp 
and then ''seeds'' are shaped using Sculpey. Glue these inside to mimic zucchini rounds.

This classic Halloween postcard is from the public domain. It illustrates a watermelon auto-
mobile with an anthropomorphic veggie driver. A Halloween witch and her black cat ride in
back while a black bat and half moon illuminate the night. See more veggie character dolls
on my pinboard here . . .