How to create designer lamps De Grass

The process of creating a lamp begins with the selection of the fruit. I always have different pumpkins. They are well dried.

For some varieties the drying time lasts up to 8 months. Others can be dried for 4 months.

For further work you can dry only decorative (not edible) pumpkin. In my area in the open ground to grow decorative pumpkin is almost impossible. It will not have time to ripen until the moment of removal.

And you can remove it from the vines only when it’s dried and not earlier.

Sometimes I manage to find very large African pumpkins. Now we grow such pumpkins in the Caucasus. And we cultivate lighter varieties in our greenhouse. African Byshel at the time of maturation weighs 15 kg. When the pumpkin dries, it weighs only 500 grams.

Working with a pumpkin is very time consuming and does not happen fast. The cutting is preceded by many operations. From the process of cultivation and long and accurate drying, primary processing, drawing ideas on paper, then on the fruit.

Next is a long process of carving.

While working with a pumpkin, I take into account both the shape and thickness of the walls.

For example, African pumpkins can have a very thick wall, more than 1 centimeter. It gives the opportunity to make multi-storey plans. Or just remove only one part of the wall and then the lamp emits a very soft orange light. And in combination with the through cuts it looks just magical!

The number of holes on the lamp can reach tens of thousands. The smallest holes are 0.1 mm. And if such holes have a large surface area, a feeling of golden luster is created.

The pumpkin fruit is completely unique in its structure. It is soft and at the same time very dense. It does not have fibers that are inherent in wood. Of course, a lot of dust is flying during cutting, but I have an exhaust hood.

The long time I work with the pumpkin illumination from the inside in order to see how much you can remove to leave a thin translucent wall. But when you start working, you just “hear” the sound of the fruit and determine the sound when you have to stop, so as not to cut through. Each pumpkin sounds in its own way.

The material is very warm and beautiful and gives pleasure working with it.