We decided to take our halloween pumpkins to a new level this year. We are attaching teeth and horns made from Sculpey brand polymer clay to our pumpkins this year.

Making horns and teeth out of clay is pretty simple stuff, the problem is attaching them to the pumpkin. We are trying a few different techniques.

I bought a few self drilling dry-wall anchors to support the horns. My thinking is that the deep grooves will continue to hold and support the horns as the pumpkin begins to soften.

Before baking the clay, I pressed the base of the horn into the philips head slot and over the head of the screw.

I then took an unused dry-wall anchor to pre-drill the holes in the pumpkin. This minimizes the chance of the horn seperating from the anchor when screwing it into the pumpking.

Next I screwed the baked horns into the pre-drilled holes. I used a needle nose pliers to turn the screw from beneath the horn.

I took a different approach for the teeth. The idea is to create a tab which can be screwed through and into the pumpkin. To do this, Michael and I rolled out the teeth with a little extra length. I then pressed the thickest end flat against the table, creating a thin tab. Using a pencil, I poked a hole in the tab large enough for the screw to pass through.

It would probably be a good idea to smeer vaseline over the screws before putting them in the pumpkin.