Leigh Henderson 10/31/23 Leigh Henderson 10/31/23

Trobbio

This is my nephew dressed as Trobbio from Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hollow Knight: Silksong is notably not yet released, so this is a character he knows about only from the trailers.

This is my nephew dressed as Trobbio from Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hollow Knight: Silksong is notably not yet released, so this is a character he knows about only from the trailers. He also dressed as a character from Hollow Knight: Silksong in 2021, so you can tell how long he has been anxiously awaiting the release of this game!

Leigh Henderson 10/31/22 Leigh Henderson 10/31/22

Empress of Light

My niece went as the Empress of Light from Terraria for Halloween this year.

Teen girl wearing shiny gold body suit, pink skirt, blue gloves, a crown, and light up wings

My niece went as the Empress of Light from Terraria for Halloween this year. We had to simplify the costume a bit because I didn’t have as much time to work on it as I would have liked, so it’s all store-bought clothes except for the crown and the wings. The wings are an aluminum frame lined with color-changing LEDs with nylons stretched over them.

Leigh Henderson 10/24/22 Leigh Henderson 10/24/22

Outrageous Pumpkins

Good news - I’m back on Food Network! This time, I’m carving pumpkins on Outrageous Pumpkins!

Seven pumpkin carvers pose with giant pumpkins

Good news - I’m back on Food Network! This time, I’m carving pumpkins on Outrageous Pumpkins! I didn’t win, but I made it to the finale, I carved some very cool pumpkins, I got to work with a great production crew, and I met six other fantastic artists. So overall a fantastic experience!

I won the first challenge with my jack-o-lantern ghost story!

Large jock-o-lantern with a man being hit in the face with a tomato

My nesting jack-o-lanterns got me through to the next episode!

Series of jack-o-lanterns with scenes of a pirate cove, a sea monster, and a ship

Very happy with my zombie self-portrait.

The group haunted house challenge was a challenge, but we won our way through to the next episode.

Scene made of pumpkins showing a haunted house with trick-or-treaters

My arachnophobia pumpkin with a spider eating someone’s eyeball.

Spider pulling someone's eyeball out carved out of pumpkins

The structure of my contortionist pumpkin get me through the the finale!

Circus contortionist carved out of pumpkins

Pumpkin carving inspired by a toy.

Pumpkin carved like a porceline clown doll with a monster umbrella

My first time carving an Atlantic Giant! Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey come to life and impaled the birthday kid.

Giant pumpkin carved to look like a donkey impaling a kid on a huge pin

Genuinely one of the most fun shows I’ve ever been involved in!

Leigh Henderson 10/10/22 Leigh Henderson 10/10/22

Creepy Clown Pumpkin

I carved this pumpkins for an interview on local television, as a way of demonstrating how to use other fruits and vegetables in a pumpkin carve.

Pumpkin carved to look like a scary clown face

I carved this pumpkins for an interview on local television, as a way of demonstrating how to use other fruits and vegetables in a pumpkin carve. The hair is sweet potato, the nose, teeth, and eyeballs are radishes, and the irises are lime peel.

Leigh Henderson 10/31/21 Leigh Henderson 10/31/21

Hollow Knight: Silksong

My nephew is eagerly awaiting the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, so he wanted to be this character that he saw in the trailer, even though we don’t know their name or anything about them.

Child with untied purple shoelaces, wearing a gold mask with white wings and a short white cloak and holding two gold swords

My nephew is eagerly awaiting the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, so he wanted to be this character that he saw in the trailer, even though we don’t know their name or anything about them.

Leigh Henderson 10/31/21 Leigh Henderson 10/31/21

Ada-1

For Halloween this year, my niece wanted to be Ada-1 from Destiny 2.

For Halloween this year, my niece wanted to be Ada-1 from Destiny 2. It’s a pretty complicated costume and I don’t think I fully did it justice, but she seemed happy and looked pretty cool.

Close ups of various parts of Ada-1 costume, including mask, chest piece, and arm guard

Leigh Henderson 10/3/21 Leigh Henderson 10/3/21

Bat Pumpkin

I had some challenges with carving the wings because the inside of the pumpkin was very stringy, but I’m extremely pleased with the stem for the nose.

Small pumpkin carved into a bar face, with large pumpkin bat ears and large pumpkin bat wings

I had some challenges with carving the wings because the inside of the pumpkin was very stringy, but I’m extremely pleased with the stem for the nose.

Leigh Henderson 10/3/21 Leigh Henderson 10/3/21

Spider Pumpkin

This is my first multi-pumpkin carve.

Large spider made out of multiple pumpkins sitting on a spider web carved into another pumpkin

This is my first multi-pumpkin carve. I used a dremel to carve out the spider web on the bottom pumpkin, which is also the first time I’ve used a dremel on a pumpkin. It was a little messy, but also very fun.

Leigh Henderson 10/2/21 Leigh Henderson 10/2/21

Jellyfish Pumpkin

I thought it would be fun to carve a jellyfish pumpkin using the goop inside the pumpkin. I was hoping for a little more goop, honestly, but I still think it’s pretty fun.

Half of a pumpkin textured to look like a jellyfish bell with a light bulb inside illuminating pumpkin guts that look like jellyfish tendrils

I thought it would be fun to carve a jellyfish pumpkin using the goop inside the pumpkin. I was hoping for a little more goop, honestly, but I still think it’s pretty fun.

Leigh Henderson 10/2/21 Leigh Henderson 10/2/21

Clown Pumpkin

I got some new carving tools and wanted to try them out. Once I had carved it, I thought it needed some painted on clown makeup.

Small pumpkin carved into a clown face with a large nose

I got some new carving tools and wanted to try them out. Once I had carved it, I thought it needed some painted on clown makeup.

Small pumpkin carved into a clown face with large red nose and painted red lips and blue and black makeup around white and red eyes

Leigh Henderson 10/31/19 Leigh Henderson 10/31/19

Yiga Blademaster Halloween costume

This Halloween, I made my nephew a Yiga Blademaster costume from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s made from two body suits sewn together, with accents of faux leather, craft foam, and feathers. The windcleaver sword is made of poplar.

Child dressed as a Yiga Blademaster from the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Wooden sword made to look like the windcleaver from the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Woman being scared by a child dressed as a Yiga Blademaster from the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, holding a wooden sword

Child dressed as a Yiga Blademaster from the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild leaps dramatically off of a slide

Leigh Henderson 10/31/17 Leigh Henderson 10/31/17

P.E.K.K.A. Halloween costume

My niece as a P.E.K.K.A. from the video game Clash of Clans. The costume is make almost entirely out of craft foam and hot glue burns.

Child dressed as a P.E.K.K.A. from the video game Clash of Clans

My niece as a P.E.K.K.A. from the video game Clash of Clans. The costume is made almost entirely out of craft foam and hot glue burns.

Reference image of a P.E.K.K.A. from the video game Clash of Clans

Leigh Henderson 10/31/17 Leigh Henderson 10/31/17

Entbrat Halloween costume

This is an Entbrat from a video game called My Singing Monsters.

Child dressed as an Entbrat, a tree creature from the the video game Clash of Clans

This is an Entbrat from a video game called My Singing Monsters.

Reference image of an Entbrat, a tree creature from the video game Clash of Clans

The headpiece is made of foam core and bristol board, with horns sculpted from crumpled newspaper wrapped in masking tape. The whole thing is covered in felt. Lips, tongue, and teeth are made of craft foam colored with marker. The feet are craft foam covered with felt and the rest of the costume is just store-bought shirt and pants with felt leaves glued on and a belly button drawn on.

Child dressed as an Entbrat, a tree creature from the the video game Clash of Clans with his face visible through the Entbrat's open mouth

Leigh Henderson 10/31/16 Leigh Henderson 10/31/16

Lord Voldemort Pumpkin

I wanted to practice my 3-d pumpkin sculpting, so I made this little Lord Volde-pumpkin.

Pumpkin sculpted into the face of Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter

I somehow never seem to have much time for pumpkin carving these days, probably because I now spend the month of October making Halloween costumes for my niece and nephew. But this year we decided to go the store-bought route for our Harry Potter costumes, so I had a little time. I wanted to practice my 3-d pumpkin sculpting, so I made this little Lord Volde-pumpkin.

Note:

Unfortunately, J.K. Rowling has disappointed me and many other people. By publicly opposing trans rights and misrepresenting trans people, she has fallen far short of the standard of loving acceptance set by the heroic characters in her books. To learn more, I recommend this open letter to J.K. Rowling from Mermaids, a group in the UK that advocates for trans and gender-diverse children. If you want to help, you can donate to Mermaids, Gender Spectrum, and many other groups working to support trans and gender-diverse people.

Leigh Henderson 10/31/15 Leigh Henderson 10/31/15

Pac-Man Halloween Costume

I’m not sure why Alex wanted to be Pac-Man for Halloween. She may have played Pac-Man once or twice, but she hasn’t seen Pixels. The overall structure of the costume was her idea.

I’m not sure why Alex wanted to be Pac-Man for Halloween. She may have played Pac-Man once or twice, but she hasn’t seen Pixels. The overall structure of the costume was her idea. It’s made of foam core and it has a removable compartment in the mouth so that she can collect candy in Pac-Man’s mouth. It’s also outlined in EL wire, for easy visibility trick-or-treating at night.

Child in the dark wearing a Pac-Man Halloween costume with illuminated EL wire around the edge

Leigh Henderson 10/31/15 Leigh Henderson 10/31/15

Dark Washbuckler Halloween Costume

Sam is very into Skylanders games and he wanted to be Dark Washbuckler for Halloween, who is a kind of octopus pirate.

Child dressed as Dark Washbuckler, a pirate octopus from the video game Skylanders

Sam is very into Skylanders games and he wanted to be Dark Washbuckler for Halloween, who is a kind of octopus pirate.

Reference image of Dark Washbuckler, a pirate octopus from the video game Skylanders

I started the costume with black sweatpants and a black shirt and trimmed them with silver. The six extra legs are sewn to an elastic waistband. The hat, belt buckle, mustache, and suckers on the tentacles are made of fun foam. The ladder logos on the hat and belt buckle are because Washbuckler is a climbing type. Sam insisted that there be two on the belt buckle. I’m not sure why. They have LEDs inside to help with trick-or-treating visibility.

Child in the dark dressed as Dark Washbuckler, a pirate octopus from the video game Skylanders, with illuminated badges on hat and belt

Leigh Henderson 10/31/14 Leigh Henderson 10/31/14

Halloween Wars Season 4

I’m back on Halloween Wars!

Three people in orange aprons with their arms folded try to look tough with a caption that reads, "Dead Reckoning: Team Dead Reckoning is made up of sugar artist Mary Moy, pumpkin carver Jonathan Barwood and cake artist Leigh Henderson"

I’m back on Halloween Wars!

Showpiece of a pumpkin troll face in a pile of modeling chocolate bones with a modeling chocolate arm sticking out

Showpiece of a huge, lit up wafer paper chicken over a pumpkin nest with cake rats

Showpiece of a disemboweled zombie toy with a body made of pumpkin, a head and brain made of cake and organs made of sugar

Showpiece of a huge swamp monster with a pumpkin head, cake arms and legs, and a sugar tongue

Showpiece of a demon child's popcorn vacuum toy with a broken dome and an angry face

Showpiece of a cake werewolf with a pumpkin head in front of a sugar and moon pyramid backdrop surrounded by dismembered sugar mummy limbs

Leigh Henderson 10/30/14 Leigh Henderson 10/30/14

Sculpted Face Pumpkin

I took a pumpkin carving class from Shawn Feeney, the winning pumpkin carver of Halloween Wars Season 1.

Front view of a detailed face carved into a large pumpkin

I took a pumpkin carving class from Shawn Feeney, the winning pumpkin carver of Halloween Wars Season 1.

Side view of a detailed face carved into a large pumpkin

Leigh Henderson 10/30/14 Leigh Henderson 10/30/14

Minecraft Halloween costumes

My niece and nephew are very into Minecraft, so of course they wanted to go as Minecraft characters for Halloween. Alex chose to go as a wither and Sam chose to go as a mutant enderman.

My niece and nephew are very into Minecraft, so of course they wanted to go as Minecraft characters for Halloween. Alex chose to go as a wither and Sam chose to go as a mutant enderman. I spent the better part of week staying up late to build their costumes out of foam core, duct tape, and LEDs. It was totally worth it.

Smiling child dressed as an Enderman from Minecraft

Sam at his kindergarten Halloween party. He ran around showing everyone with great delight how he had four arms.

Child dressed as a Wither from Minecraft

Alex ready to go trick-or-treating. She got tons on compliments on his costume and the lights made her very easy to spot.

In my totally unbiased opinion, Alex, Sam, and our friend Isaac (who was dressed as My Hero Zero, lavishly adorned with EL wire) had the best costumes we saw all day.