Evan and Katelyn on youtube have made 3 consecutive attempts to preserve a carved pumpkin in resin. It does not go well.

Part of their problem stemmed from not being able to fully encase it in resin all at once. I believe that pouring that much resin at once would heat up enough to cook the pumpkin, and pouring more slowly allowed it to start rotting before being fully encased.

Pouring an uncarved pumpkin might help somewhat, but like the other commenter said. it will eventually rot no matter what. It's full of air, and oxygen will break it down eventually.

Dry it like they do for huichol!

how to dry pumpkins

Get a joined hands kind of plaster kit and make a cast of it. It will rot, no getting around that

update?

Preserving something forever is a lofty goal. Encasing it in resin might work for awhile, but I suspect the heat generated by the process will cause problems. I'd also expect bacteria on and in the pumpkin may cause problems.

You could try preserving it like a wet specimen with formalin or alcohol, but I'd expect it to turn white and discolor the water.

You could also try preserving it in a sealed jar with glycerin, but you'd need a giant jar and I'm not certain it'd really last

Coating the cut edges with Vaseline keeps them from drying out and shriveling. Also popping them in a bucket of water for a few hours can help plump them back up if they have shriveled. But I don't know any way of keeping them from rotting, except for refrigeration.

I wonder if lemon juice would help at all...

Ohhh those fruit flies and gnats love Florida pumpkins I learned.

It can keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's similar to pickling if I'm remembering my research right. The pumpkin may turn white or tan like my squirrel here, though, so maybe go for one of those small white "gourd" pumpkins? You could also freeze dry it in your freezer, but it will for sure take at least a year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeE8fqo7s1I

Thank you all so much for your answers! I love that I’m not the only one who finds it an fantastic idea haha. I’m definitely going to try it out somewhere in the upcoming weeks. I think I’ll go for 70% iso. I’m super excited to share the end results!!

Still have one question tho. Could you guys explain the formalin injection? Do I need to inject the carved pumpkin everywhere?

Awesome idea! I would go with glycerin thought

That would be so cool if you can actually do this

I don’t see why you couldn’t just keep it in some 70%-90% alcohol; however, the alcohol might quickly become cloudy and discoloured with pumpkin flesh, so you’ll probably have to change it for fresh alcohol several times to get it looking perfect

Don’t underestimate the amount of water in there.

Search reddit for the epoxy hot dog.

Sorry for your loss. Maybe think of it in a different way. The seeds could be used forever. Like generation’s of pumpkins.

Maybe you can make a mould of the pumpkin, then make a replica of it.

As for the REAL pumpkin, no, any form of dehydration would shrink and distort the pumpkin.

What about a professional photoshoot and then framing the picture.

About the resin, Evan and Katelyn have a series of youtube videos, it never ended well yet haha

The only way resin would work is if you can get someone to freezedry the whole thing first. The equipment for this is really expensive. But it's the only thing that would leave the pumpkin looking pretty much like it did in life, and suitable for resin. Standard dehydration won't work for this, and it'll change the appearance of the pumpkin too much.

You would then need a pressure system for curing the resin without bubbling. It sucks the air from the resin and in turn, forces the resin into where the air was in the thing you're trying to preserve. Without it, all you'll have is a block of bubbles. This too is expensive equipment.

So yeah, is possible. With thousands of dollars worth of equipment and supplies, and some knowledge of how resin actually works.

I have some that are a decade old. I store them in the garage rafters. They don’t need any preserving that I can tell. I am not even really gentle with mine.

Update: I’ve bleached it, jelly’d it, and put it in the basement. Kids were shook but we’re treating it as a science experiment and a life lesson in being adaptable. Growth in adversity, etc. If it starts to rot we’ll return it to the squirrels. The joy was really in the journey of growing it all summer, and that was always going to come to an end one way or another. Thanks for all of the advice and commiseration!

Cover the chewed on area with a little petroleum jelly to help seal in the moisture and boom now your kids have a practice carving pumpkin before Halloween rolls around. Also fun fact, applying a light layer of petroleum jelly around carved areas of pumpkin will also help seal it and make it last longer. Also added bonus, it will help deter squirrels from snacking on it.

It won’t harden back up, unfortunately. Once the skin’s broken it’ll start to dry out or rot faster, especially since something chewed it. If you just want it for decoration, you can clean the spot with a mild bleach solution and seal it with petroleum jelly or wax to slow things down, but it won’t stop the decay completely.

Hear me out… flex seal

Since you mentioned it was for your kids to carve for Halloween, I'm thinking you all could totally embrace the "boo-boo" Pumpkin aspect and give him some band-aids/gauze with a distressed face to match.

Lemons into lemonade, and all that 🤷‍♂️

Maybe just scrub it down with some steelwool and then let it dry, if it's going to remain indoors you can either leave it unfinished or I think something like danish oil or linseed oil would look nice.

Kill mold with a bleach spray, then spray with a solution of baking soda and water, clear water rinse, put it in a room with a forced air fan and low heat

Scrub clean, oil it oil it oil it and bee wax.

A quick look over your comments show youre into barley legal subreddits. Go back under your rock.

OP wants to know how to fix their mistake, not be scolded like a child. Relax a bit man.

I like the bees wax idea. I believe bees wax also has antifungal qualities but you can verify that. You might also check with your county extension.

I like to break mine open once they do start rotting & leave them for the wild birds to go crazy over. Then if I’m lucky, I might have pumpkins pop up in unexpected places around our property next year! 🎃😈

Turn him into food and he’ll be with you foreva😅

Witchcraft 🧙‍♀️!

You’re a poet and you don’t even know it 😌

this mf spittin