Questions have come up recently about my DIY horseshoe pumpkin.
This is, in part, because my braided denim pumpkin and the horseshoe pumpkin by extension were honored with a Salvaged Junk feature on Funky Junk Interiors last week.
You know how much I love salvaged junk, so this really made my day!
When I told my 7-year-old son about this good news, I thought he’d say, “cool.”
Instead, he reached over, patted my shoulder and with all sincerity said, “I’m happy for you.”
This might not seem like a big deal to you, but I’m living through a very long season of fart jokes. In that moment, hope sprang eternal that he might someday grow into an emotionally mature young man.
That was, by far, more rewarding than any work accolade.
In the two years since we made our horseshoe pumpkins out of authentic, seen-some-trail-time-on-an-actual-horse horseshoes, it appears this idea has made it into the retail mainstream.
It doesn’t take them long, does it?
A friend messaged me this past weekend with a picture of a horseshoe pumpkin she scored at a store called Real Deals. It looked really cool! It was a little more symmetrical and less rusty than my version. I loved it.
A reader asked me if it was possible to make a horseshoe pumpkin without using a welder.
My gut reaction was “no.” I’m still leaning hard in that direction.
My second reaction was “maybe” because I can’t discount the ingenuity of a determined and creative mind!
It wouldn’t look like mine or any others that are for sale right now though. The horseshoes are heavy, so keeping them in place would be the tricky part. Perhaps you could do it with a heck of a lot of wire and a dowel for the stem? Horseshoes are magnetic, so maybe there’s something possible with magnets? Perhaps you could create a discreet base to secure the horseshoes?
I’m sure someone will figure it out!
Here’s the step-by-step of how we made our version. It’s a lot easier if you have 8 horseshoes that are the exact same size and shape, which you can see, we did not.
If you are intent on making one yourself and don’t have a welder, I think any auto/machine shop in town could weld one together for you in 10 minutes. Perhaps someone in your neighborhood has a welder that you could trade a plate of cookies in exchange for this very easy welding project?
It’s worth a shot! Everyone loves cookies!
Or, you could try Etsy. I found a bunch of sellers there offering horseshoe pumpkins for $30 – 40. I liked this rustic one and this painted one was nice. If Amazon is more your style, this mini rustic horseshoe pumpkin
This is the third year I’ve pulled out our horseshoe pumpkins and they still make me happy! Hurray for dumpster diving and all the salvaged junk projects out there!
Here are some other pumpkin projects you might enjoy! Thanks for reading!
Giant Cardboard Tic Tac Toe using mini pumpkins as game pieces
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