Chicago Pumpkin Sculptor Creating Elaborate Jack-O-Lanterns In Lobby Of Intercontinental Hotel
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Pilsen artist has been spending the day sculpting pumpkins in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue.
WBBM's Steve Miller was there for the carving.
Every pumpkin must give up its heart and soul before it becomes art.
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"We have to scrape down the walls of these things," said Chicago artist Edward Cabral. "And the bigger they are, the thicker the walls are. And this giant one is about 100 pounds. The walls are about six inches thick. So I have to get that down to about an inch, inch and a half to really make it glow."
Cabral has been carving pumpkins professionally for three years.
"Some of them glow better, some of them don't," he said. " This is one of the ones that's not wanting to glow. So I've got to really get in there and tear it apart."
WBBM: So what are you going to do with this one?
"This one? The plan on this one is to do a Chicago skyline with Michael Jordan sort of hopping over. Hopefully I can put a burger in his hand or something, you know."
Cabral can do 20 or so basic jack-o-lanterns in a day. More complex carvings take up to 18 hours apiece.
You can see more of Cabral's work at www.edwardcabral.com/louisville-jack-olantern-spectacular.
