SOTD by u/curbside_champ

!June 22, 2024 – Spooky Season!<

• Brush: Semogue 2000
• Razor: Blackland - Blackbird Lite
• Blade: Personna Lab Blue (8)
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts – Autumn Ash
• Post Shave: HAGS – Ritual splash
• Fragrance: HAGS – Ritual rollerball EDP
• Song: Ice Nine Kills – It is The End (music starts at 4:35)
• The Lather: Southern Witchcrafts makes a fantastic lathering soap. I had no issues whipping up a fantastic lather, but unfortunately something in the base just doesn’t agree with my nose. I have no idea what it is, but it gets my allergies going every time.
• The Shave: No complaints with todays shave. Smooth, simple, and quick.
• Aftershave/Frag: HAGS claims Ritual to have a “dark, spicy, sweet, and smokey” scent that blends perfectly with the “spicy, dirty, smokey, sweet” scent of Autumn Ash. The scent notes may be different, but they accomplish about the same goal. Aside from scent Ritual’s label just fits the spooky bill way too well with its Baphomet image and the connection between its image and (Southern) Witchcraft.
• Theme: Autumn Ash is about as autumn a scent as it gets.
• Challenge: Carve a pumpkin, in June. That was about as impossible feat as there could be, so I opted for a watermelon instead. Unlike pumpkins, watermelons are not hollow and are full of juicy red flesh. I opted for the less traditional rind carving with a small cutout of red to fit today’s theme. Judges if you have no desire to learn how to do this, just skip to the end and see what I did.
• So how does one carve a specific design into a watermelon. Well the first step is of course watermelon selection. A darker watermelon will lend itself better as the contrasting white and/or red inside will be much easier for visualization. Next draw your design on the outside of the watermelon and go along the line poking holes at regular intervals into the watermelon. I used a wooden skewer for this step. With the holes all placed rub a small amount of flour on the outside of the watermelon so that it is much easier to see your design. Next take your cutting utensil (shavette in this case) and connect you dots cutting about 3 mm (1/8 in) into the watermelon. Once you connected the dots begin cutting out the desired section. Personally, I found taking the blade out to be easier as the tough watermelon clogs up the shavette. Eventually you will end up with a completed design.
• Now that you know how, allow me to introduce my design for the day. If the song didn’t give it away, maybe my cutout will. For my carving I opted to go with my favorite horror movie character, Pennywise. I loved the original way back when it came out even though it scared the crap out of me. Personally I think the original is better, but the new one lends itself to a scarier carving so I used that image. Here is a short clip showing all 3 carvings on the same pumpkin, or if you prefer just photos see them here.

>!**[June 22, 2024 – Spooky Season](https://imgur.com/a/jsVzrow)**!<

* **Brush:** Semogue 2000
* **Razor:** Blackland - Blackbird Lite
* **Blade:** Personna Lab Blue (8)
* **Lather:** Southern Witchcrafts – Autumn Ash
* **Post Shave:** HAGS – Ritual splash
* **Fragrance:** HAGS – Ritual rollerball EDP
* **Song:** [Ice Nine Kills – It is The End](https://youtu.be/vwjyeyAgok0?si=e2i-14vic2-tjUjM) (music starts at 4:35)
* **The Lather:** Southern Witchcrafts makes a fantastic lathering soap. I had no issues whipping up a fantastic lather, but unfortunately something in the base just doesn’t agree with my nose. I have no idea what it is, but it gets my allergies going every time.
* **The Shave:** No complaints with todays shave. Smooth, simple, and quick.
* **Aftershave/Frag:** HAGS claims Ritual to have a “dark, spicy, sweet, and smokey” scent that blends perfectly with the “spicy, dirty, smokey, sweet” scent of Autumn Ash. The scent notes may be different, but they accomplish about the same goal. Aside from scent Ritual’s label just fits the spooky bill way too well with its Baphomet image and the connection between its image and (Southern) Witchcraft.
* **Theme:** Autumn Ash is about as autumn a scent as it gets.
* **Challenge:** Carve a pumpkin, in June. That was about as impossible feat as there could be, so I opted for a watermelon instead. Unlike pumpkins, watermelons are not hollow and are full of juicy red flesh. I opted for the less traditional rind carving with a small cutout of red to fit today’s theme. Judges if you have no desire to learn how to do this, just skip to the end and see what I did.
* So how does one carve a specific design into a watermelon. Well the first step is of course watermelon selection. A [darker watermelon](https://imgur.com/a/watermelon-MjFNSda) will lend itself better as the contrasting white and/or red inside will be much easier for visualization. Next draw your design on the outside of the watermelon and go along the line [poking holes](https://imgur.com/a/poke-holes-Psh1avh) at regular intervals into the watermelon. I used a wooden skewer for this step. With the holes all placed rub a small amount of flour on the outside of the watermelon so that it is much [easier to see your design](https://imgur.com/a/after-flouring-Q3j7E76). Next take your cutting utensil (shavette in this case) and [connect you dots](https://imgur.com/a/connect-dots-XuIazSp) cutting about 3 mm (1/8 in) into the watermelon. Once you connected the dots [begin cutting](https://imgur.com/a/start-cutting-out-71tT3KU) out the [desired section](https://imgur.com/a/coming-along-QHnUorY). Personally, I found taking the blade out to be easier as the tough watermelon clogs up the shavette. Eventually you will end up with a [completed design](https://imgur.com/a/completed-hC2tiUh).
* Now that you know how, allow me to introduce my design for the day. If the song didn’t give it away, maybe my [cutout](https://imgur.com/a/QjCrykN) will. For my carving I opted to go with my favorite horror movie character, [Pennywise](https://imgur.com/a/ZW6DeeG). I loved the original way back when it came out even though it scared the crap out of me. Personally I think the original is better, but the new one lends itself to a scarier carving so I used that image. Here is a [short clip](https://imgur.com/a/pPhqtvt) showing all 3 carvings on the same pumpkin, or if you prefer just photos see them [here](https://imgur.com/a/uSLc0Rc).