A carved pumpkin is really just a black shape on an orange glow. Take away the pumpkin and you still have the thing that makes it work — which is exactly what this light box is.
A flat panel in a wooden frame, packed with orange seed beads, with a jagged jet-black face laid across it and an LED tucked in behind. No curves, no grouting, and a face that takes about twenty minutes to lay. It is the fastest way into mosaic we know.
How a light box works
The mosaic goes onto a flat opaque white panel that sits inside a wooden frame, with an LED tucked in behind it. Switched off, the background reads as clean white behind the beads. Switched on, the light pushes through the orange and the whole panel turns molten, while the black glass face stays a solid silhouette.
That is also why there is no grouting here. On a curved mosaic lamp grout locks the pieces onto the globe, but on a flat panel the tiny gaps between the beads are doing a job — they let the light through. Fill them and you would lose the glow.
What you'll need
A short list, and most of it comes in the box:
• A square wooden light box frame with a white panel
• An LED light strip or puck light to sit behind the panel
• Flat jet-black glass mosaic pieces, triangles and diamonds (for the face)
• Tiny bright orange seed beads (for the glow)
• Clear-drying craft adhesive
• A pencil, for tracing your outline
Using our DIY Mosaic Home Kit? The panel, mosaic pieces, beads and adhesive come in the box — just add your light.
How to make your jack-o'-lantern mosaic light box
Lay out your materials
Set the frame flat on the table with the white panel facing up, and sort your materials into two dishes: orange seed beads in one, black glass pieces in the other.
Look at the blank panel and decide how big the face will be. A face that sits across the middle two-thirds of the panel leaves an orange margin all round it to glow, which is the proportion that reads best from across a room.
Pencil the face
Draw the whole face onto the white panel in light pencil before you touch the glue: two upward-pointing triangles for the eyes, a small diamond nose between and below them, and a wide jagged grin underneath.
This is the step people skip and regret. A jack-o'-lantern face is all about symmetry — if one eye sits higher than the other you will see it every single time you look at the finished piece. Draw it, step back, adjust, then draw it again.
Glue the eyes and nose
Start with the three easiest shapes. Set a large black triangle on each pencilled eye, points upward, and the small diamond between and below them for the nose.
Press each piece down firmly and check the eyes against each other one last time before the glue grabs. Everything else on this panel is forgiving; the eyes are not.
Lay the grin
Now the mouth, built from a row of black diamonds and triangles alternating up and down along the pencilled curve so the teeth interlock. Leave a small even gap between each piece — when the light comes on, those gaps become bright lines running through the grin, and that is what makes it look carved rather than painted.
Finish by running a neat row of small black diamonds straight across the top of the panel above the eyes. It frames the face and stops all the visual weight sitting in the lower half.
Start the orange at one corner
Time for the glow. Spread a thin layer of adhesive over a small area — a bottom corner is the easiest place to begin — and pour your orange seed beads onto it, pressing them down so they sit shoulder to shoulder.
Work in small patches. Glue too large an area at once and it skins over before the beads reach it, leaving a thin patchy stretch you have to go back and fix.
Work outward and hug the face
Keep spreading outward across the panel, and slow down when you reach the black glass. Push the beads right up against every triangle and every tooth — into the notches of the grin, into the angles under the eyes.
Tight beadwork around the face is what keeps the carving crisp once the light is behind it. A loose, gappy border will soften every edge you just placed so carefully.
Pack it tight — fill every gap
Carry the orange all the way to the inner edge of the frame, right into the corners. Any bare white you leave will read as a pale blank patch once the light goes on, so go back and top up the thin spots while the adhesive is still workable.
Dense, even coverage is the whole secret to a warm glow instead of a patchy one. And that is the last building step — this piece never gets grouted.
Cure it, then light it up
Let the adhesive cure fully — overnight is safest — so nothing shifts when you move the panel. Then fit the frame back together with your LED behind it, turn off the room lights, and switch it on.
The orange goes molten, the face drops into pure silhouette, and you have the oldest image in Halloween sitting on your shelf without a candle or a knife anywhere near it.
Pro tips: Keep the eye triangles matched — same size, same height, same angle — and the rest of the face can be as wonky as you like. Work the beads in small sections so the adhesive never skins over. And use thin layers of glue: less dries clearer and holds just as well.
Keep it flameless. Light your finished panel with an LED strip or puck light rather than a candle. It is the safe choice around adhesive and glass, and it gives a steadier, more even glow across the whole background.
Make it your own
The method is the same whatever you put in the middle. Swap the orange for amber and lay a cat instead and you have the black cat light box; swap it for pink and lay a cream ghost and you have the ghost panel. Once you have built one light box, you own the technique for every one after it.
And if you would rather have a pumpkin you can carry round the room, the curved version is a whole family of its own — see four different jack-o'-lantern mosaic lamps.
Ready to make your own?
Grab a kit and build your jack-o'-lantern at home, or join us at a studio or pop-up and we will guide you through every step.
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