The seasonal workhorse
Orange has a season and it is a long one. Pumpkins, leaves, foxes, flames, carrots and every piece of fruit a child can name all come out of this bag, and the months from September onward go through it faster than any other warm shade. Buying it as a pound rather than a block means the autumn project does not stop halfway.
The tone leans warm rather than neon, which keeps it believable next to the brown and the red. A little white turns it into a soft apricot; a little red pushes it toward a deep ember that works well for fire.
How it handles
Light, soft and quick to take a shape, with the same squishy texture as the rest of this shelf. It is forgiving of being re-worked: a pumpkin that comes out lopsided can be rolled back into a ball and started again as many times as patience allows, as long as the clay has not been left open.
For ribbed shapes like a pumpkin, press the grooves with the back of a pencil while the clay is still fully soft. Once the surface starts to set, pressing cracks it.
Drying
A hollow pumpkin the size of a plum is dry overnight; a solid one is not, and will likely crack as it shrinks. Build the bigger round things as a shell around a crumpled ball of foil or paper and they dry evenly and weigh almost nothing.