From haunted houses to trick-or-treating and scary movies, October is characterized by all things Halloween. Pumpkin carving is a quintessential way to dive head first into the festive season.
However, carving a pumpkin that looks halfway decent on the front porch is a feat vastly underestimated. Few arts are as sophisticated and require as much skill as carving the perfect jack-o'-lantern, so here’s a list of tips on how to get as close to being the Michelangelo of pumpkin carving as you can.
1. Get the right pumpkin
Having a canvas large enough to have space to carve is an important part of the pumpkin carving, so when looking for your pumpkin be sure that whatever you want to carve will undoubtedly fit on it.
The tiny pumpkins are, arguably, the most adorable part of the entire Halloween season but they are also nearly impossible to carve for the average person.
Also, don’t rule out oddly shaped pumpkins. Misshapen pumpkins can often lend themselves to the most interesting designs.
If you’re feeling uninspired and can’t think of any ideas sometimes a weird pumpkin can spark an image in your head and that image will suit that specific pumpkin more naturally than it would on any other.
2. Cut a hole in the top with an indicator of how it fits back in
It’s easy to cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin in a hurry to get all the seeds out and start carving.
However, cutting at an angle or adding a distinctive side to the piece you’re cutting out can save a lot of trouble later in the process when you want to put the piece with the stem back on and display your lit up pumpkin.
3. Scrape ALL of the seeds and strings out of the middle
Getting all of the gross seeds and goo out of the pumpkin makes carving your image into the pumpkin a much more conquerable task. Not only is getting all of the seeds out necessary but it’s also recommended to scrape the inside walls of the pumpkin a bit thinner.
Thinner walls make it easier to slice through the pumpkin and allows for smoother, more precise lines.
If you’re attempting some type of masterpiece with certain areas of your design only shaded and not fully cut out then this step is especially important.
When scraping rather than cutting out pieces altogether the walls of the pumpkin need to be thin enough that the candle in the center of the pumpkin will shine through these thinner parts, creating a glowing effect.
4. Plan
Know what you want to carve before you start jabbing a knife into the pumpkin.
Despite the appeal of simply winging it and seeing what comes out, this probably won’t produce the best outcome. Printing out a picture to reference throughout the carving process can help render the best results.
If you don’t trust your artistic abilities, cutting out the outline of the image you want to re-create and marking it directly on your pumpkin is a viable option. Mark it either with a pen or poke small holes all around the picture and connect the dots.
5. Be open to change
The image you come up with will almost never, unless you’re a professional pumpkin carver, come out how you originally planned.
Be willing to shift directions and work with what is happening. Accidentally cutting in the wrong place is easy to do and occasionally your goals can be a bit lofty. Be creative when you mess up. Sometimes the outcome can end up even better than how you planned.
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