Quantcast
Channel: Calm Your Beans » how to
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 6

Pumpkin Carving Tips

0
0

Nothing says Halloween quite like a wee carved pumpkin with a hideous face sitting outside your front door. Get it right and your traditional, authentic Halloween skills will earn you much respect and kudos. Get it wrong and your friends will just pity your lack of Halloween aptitude.

Image by "wwarby" via flickr

Now, carving a good pumpkin isn’t particularly difficult as long as you have the right tools, choose the right pumpkin and follow some simple rules.


Tools

  • Large knife
  • Small knife
  • Ice-cream scoop
  • A non-permanent marker pen
  • A scalpel or craft knife


Choosing Your Pumpkin

One of the most important qualities of a good pumpkin is having a shell of appropriate hardness. Too soft and the pumpkin will droop and sag, too hard and it will be very difficult to carve. Go for one which feels hard and firm, but has a little give when you press it.

You’ll also want to pick a pumpkin with a nice stable base; you don’t want one that will tip over easily, especially if you’re going to put a candle inside.


Carving the Pumpkin

  1. Important safety tips! Always cut with the sharp edge of the blade facing away from you. And make sure you are not cutting towards your hands and fingers. A little slip could cause a nasty accident.
  2. You should start by cutting the lid. Use the marker to draw a circle of hexagon around the pumpkin’s stalk; the circle should cover about two thirds of the top of the pumpkin. Next use the large knife to cut the lid out. Don’t cut directly down the way; angle the knife in towards the centre of the pumpkin. If you cut straight down the lid is likely to fall through when you replace it.
  3. Scoop out the guts… Sorry, got a little carried away with Halloween gruesomeness there. Scoop out the seeds and flesh with the ice-cream scoop.
  4. Use the market pen to draw your design onto the pumpkin. When planning your design remember that leaving very thin strips of the pumpkin case can lead to trouble: it’s very easy to accidentally cut through them when you’re carving and they can warp and sag.
  5. Cut your design out of the pumpkin using gentle back-and-forth sawing movements; don’t try to slice hard along the lines as you might slip. Think about how you want to angle your cuts, you can produce different effects depending on the angle of the cut.


Light Source

If you want a really traditional, authentic look there’s no real substitute for a candle. Bear in mind that candles aren’t the safest option. If safety is a big concern you might want to go for LED lights.

 

Do you have any pumpkin carving tips? If so we’d love to hear them, just leave a comment below.

Share


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 6

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images