Pumpkin Carving

When Louise decided that she wanted to get a pumpkin for Halloween, I thought that some research was in order. I found quite a few sites on the Internet which had some interesting carved pumpkins, with instructions for making them. Just Google for "carving pumpkins" to get an idea. In the end I chose www.fabulousfoods.com, and selected the 'Evil Eyes' template. Next time I might design my own pattern, but on this occasion we were in a hurry, so we downloaded the template from the site. The First step was to resize the pattern so that it fitted the pumpkin that we had bought earlier in the day. Once this was done, I printed it off and prepared to start carving. For this particular pattern, you will need to allow about an hour of carving time. Subsequent pumpkins are likely to take much less time. The pattern looks like this Cut out most of the blank paper around the outside of the pattern (see grey line, above) and use drawing pins (or such) to fix it in place on the pumpkin. Use a spike of some kind to stab through the paper and into the skin of the pumpkin, following the pattern. Then if the pattern is not clear, scribe between the pin-pricks to make clear lines. Cut the top off (retaining it to make a lid). and scoop the seeds out with a spoon and knife. The final phase is to carefully use a sharp knife to cut out the 'waste' being careful not to cut too deeply or break off any of the thin 'features' of the pattern. I think the final result is pretty good (considering that I'd not carved one before). I was lucky not to cut right through the flesh, as this created a better effect in this particular case. I needed four night-light candles to produce enough light to penetrate the flesh. I also lined the inside of the pumpkin with silver foil to act as a reflector. You do need the house-lights off to see it to best effect. The photo on this page makes it look brighter than it was in reality, but there's a nice fiery look to the eyes, don't you think? One final point. You need air for the candles. If you just light the candles and put the lid on, it will quickly go out. If you leave the lid on at a jaunty angle, you might get away with it. The best idea is to put a ventilation hole at the back of the pumpkin near the base, and make a hole in the lid where it won't be noticed too much.

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