Pumpkin Carving Tips:

There are many different ways to carve pumpkins but before we show you our way, we want to stress some SAFETY RULES.

Carving pumpkins and Jack 'O Lanterns has some inherent dangers. You could injure yourself very seriously with any sharp tool used to carve, you will illuminate with a flame or electricity. IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE USING SHARP OBJECTS THEN GET COMPETENT HELP. USE COMMON SENSE HERE. REMEMBER, YOU ASSUME ALL RISK OF INJURY.

HINTS TO PRESERVE YOUR PUMPKIN-

• Never carry the pumpkin by the stem. If it breaks off you are stuck with a goofy looking injured pumpkin and no handy way to lift the lid.

• To prolong the carved pumpkin store it in a refrigerator when it is not on display.

• Before you store the pumpkin in the refrigerator, wet down the area around any cutouts and cover them with some type of plastic wrap. Do the same for the lid.

And on to the pumpkin carving tips...

GATHER THE SUPPLIES & TOOLS YOU WILL NEED-

• Choose a ripe pumpkin with a good stem,
  with no knicks or bruises.

• Download Me On A Pumpkin ^©

• Work in an area that can be cleaned up easily.
  The kitchen counter is always good.

• Medium sized sharp knife to cut the lid.

• Large serving spoon for hollowing the pumpkin.

• Smaller cutting tools, or saws, for doing the intricate carving. There are several good pumpkin carving tool kits available commercially. The right tools will dramatically reduce the risk of injury. Most are reasonably priced and work well, look for them at various retail outlets. Store all tools away from children’s reach.

• Illumination - candle or electricity?

A point we want to make here is that you should always carve with competent adult supervision.

“HALLOWING” OUT THE PUMPKIN

• With a felt-tipped pen draw cutting line for a lid on the top of the pumpkin. Some people like to put a notch at the back edge of the lid to assist in placing the lid back on snuggly each time. Rotate the pumpkin to choose the best side for the stencil and then make sure that the notch is to the back of the "e;good"e; side.

• Cut on the lid line at a 45 degree angle toward the stem with a reasonably sharp knife. This technique will make the skin side of the lid larger than the flesh side of the lid and will keep the lid from falling through.

• Once the hole is cut, pry the lid open and cut off the pulp attached to the flesh side and let if fall back into the pumpkin. REMEMBER- keep your hands clear of the sharp blade!

• Use a large serving spoon to scrape the membrane and seeds from the sides of the pumpkin and shape the wall to a comfortable carving thickness (we suggest about 1" wall that allows for strength but isn't so thick that it is difficult to carve).

• When you have all of the walls and the sides scraped, turn the pumpkin over a receptacle and dump the inside out all at once. Then you can decide whether to retrieve the seeds for drying, composting the remains, or discarding. (Webmaster contribution - garbage disposals may not be able to handle pumpkin seeds.) You are going to get messy here but if you do it right, it will only be once and it won't take long (especially if you don't clog your disposal).

• Decide if you will use a candle or electrical application to illuminate your pumpkin:

• To use a candle: Make the inside bottom of the pumpkin flat and then use your spoon to “drill”; a depression that will hold the candle.

• To determine the best place to “vent” the lid, place the candle in the hole, light it and put the lid on only long enough to determine where the black spot is on the lid from the burning candle. Drill out a hole clear through the lid at the blackened spot in order to vent the candle's exhaust.

• To use an electric light bulb: To disguise the electrical cord for display cut out a keyhole shape in the back of the pumpkin at the bottom and save the plug. The big part of the hole it used to insert the light. The little groove at the bottom is for the light cord. When you are ready to display the pumpkin place the plug (less the little notch) back in the pumpkin. The light cord will fill up the little hole and all of the light will come out the front for your display.

• We suggest using a standard clear Christmas tree bulb of 5 watts or less. Since there is no candle to replace, there is no need for a vent hole in the top of the pumpkin, and the lower heat helps the pumpkin last longer. Remember this, you are now using ELECTRICITY to light your pumpkin. DON'T LET IT SIT OUT IN THE RAIN!

PUTTING YOUR STENCIL ON THE PUMPKIN

• After you print out stencil and directions, trim away excess paper from the stencil edge, leaving about 2 inch border around the outside of the pattern.

• Attach the stencil to the pumpkin’s “good”; side with masking tape.

• Crease the paper into the grooves and curves of the pumpkin as you tape.

• Transfer the stencil to the pumpkin using a pencil or other pointed tool to lightly score the pattern outlines. Poke all of the black dots on the stencil into the pumpkin. Remove the stencil and keep it handy as reference (keep the photo, too.)

CUTTING THE IMAGE HINTS

• Using the dots or lines as a guide, and the stencil and photo as reference, locate an area to be removed.

• To start carving an area, use an appropriate tool to poke a hole through the pumpkin inside the boundary of the area you are going to remove. This will give you a place to begin cutting without distorting the edge of the area.

• You may find it helpful to connect the dots of the stencils on the pumpkin with a fine point felt tip pen in order to capture the small curves between the dots.

• Here is a REALLY good piece of advice. Start carving in the middle center of the stencil and do the smaller sections FIRST. Starting in the center give more stability to the cutting surface and you will be less inclined to rest your hand on a delicate surface while cutting out larger area.

• Cutting at a 90º angle from the surface of the pumpkin will provide the best stability in “thin” pattern areas where there will not be much pumpkin flesh for support in the final product.

• Dramatic results can be achieved with the “advanced”; carving technique of varying angles from 90º the surface of the pumpkin in appropriate parts of the image. Sometimes a 30º angle up or down from 90º can give the appearance of a shadow or fuzziness once the interior is lit and the pumpkin is placed in the dark. These advanced techniques aren't necessary to get a good basic carved pumpkin.

CONGRATULATIONS-

If all went well, you should now be looking at a wonderfully carved pumpkin.

We hope you enjoy displaying your pumpkins and also hope you had a great success using Me On A Pumpkin ^© v2.0.