From Pumpkin to Jack-o-lantern

Paul got me a very nice pumpkin this year, for $3.25 at Your Independent.  I would have preferred a longer stem - just makes it easier to work with. I had decided I wanted to carve an owl, so the next step is to search the Internet.

I found it harder to find free templates this year - ones that could be downloaded without signing up for the 'free' newsletter. I found the owl, below, which is a good size. It is the black areas which will be cut out. In hindsight, I wouldn't use this one again. Too many little details and many of the black areas are too thin, making carving difficult.  Also, the 'white' areas are too narrow in many cases, like around the beak and eyes, leaving not enough pumpkin to hold the whole thing together. The face on my carving eventually fell out and I had to hold it in place with toothpicks.

Once you've chosen a template, 

tape it on your pumpkin. It should 

be fairly secure, but have some play.

At right are the tools I use. As it turned out, the black knife did not have a stiff enough blade. Make sure your knife is sharp. The nail has to be smooth. Mine was an inch and a half - 2 inches would have been better. Make sure the nail is not too thick. I've also seen that a ball point pen works - I've only ever used a nail.

I used the serrated edge knife to cut the top. Some sites say to carve the hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. I don't get that - where do you put the candle in that case? Once I cut the top,  I cleaned out the pumpkin. Most web-sites tell you to spread newspapers because cleaning is messy. I'm lazy so I didn't bother - probably should have. Clean up would have been easier. I did have a grocery bag handy and I put all the slime and extra seeds in that. This pumpkin had lots of seeds but the flesh was very stringy, making it harder to carve. I did save a lot of seeds for roasting later.

Procedure: With the nail, start poking holes along the outside edge of the black areas. The nail does not have to go all the way through the flesh. You are just using the holes as a guide for carving later. This pattern required a lot of holes. It can be tricky because the template slips, so you have to keep your eye on what you are doing. At left, is my finished hole-pinched owl. Just follow the holes to carve the design you have chosen. In the picture at the left, I have already cut out the moon.

As I said, it was a lot of holes. At one point, my thumb and index finger were stiff, so I got out the power tools. Not such a good idea as it turned out - the paper got wet and mushy and I lost the pattern in a couple places.

The completed piece! If you look closely, you can see where I had to use toothpicks to hold it together. Just not enough pumpkin flesh between elements of the design. I also couldn't complete the right eye. The whole thing was getting soft and flimsy, so I made do with a little hole for the eye instead.

Luckily, a candle and the dark are very forgiving! Don't forget to carve 3 or 4 holes in the 'lid' to allow the candle smoke to escape.

I did this witch in 2012 using the same procedure.  I seem to recall it was much easier. But I couldn't find the same template or one I liked as much this year.

I also did this one in 2012. I think it is my favourite.

Of course, this is my all-time favourite Jack-o-lantern, our whoodle, Dune.