Pumpkin Carving in All the Right Ways
I love October. Football is in full swing, the sweltering summer heat is fading away, and the Halloween party invites are flowing in. I love myself some Halloween. There’s just no other holiday (if you can call it that) quite like it. The candy, costumes, candy, ghouls, ghosts, and did I say candy!?! So…I have a bit of a sweet tooth. I admit it. No shame in that.
This year I’m having a little shindig at my apartment and as you may guess I’m already heavily into the planning. I’m going pumpkin crazy for this party and am going to put out tons of spooky faces to really set the mood. I carved a few nasty looking ones last night as prototypes.
In years past I have always struggled with my pumpkin carving skills. So I did a little research beforehand to come up with some better ways of gutting, carving, and molding these bad boys to create a little creepiness around my apartment.
Some of the ideas that I came across actually worked out really well for me. I want to make sure to share them with you so that you maximize your pumpkin carving experience this Halloween season. Check them out:
1) Using an Ice Cream scoop to get all of the pumpkin’s insides out worked so much better than using only a knife like I did last year. I’ve found that Knives just don’t scoop well.
2) This is probably obvious to you, but use a sharpie to draw out your face before you just jump in and start cutting. You might even consider sketching a few ideas on paper first to get the perfect idea.
3) Real candles are great, but there is a ton of stuff that can be done with lighting to create some really, really cool effects. Just experiment with everything that lights up from glow sticks to Christmas lights. Foil or small mirrors can be placed inside the pumpkin to make some pretty neat reflections. Also, if you want to experiment with color, get some colored saran wrap and place that in front of the light or over the holes in the pumpkins skin from the inside. Just be careful of the open flame if you are using a real candle.
4) Attachments are great additions to any pumpkin. Want that prickly head look? Place dozens of toothpicks sticking out of the pumpkin. It looks sick! Throwing hair, eye patches, jewelry, scars, and growths all on your pumpkin can add a lot of character too. I gave one of my pumpkins a grill.
5) Find away to hide a small tape recorder playing creepy sounds, voices, or even monk chants inside the pumpkin itself. Those little voice note recorders work great!
Hopefully these ideas get you started on making some awesome pumpkins this year. Now that pumpkins are almost out of the way, I need to figure out what the heck I am going to go as. I was thinking about dressing up as a hotdog and going as a Hallo-weenie.
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