Halloween
Carving a pumpkin: With these tips you can create gruesome grimaces
A Halloween pumpkin can look so scary
© Benedikt Geyer / Unsplash
Halloween is celebrated worldwide on October 31st. This already ensures that the little ones are looking forward to it. A carved pumpkin is needed for the right scary mood. And that’s how it works.
In the United States, people turn the scary holiday into a huge spectacle. The more unusual the costumes and decorations, the better. There are also many fans here in Germany. Children in particular love to roam the neighborhood on Halloween evening and collect sweets. However, it is up to the parents to ensure that the home is properly decorated. Right at the front: carving creepy grimaces into pumpkins. We’ll show you step by step how to conjure up the perfect grimace.
Step 1: choose the pumpkin
There are numerous types of pumpkin, the well-known ones are suitable for the Halloween variant Hokkaido pumpkins preferably. These pumpkins are a good size and can be placed stably on the ground. You can usually find Hokkaidos in any supermarket, pumpkin fields or weekly market. If you have a pumpkin patch near you, buying the matching Halloween pumpkin can turn into a fun family outing.
Step 2: tools
Sharp knives or cutters from the craft store are suitable as tools. Small children should therefore not carve themselves and older children should only be supervised. Note that conventional kitchen knives can only make rough faces. If you have no practice or lack of sensitivity, carving with classic knives can be difficult. So if you would like to carve more filigree patterns and more elaborate grimaces, just take one Pumpkin carving set help. This makes the works of art easier and faster.
The choice of motif does not end with the classic grimace. There are also stencils that bring witches, mummies or skulls to life (for example in this one Stencil set). If you are not using a carving set, you will also need a spoon to hollow out the pumpkin.
It’s that easy to carve a Halloween pumpkin
© Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash
Step 3: carve the pumpkin
Only a few steps are necessary to carve the Halloween pumpkin.
- First, cut out a circular lid from the pumpkin. Make sure that you start at an angle towards the middle so that the lid cannot fall inwards later. Let the style stand, so you have a practical handle and the pumpkin is easy to open and close.
- For the next step you will need a tool to hollow out. If you don’t have a carving set, you can use a spoon. In the end, the pumpkin should still have one border about two to three centimeters thick feature.
- Depending on the time and effort required, you can choose different motifs. If you use a practical stencil set, you can simply stick it on the pumpkin and cut out the appropriate places. If you don’t have any stencils at hand, you can go with water soluble pencils paint your own creations on the pumpkin. The pen guarantees that you can easily wash off the contours later and that no unsightly lines remain.
Tip: Before you start carving, you can pre-stitch the lines. This makes it easier and more precise to cut the pumpkin afterwards. Such tools are already included in the carving sets. Otherwise, you can use a pushpin or pin.
Step 4: preserve the pumpkin
You can also set up a Halloween pumpkin before the holiday. After all, the creations make children happy and are great eye-catchers in the house and garden. The drier the pumpkin is, the less it is prone to mold. Let the pumpkin dry after carving. You can then coat the inside of the pumpkin thinly with petroleum jelly or rinse it out with vinegar water. Hairspray is a good way to make the outside of the pumpkin more durable.
Step 5: gruesome play of light
The eerily beautiful pumpkin grimace only needs one last detail. The creepy pumpkins look particularly good as light decorations. The grimace only really comes into its own when candlelight flickers through it. Best to use electric candles, so you can leave your Halloween creation unattended without any worries.
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