It is this time of year we are allowed to play with our food! And what better way than to make a scary carved pumpkin head. Its roots are said to be Irish and began with turnips, follow the tutorial to help keep the ghosts and Stingy Jack away!
To Make:
- 1 Large Pumpkin
- Download pumpkin face template pumpkin face 1 pumpkin face 2 pumpkin face 3
- Printer (to print out your downloaded template)
- Scissors
- Large Pins
- Felt pen
- 1 Sharp paring knife
- 1 Tablespoon
- Containers (one for pumpkin seeds / one for pumpkin flesh)
Carving the pumpkin:
- The first step is to choose the right pumpkin, choose the biggest one as it is easier to carve a face onto a bigger surface.
- The large pumpkin will also supply more pumpkin flesh for your halloween pumpkin soup.
- Like the soup tutorial the important items you will need are a sharp paring knife and strong tablespoon.
- The knife is to cut the top off the pumpkin. This must be done slowly and carefully, working your way around, making sure you are cutting away from your fingers.
- Once the top is off, use the spoon to scrap out the seeds and the loose fibres until you can feel the flesh of the pumpkin.
- I always use the spoon to scrap away the flesh, never use a knife inside the pumpkin as it may slip. A spoon will never cut your finger!
- Keep scraping until you get down to about 1.5 cm from the outside, this will give a good width for your pumpkin carving.
- Remember to make sure you have a flat bottom inside the pumpkin to hold the candles steady.
Carving the face:
- Choose which face you want and print it out on A4, reduce the scale if you have chosen a smaller pumpkin.
- After you have printed your chosen face you will need a pair of scissors to cut out the face features from the paper.
- Pin the face features onto the pumpkin.
- Draw around the printed features and remove the template.
- With your sharp paring knife slowly cut around the outlines, always keep your fingers behind the knife blade.
Tip: you don’t need to cut the whole way through on the first round, cut half way and then right through on the second or third time around.
- Don’t worry if the outline is not straight, you can clean up the lines after the shape has been removed.
- Add one or two tea lights depending on how bright you want the light to be, wait until dark, light the candles and enjoy keeping those ghosts away!
My Book – Sewing Animal Dolls
