Okay, so maybe you’ve done it before, maybe you’ve never tried. But, to help you out with the Halloween “must have” decoration, here’s a quick how to:
Number 1 – Only use fresh pumpkins. There should be no soft spots on the outside of the pumpkin. Cutting into a rotten pumpkin? Stinky.
Number 2 - Size doesn’t really matter. Pick one that you like. Short and fat, tall and skinny, it’s totally up to you. Keep in mind, however, that if you plan on making pumpkin seeds, the larger the pumpkin, the more meaty the seeds. Smaller pumpkins aren’t good at all for toasting pumpkin seeds.
Number 3 – Wash any dirt from the outside of your pumpkin.
Number 4 – Use your water soluble marker to trace a square or hexagonal shape around the stem on the top of the pumpkin. Straight lines are much easier to cut along on this part of the pumpkin as it’s the thickest and pretty tough to cut through. (Don’t use a permanent marker, if you don’t cut exactly on the line, your pumpkin will have a bunch of marks on it, not good for the most fashionable pumpkin on the block.)
Number 5 - Using a back and forth motion, cut out the top of the pumpkin. Angle your blade slightly so that when you’re done with all the carving and you put the top back on, it won’t slide back inside the pumpkin. You might want to use a longer, thicker knife on this part of the pumpkin and also have a smaller, sharper knife on hand for the detail of the face.
Number 6 – Slice the end (that has all the pumpkin guts attached) off the pumpkin top. Remove some of the pumpkin meat so that you avoid the smell of cooking pumpkin when you light your candle.
Number 7 – Use the spoon to gently scoop out the pumpkin guts. Make sure you remove all the fibers from the inside of the pumpkin. If you don’t, when you place your candle inside, the fibers can dry and catch fire.
Number 8 – Using your water soluble marker, draw the face on the front of the pumpkin. Be creative here. Look at the shape of the pumpkin. Does it have a weird bump? Would that make a good mouth? Do you want a happy, scary, frightened or surprised pumpkin? Would the flatter side be better to carve than the caved in side? Maybe you don’t want to carve a face at all, maybe you want to carve a black cat, or get a group of pumpkins and carve a letter in each one to spell a word. It’s entirely up to you and how you want your pumpkin to look. Keep in mind, the larger the features you carve, the easier it will be to remove those parts of the pumpkin. However, smaller features will have an eerier glow than larger holes.
Number 9 – With the smaller knife, carefully carve out the face you drew on your pumpkin.
Number 10 – Push the cut pieces out by manipulating them from the inside of the pumpkin.
Number 11 – You’re done. Pop a candle, glow stick, flashlight or other non-electrical light inside your pumpkin. Turn off all the lights in your apartment and watch it glow!
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