It’s that time of year again, and I love it. I especially love that feeling of Halloween night where everything feels magical and tingly and a little bit dangerous but also mischievous and fun. And one of the things I love to do around this time of year, besides a LOT of baking, is to carve pumpkins. So I thought I’d share my ‘process’, even though it’s less ‘process’ and more ‘winging it’…
1. Procure pumpkin. In the States this was an exciting trip to a pumpkin patch and long minutes were spent finding the perfect pumpkin and getting covered in muck and leaves and all sorts. Here in NI it means heading to Tesco or Sainsbury’s or wherever and digging through a large cardboard box to pick one that’s suitably roundish, with minimal markings on the outside and a good size.
2. Pick a design. It should be relatively simple because the knives aren’t the easiest to navigate through the outer skin of the pumpkin. This will take several hours as your kids fight over which design is the best, and then get huffy when the final image proves unsuitable as it’s too complicated to carve. Repeat this step until you have finally settled on a design and everyone is thoroughly pissed off. Including you.
3. Assemble your tools. I use a basic pumpkin carving kit and an assembly of kitchen knives, spoons and scoops.
4. Carve a circle in the top to allow access to the inside. (This is that lumpy orange thing in the above photo.)
5. Scoop out all the seeds and stringy bits. The cleaner and smoother you can make the inside, the longer the pumpkin will last. (Tip: you can save the seeds for roasting later if you want. They’re super tasty with garlic salt and cayenne pepper sprinkled over the top.) This step can take awhile. Especially if the kids are fighting helping.
6. Once the canvas (pumpkin) is prepared, trace your image. This can be done a few ways: tape your design onto the pumpkin and use a sharp pencil to trace the image. The pencil will leave a faint mark pressed into the skin of the pumpkin. Alternatively you can just draw straight onto the pumpkin. Or you can skip this step altogether because really, who cares. It’s a pumpkin, not the Sistine Chapel.
You can also leave the paper tracing in place and carve through it, but I find it tends to get wet and displaced, which then distorts the image. However, this is effective for expanding your swearing vocabulary.
7. When you’re ready, grab your knife. Start with an easy section of straight line while you get the feel of the density of the pumpkin. Carve slowly with an even sawing motion. Keep your hands out of the way, and if you’re having trouble with a curve or a small detail, try coming at it from different directions until you’ve completed that section. When you complete a chunk, slowly work it through the pumpkin flesh. It’s often easier to push from the inside out, but sometimes a stubborn piece is better pushed from the front to the inside. A gentle tapping can help release it. More swearing usually helps too, especially if you push out more than intended, or you have a special cat helper that keeps sticking their paw in the way.
8. As you finish the main parts of the design, tidy up your edges. Check this by looking at the image at eye level to ensure the bevels in the flesh are even and neat, otherwise the light may not shine through completely or may be refracted. (Sometimes you want this, depends on your design!)
9. Tidy up the bits of pumpkin flesh that have started to stick to the edges of the images. Make sure there are no excessive stringy bits on the inside. Give it a rinse if necessary. Light a candle and pop it in.
10. Admire your handy work. This may be the only time that something you make looks infinitely better in a very dark room, the darker the better.
Happy Halloween!
A Million Paper Stars 