Carving Pumpkin Patterns

These Carving Pumpkin Patterns are popular during Halloween

The pumpkins are in,

The pumkins are out,

The pumpkins, the pumpkins

Give a shout!

Looking for Halloween Pumpkin Patterns? Follow the links through this Halloween Pumpkin page and you'll find great ideas for pumpkin carving. Some tips for carving pumpkins:

Decide your design in advance and choose your pumpkin accordingly.your design will determine whether you need a tall narrower pumpkin or a round one.
Before you can begin to carve your design, you must prepare the pumpkin by removing the seeds and thinning the inner walls.
When cutting a lid, it helps to angle the blade of your knife or saw inward, so it creates a small lip for the lid to rest upon.
Attach the pattern to the pumpkin with tape or straight pins. An easier way of transferring the design to your pumpkin is to soak the paper pattern in water to help it stick to the pumpkin.
When you poke holes around the design lines, do not push poker all the way into the pumpkin. Use just the tip to poke through the paper and outer pumpkin skin.
You can make the transferred dots of your pattern easier to see by rubbing flour into them. The flour will fill the holes and turn them white.
Hold the pumpkin in your lap, and hold the saw as you would a pencil.
To make sharp corners, always remove the saw completely and re-insert it at a different angle.
The saws are somewhat fragile, especially the finer ones. Don't put too much pressure on them or they will break.
Toothpicks are good for adding extra features like ears or noses.
Tinfoil makes a good candleholder.
Washing the inside of the pumpkin with a mild bleach solution will slow the process of decay.

Useful resources for carving pumpkin patterns

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/holidays/halloween/pumpplans.html- carving pumpkin patterns Pictures & instructions.
http://www.thepumpkinfarm.com/carvemenu.html - offer Templates and carving tips for pumpkin carving.
A nice little Pumpkin Carving kit
http://www.yankeeharvest.com/pumpkin/pumpkin3.html - Pumpkin Masters "PC/Mac" CD Software and Carving Tools.

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