Carve like an expert
How you can pamper your pumpkins to make them stand out from the rest
RALEIGH, N.C.
When Danny Williamson was growing up in Columbus County, North Carolina, he would go into the towns of Chadbourn or Evergreen for trick-or-treating. As a result, there wasn’t much need to carve Halloween pumpkins at Williamson’s home. Which is why Williamson, 62, now living in Raleigh, got to his late 30s without ever having carved a pumpkin.
His partner, Rusty Taylor, 65, decided on the spur of the moment to change that during a trip to the State Farmer’s Market about 25 years ago. Taylor was buying produce close to Halloween when a farmer offered her last seven pumpkins to him for $10. Taylor turned the farmer down at first, got to the car and turned around. “I came home and said: ‘Guess what?’ ” Taylor recalled.
Now the couple’s home is a must visit on Halloween night for their friends and neighbours. Each year, up to 55 pumpkins line the broad front steps of their home.
Taylor and Williamson hold court on the sidewalk outside as people ask questions. Williamson always carves one political pumpkin. Taylor delights in children finding images from their favourite storybooks among the pumpkin carvings, such as Bunnicula, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Hogwarts castle from the Harry Potter series. Children sit down next to the pumpkin with the year carved in it so parents can take the annual Halloween photo.
Taylor and Williamson agreed to share their Halloween pumpkin carving wisdom:
Type of pumpkins
The more popular Halloween pumpkins — those perfect orange globes with the curved stem on top — tend to have tough skin and fibrous flesh, which make them difficult to cut and hollow. Taylor and Williamson prefer the Mammoth Gold variety. The skin is easier to cut and the flesh is similar to an acorn squash and takes less work to remove the seeds.
They prefer a variety of shapes and colours — tall, squat, twisted, funky, orange, green, white or mottled. Those variations inspire the carvings. If a pumpkin isn’t flat on the bottom, flip it over or take a sliver off the bottom and place it on top of a jar lid or plant tray.
When to buy
Wait to buy pumpkins closer to Halloween to get the best deal, especially if you are buying many.
How to hollow
Wear rubber gloves. Otherwise, using hot water and soap to clean the pumpkin guts off your hands will create a cooked layer of pumpkin juice on the skin that can only be removed with cold cream. Line the table or work surface with plastic tablecloths with felt backing. (Seasonal tablecloths often go on sale after public holidays.)
Game plan
Break up the work. Hollow out the pumpkins and remove the seeds on one day and carve the pumpkins on Halloween. Hollowed out pumpkins will keep for several days in a cool place, like a back deck, a basement or a shady spot in the yard.
Clean up
Place pumpkin guts in double-lined grocery bags and place in the garbage can. If you are doing a dozen or more pumpkins, distribute the pumpkin waste among your trash can and — with permission — your neighbour’s garbage can. It is heavier than you think and no one wants to create a burden for sanitation workers.
How to use patterns
For a few early years, they used Pumpkin Masters patterns.
Eventually, they graduated to photocopying images out of books. Taylor spent 41 years working for Wake County public schools, primarily as a media resource manager for the libraries. He recommends photocopying, enlarging and darkening images from children’s books to create patterns.
Affix the pattern to the pumpkin with masking or painter’s tape and use a dull pencil to transfer the image to the face of the pumpkin before carving.
Best tools
Taylor and Williamson buy the packets of pumpkin carving tools, which are often deeply discounted the day after Halloween. Taylor has one unique tool, a copper circular clay hole cutter that potters use, which enables him to carve perfectly round holes out of the pumpkin’s face.
Carving tips
Carve the most intricate sections first. Don’t take out the pumpkin flesh you are removing until the end. Otherwise, your design has no structure to support it while you continue carving. And don’t worry about making a mistake. “When we make a mistake, we turn it into something else,” Williamson said. “Your face suddenly has a scar and you go with it.”
How to keep
How long the pumpkins will last depends on the weather. Hot weather means a short shelf life and cold, rainy weather means a longer shelf life. They have revived their pumpkins by dipping them in a bathtub of cool water for two to three minutes. Be warned, it will create a mess in the bathtub.
Candles
Buy oversized tea light candles, which last longer. (Taylor and Williamson stock up at Ikea.) They also put two candles inside each pumpkin, which makes re-lighting easier. Once one burns out, the rest will soon follow.