FREEHAND, STENCIL, APP: CARVERS GET CREATIVE
From freehand to stencils to an “augmented reality app,” creativity abounds
B ack in the dark ages of my youth — when troublesome kids like me couldn’t so much as look at sharp knives — only parents would carve a Halloween pumpkin freehand, hoping that the scraggly teeth and triangle eyes wouldn’t be too crooked and praying that it wouldn’t shrivel up and collapse within a day or two.
Tiny little carving tools? Not invented yet. Stencil kits? Puhlease. Methods to preserve our work? Huh? Our parents were pumpkin pioneers. Purveyors of pulchritudinous gourds by their own clumsy, untrained hands.
By the time I had my own family 100 years later, stencil kits rescued the creatively challenged. And some genius invented those tiny little carving tools so we could elevate our gourd game beyond jack-o’-lanterns and the kids could actually participate.
We produced some pretty cool artwork — which lasted until the squirrels chewed their faces off the next day.
Today, folks still freehand pumpkin designs, even if most of us can’t hope to com-
pare to the art that pros like the Maniac Pumpkin Carvers of Brooklyn put out this time of year. (“Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh? David Bowie? Seriously?)
Think those methods are too old-fashioned? The Washington Post is offering pumpkin carving help with its “Classic iOS app.” Get this: They want you to download an “augmented reality” app, which will let you select a stencil design for your pumpkin, then hold your phone toward the gourd so it projects the stencil and adjust it to the right size. Then they want you to draw the stencil onto the pumpkin with your other hand. Bwahahahahaha.
Who do they think we are? Maniac Pumpkin Carvers wannabees?
However you choose to carve your pumpkin this year, here are some tips on how to create them — and fend off those face-eating squirrels — from the Denver Post’s Sara Grant and Maniac Pumpkin Carvers’ co-founder Marc Evan.
Planning is key. Have all of your supplies and design ideas ahead of time. Gather a lot of newspapers or a tablecloth you can toss, a sharp knife for the initial cutting and spoons and bowls for when the carving begins. Are you freehanding, or using a prepackaged kit? Keep pencils and markers handy and make sure you have enough knives — from the kit or your kitchen drawer — to go around. You may also want to set aside a bowl for the seeds to bake for snacking on later.
Cover a large table (or the floor) with newspaper or a tablecloth. Lay out your pumpkins and tools. Evan recommends keeping a clean work space — you don’t want to misplace a sharp tool under pumpkin guts.
Wash the pumpkin before you carve it. Getting the dirt and bacteria off will help it stay fresh longer.
Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin big enough to drop in a candle (flame or battery powered) and cut a notch in the circle for easy retopping. Be sure to cut your lid at an angle, not straight down, to keep it from falling into itself. Then get in there with a spoon or ice cream scoop and scrape out all the stringy brains and seeds, especially if you’re using a real candle.
Draw your design freehand with a pencil or punch it out from a stencil.
“Have a plan,” Evan said. “Sketch out a design first. It can be as rough as a doodle, but having a plan will help avoid mistakes or frustration that can come with carving on the fly.” He added that sharper tools are better. Dull blades require more pressure and are more likely to slip on the pumpkin and cause injuries.
Take care not to cut out pieces that are meant to be left as negative space. The extremely artsy can use shading instead of carving for a beautifully back-lit image, or sculpt a face much like the work of Evan and his company (though he adds the truly intricate designs can take up to 16 hours to produce). Small children can draw or paint on the pumpkin instead.
“Take your time, have fun and be patient,” he added. ”Enjoy the process of carving a pumpkin. Everyone improves with practice.”
Protect your work. Within three days of carving, pumpkins seem to wilt or mold, especially in Denver’s typically temperate climate. Bleach keeps pumpkins from rotting. After you carve, submerge your pumpkin for 2 minutes in a solution of 3 teaspoons bleach to 3 gallons water, or fill a spray bottle with the solution and douse the inside and outside of your creation. You can also spray it with WD40, but if you do, do not use a real flame inside.
Rubbing the pumpkin with petroleum jelly or olive oil will keep it from drying out and wrinkling and extend the life a little bit longer, according to HGTV. Some stores also sell pumpkin preserving spray.
As for those pesky squirrels? Try spraying the pumpkin with hairspray, applying hot sauce or cayenne pepper to your work of art, or even placing the pumpkin on a blanket of dog hair. (Wear gloves and protect your eyes if you choose the hot sauce or cayenne pepper methods.)