Creating Great Halloween Memories With Your Kids by Tricia Tighe
$6 for the pumpkins but the memories are priceless
I’ve always wanted to excel at pumpkin carving, but one too many times of almost cutting off my thumb with a slime-covered paring knife dulled my enthusiasm.
But no more! There are 100s of sites on the internet that boast free patterns and how tos but I went with www.extremepumpkins.com who, for “the price” of your email address will give you a how-to booklet and 48 patterns down-loadable for free!
It turns out that my mistake was using kitchen knives-just don’t do it! When you use the right equipment, the process goes so much easier. We ordered a keyhole saw off of Amazon and a compact jigsaw And the difference was amazing!
Use the jigsaw for large cuts
The jigsaw is so light that I could cut at any angle and not be tired. The keyhole saw was the real life saver. This saw can punch through the pumkin’s skin and delicately do all your detail carving. My son loved that it had a comfortable handle for his hand to grip.
Use the keyhole saw for detail work.
Cut the pumpkin tops off, scoop out the seeds and tape the template onto the pumpkin.
Before you start carving, ask yourself-is there any area-that once carved-will cause the rest of the pumpkin to be weak? Look above at the bat signal. The round circle surrounding the Bat Signal should be carved LAST because once its carved, the sawing motion of carving the bat will break off the whole section. And it did. I repaired the section by using bamboo skewers to nail it back together.
The Batsignal By Ryan
Learn from my mistakes people, think before you carve!
Then take a nail and punch holes, outlining your pattern. This is a great time to put on some spooky music for atomosphere. My personal pick? Nox Arcana- a Ravens tale!
After you are finished with the outline, use the jigsaw for large parts that need to be carved away, like Jack Skellington’s eyes and the keyhole knife for details.
What's this?
Having the right tools makes all the difference!
This are first set of pumpkins- stay turned for more amazing work and cool memories!
