Custom Pumpkin Stencils presents:

The Comprehensive Guide for Carving the Perfect Pumpkin

(yeah, we know…Long name. But “So you think your can Carve” probably would have gotten us into some serious trouble.)

From the Beginning

Carving a pumpkin sounds like it should be a simple procedure. Cut the top off, pull the guts out and start hacking away with a kitchen knife. Ahhh the good old days. Now everyone wants a fancy-shmansy stencil. With their fancy-shmansy pumpkin saws and patterns. Whatever happened to those days? We’re not sure, but we couldn’t be happier. How else could we have this crazy pumpkin-filled business?

Pumpkin Choice

Pumpkins come in so many shapes and sizes. And so do Pumpkin Stencils. These 2 need to go hand in hand. You’re going to have an odd looking carve job if you choose a tall narrow stencil and a fat wide pumpkin. Choose both carefully. Also look for a pumpkin that has a nice flat carving side. You’ll know when you see it. Like that puppy that came and chose you at the pound, so too pumpkins choose their masters.

Sleepy Hollow

Hollowing and scraping out the pumpkin is the >>blech<< job in this pumpkin carving episode. For the longest time, We used a big steel kitchen spoon to get at those guts.

That is, until we found this little baby. Nice and small so it fits right in the palm of your hand. Coupled with it’s shark-like serrated edge, you’ll make quick work of those gourdy-sinews.

The handy little unit is also great for scaping the inside of your pumpkin nice and thin. We recommend you try to get the carving side as thin as 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. The biggest carving setbacks come from the sawing action. It can cause too much stress on the fine lines of your pumpkin. Or, if you go in at an angle, This way, the thinner the pumpkin, the easier to cut and less stress.

Some Stencil Origami

That community college Origami course you took back in 03 is finally going to pay off. Start by cutting off some of the extra white space around your stencil. When you’re ready to tape that stencil to your pumpkin, obviously it isn’t going to sit perfectly on the pumpkin. Flat page…. round pumpkin… somthing’s gotta give. If you use a number of smaller folds rather that a one big fold to mould the sheet to the contour of the pumpkin, you’ll be able to stay truer to the stencil image.

Position the stencil so it’s not too close to the bottom or or the top. Get it right in the middle, then tape the top edge first. Just use Scotch Tape or if you’re feeling really industrious, go for the Packing Tape. Hold down the bottom and give it another look over. this is when you can easily make the placement correction.

Next tape the bottom down. Now starting from the top, find the area around the edges that has the most black (carve out) space. You want to avoid folding areas that have finer detail. Make multiple 1/2 folds along the edges narrowing to a point towards the middle of the stencil. Many small folds will make for less distortion of the stencil when it comes time to carve.

Do the Hokey Pokey

Ready yourself for a handcramp. It’s inevitable. Once the stencils is attached to your pumpkin, we need to transfer that masterpiece to your fleshy canvas.

Remember, pretty much all stencils will require you to remove the SHADED AREAS. Use a “poker” to mark all the way around the edges of those shaded regions.

We’ve use a push pin, but it transfers pretty small holes. We’ve also used a dremel tool. That is the coolest, but a little pricer that a Pumpkin Poker. Personally, we go the cheap route. A good finishing nail is nice and sharp. Especially handy for poking through the part of the stencil covered in tape.

As a rule of thumb, the smaller the space to carve, the more holes you should poke. You want to be able to follow the details as much as possible.

Mark your Territory

Once you’ve poked around all the shaded areas of your stencil, gently remove it from your pumpkin, but keep it handy. You’ll definitely want to refer to it at some point during the carving stage. To make all those holes you’ve poked stand out even more, spread a little flour over the pumpkin. Our starchy friend will adhere to the moisture from the holes making it that much easier to see where to carve.

X-acto Mundo

Do you want this pumpkin to be perfect or not? By far, the most precise method of carving a pumpkin is with an X-acto knife. Pumpkin saws are all the rage and they can work very well. But there are a few setbacks to sawing your pumpkin.

The stress from the saw can cause smaller and finer lines to break from the the back and forth motion. Also, the saw blade can bend on its way through, making the cut at and angle rather than straight through the pumpkin. The other disadvantage to using the pumpkin saw is it will leave behind all kinds of mulched pumpkin residue.

If you’ve scraped your pumpkin out to the recommended 1/4-1/2 inch thickness, the X-acto knife will easily cut all the way through your pumpkin making the cleanest possible lines. It’s certainly our weapon of choice

In the Starting Blocks

THIS IS IMPORTANT… Don’t go straight for the biggest sections. You’ll want to start carving the smallest areas first. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine if you will. Okay… close your eyes after you read this part and do your imagining in a moment.

You carve all the big pieces of your stencil and THEN go at the smaller areas. All those pieces attaching the body of your carving to the rest of your pumpkin have all the stress of a tax-time accountant put on them. Pumpkins are lazy creatures. They’ll snap like a dry twig. Next thing yo know, YOU’RE snapping toothpicks to put it all back together. Okay… start imagining.

Don’t feel like you have to cut out each area all at once. You’ll find if you cut out smaller pieces of a bigger piece, you’ll have much more luck getting those pieces out without breaking your pumpkin.

PUSHHHHHH!!! (breath breath breath) PUSHHHHHHH!!!!

As you cut out each piece of your pumpkin, the instinct will be to push the piece through, into the pumpkin. Well think of me as the Pumpkin Whisperer. NO PUSHY INNY! You’ll want ignore that instinct and push the cut out piece from the INSIDE-OUT. Reach inside the pumpkin and push the the freshly cut morsel out towards you. This is much less likely to put stress on the carved areas of your pumpkin. If it’s not coming out easily, cut that hunk into even smaller pieces and take them out one at a time.

She’s got the Look

Even after your pumpkin is carved, it’s not until you’ve added light, that it will really come to life. Use 2 or 3 tealights in your pumpkin to give some good glow. Stand back… and be amazed at your work of art. And remember, this isn’t a KodakColor print. It’s a pumpkin. If you didn’t get the dimple on Grandma’s chin just right, I think she’ll still back you pumpkin pie.

Have a great time carving your stencils.

Custom Pumpkin Stencils