Post-Halloween Pumpkin Carving

It had been my plan to carve a pumpkin the night of Halloween this year, but a combination of laziness and getting home later than normal prevented me from actually following through. After thinking about it for a bit I decided it would not be a bad thing if I carved a pumpkin a little later than everyone else, and so yesterday I grabbed a smallish one and today I took a stab at it.

It has been a few years since I last carved a pumpkin so I am a little out of practice. My design was inspired by a pumpkin I saw in a magazine a few weeks ago, but mine did not wind up as lovely as the original. As I was sitting there trying to make it semi-perfect, though, I realized how therapeutic carving a pumpkin can be. Maybe it was because I was working with my old pottery tools, but it reminded me of my ceramics class I took about three years back. The class lasted several hours, and it was a perfect combination of creativity, concentration, and relaxation.

Here are the tools I used:

• Garden gloves (for safety)
• Needle tool (found in pottery kits)
• Knife

I tried finding a pattern online, but did not find anything I liked, so I just winged it. I did, however, find some helpful sites that offered suggestions and tips for when you are carving (safety tips or carving methods).

Here are a few:

• How to Carve a Pumpkin
• Pumpkin Carving 101
• Extreme Pumpkins (my personal favorite for inspiration)