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Carving style
Freehand carving falls victim to stenciled masterpieces
By Kate Arthur
karthur@pantagraph.com

This jack-o-lantern design was drawn freehand by Bloomington's Brad Stefl. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
It used to be so simple. Triangle eyes and toothless grins. Occasionally, a tooth would get knocked out and mom would stick it back in place with a toothpick.

Sometimes you could convince the youngest to dig out the slimy stringy pumpkin guts as you sat on the Formica table and watched.

But the face of pumpkin carving has changed. Crude carvings made with a dull steak knife have all but disappeared. Silly smiles have been replaced with skeletons leaping out of flames, scowling witches and wide-eyed zombies.

Pumpkin Masters had something to do with that. Twenty years ago, the company created carving kits with easy, moderate and you-may-never-pull-this-off patterns that helped us turn gourds into works of art.

Each year, the Florida-based company releases new designs and this year there's a new twist, "Shadows," a pattern book that encourages you to carve a design in the front and back, projecting a spooky image on the wall and making the neighbors wonder if you have just a little too much time.

But it's still about the kids, and if you have a 4-year-old who can't be trusted with a knife, there's the no-mess, no-fuss face with paints, stickers, even jewelry, studding a design with metallic or glossy beads. All are available in kits.

Every October, Cheryl Stoughton of Denver carves about 60 pumpkins. Last year, she ran out of time to do one for her front porch. The special markets manager for Pumpkin Masters flew home on Halloween, making it just in time to stop at a drugstore on the way home for candy.

Earlier this month, she carved pumpkins for the set of ABC's soap opera "General Hospital" and has been behind some of the spooky faces illuminated for "Monday Night Football."

The trick is scraping the pumpkin wall to a 1-inch thickness, she said. If it's not thinned, you'll bend or break the saw or the piece just won't poke out.

Market research tells her most of us carve only one pumpkin, unless we have a kit, which encourages us to try two or three. When Stoughton was choosing 12 designs for this year's kit, she flipped through photo albums of previous years' Pumpkin Master contest entries. (To see how to enter, go to www.pumpkinmasters.com.) It's not necessarily the winners that make it into the mass market kits, because the top designs usually require more time than the average family wants to spend, she said, adding, "Most are works of art."

Carving kits, which usually retail for under $6, come with tools, but this year there's a $9.99 power saw sold separately that comes with an attachment that helps poke through the tough rind, speeding the process.

"That's my favorite thing, to have a faster way to carve pumpkins," Stoughton said.

Maybe a carver's least favorite thing is to sink elbow-deep into pumpkin guts. Rather than using mom's best tablespoon, try gutting it with a flat ice cream scoop or metal ladle.

Brad Stefl of Bloomington carves as many as eight pumpkins, some frightening, some funny.

"It just kind of depends on what mood you're in," he said.

After drawing designs freehand, he cuts them out with saws and knives, and when he's done, he doesn't worry about preserving them by rolling petroleum jelly over cut edges.

"As they start to decompose a little bit, that's kind of cool too," he said. "It lends to the whole graveyard atmosphere of the front yard."

Last fall, Kersten Wilson asked her husband, Matt, to take over the carving chores at their Bloomington home.

"I was being a kind of a Scrooge about it but I always take the work-smarter, not-harder approach so I decided to make it quick and painless," he said. "I went out to my shed."

Digging through his power tools, he came back with a one-inch drill bit and punched out two perfectly symmetrical holes for the eyes, one for the nose and one on each corner of the mouth, which he connected with a dot-to-dot pattern.

"I had the whole thing done in 45 seconds."

And will he take it on again this year?

"I don't think I have a choice anymore," he said.

Changing of the gourd



Here are some tips to make carving go faster and easier.

Choosing a pumpkin

  • Look for a smooth, evenly colored pumpkin free of bruises and mold.


  • Make sure it has a flat bottom.


  • Don't carry it by its stem.


  • For children, try to select a lighter-colored, softer pumpkin. Although they don't last as long, they're easier to carve.


    • Carving

  • Draw a lid on top of the pumpkin.


  • Draw a "tooth" at the back of the lid as a guide for replacing it. Cut along the lines and angle the blade toward the center of the pumpkin.


  • Clean out seeds and strings.


  • Scrape inner pulp away from the area you plan to carve until the pumpkin is about 1-inch thick.


  • If using a pattern, trim it, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the design. Tape the pattern to the pumpkin. You can make your pattern fit any size pumpkin by reducing or enlarging it on a photocopier, or take it with you when you're pumpkin shopping to get the right size/shape.


  • Make your dots small and close together. For detailed designs, try using a corsage or push pin. If you're having trouble seeing the pattern you've transferred, rub flour over the dots to make them more visible.


  • When you're ready to carve, hold the pumpkin in your lap. Hold the pumpkin saw like a pencil and saw steadily in an up-and-down motion. Saw at a 90-degree angle using gentle pressure.


    • Lighting

  • When using a candle, cut a hole on the upper, back part of the pumpkin. The hole will work like a chimney, allowing the candle's heat to escape.


  • If you want your opening on the bottom of the pumpkin, rather than the top, attach the light source to the bottom lid and place the pumpkin over it. Try drilling a hole to secure the candle. This provides more stability, helping with the flickering effect.


  • For a multicolor display, use a battery-operated light with LED bulbs.


  • A flashing light, like the Pumpkin Masters Ultimate Strobe Light, helps create a spooky look.


  • Sprinkle a little cinnamon, nutmeg or pumpkin spice on the bottom of the pumpkin lid for a seasonal scent.


    • Preservation

  • Pumpkins are 90 percent water. Depending on the weather, an untreated, carved pumpkin can last anywhere from a week to just a day.


  • To make it last longer, coat cut edges with petroleum jelly, inside and outside.


  • Spray the pumpkin with water, cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator when it's not on display.


  • Soak or spray the pumpkin with water mixed with a little bleach to ward off mold and kill insects.


  • To revive a shriveled pumpkin, soak it in water in a bucket or bathtub for one to 8 hours. The worse it looks, the longer it should soak. After removing it, let it drain for 30 minutes and then dry carefully with a towel.


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    Take a look
    ABOVE TOP: Drawing a pumpkin face freehand is becoming a rarity as kits make it easier to carve elaborate designs. Brad Stefl of Bloomington carved this scary face into a pumpkin on his dining room table.
    ABOVE MIDDLE: Stefl concentrates as he carves out the teeth. The key to a good design is to scrape the pumpkin wall to a 1-inch thickness, said Cheryl Stoughton of Pumpkin Masters.
    ABOVE BOTTOM: Using a special carving knife, Stefl removes this jack-o-lantern's teeth. Using tools, such as saws and drills, can speed the process. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
    This jack-o-lantern was created with help from a Pumpkin Masters stencil. The pattern came from 'Shadows,' a new pattern book that encourages the carver to make one design on the front of the pumpkin and another on the back of the pumpkin. A spooky image appears on the wall when the gourd is lit. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
    This jack-o-lantern was also created with help from a Pumpkin Masters 'Shadows' stencil. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
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