ShepWeb: Pumpkin Carving

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Pumpkin Carving

Well, I thought I would give pumpkin carving a try. We've always done the traditional carve blocks out. But I wanted to try the stencil method that doesn't go all the way through the skin.

I saw you could get a pumpkin carving kit from Dremel, using Dremel bits. Hey, I've already got a cordless Dremel (for grinding down my dog's toenails). I thought I would buy the bit, download some templates, and be golden.

In a perfect world, here is how you carve your pumpkin.

Print out a template.

Tape template to pumpkin.

Using a needle or push pin, trace outline of template to pumpkin

Using your Dremel tool, carve out the design area.

Light it from the back and you're done!

Printing out the template is the easiest of the steps.

Taping a flat piece of paper to a carved pumkin isn't the simplest, but you can do it. Don't worry about it getting crinkly.

Outlining with a pushpin is pretty crucial. You want to be as detailed as possible. It looks obvious with the template in place, but once it comes off I had what looked like a connect-the-dots with no numbers. I looked at the template and connected the dots with a pen and then filled in the areas I wanted to remove.

Using the Dremel itself is a piece of cake. But I had a few issues. The Dremel pumpkin carving kit uses a 191 High-Speed cutter. I could only find a 192. I didn't think this would be an issue, but the tip is about 3/16" diameter and I would have liked something smaller for less rounded corners or getting into narrow lines on the template. Looking it up, the 191 is 1/8" diameter, It also spins wet pumpkin bits all over the place.

You want to get the carved portions as thin as possible to light up the best. I found just carving off the surface the depth of the bit the easiest, and then scraping the inside to thin it out. Shine a light on the design so you can see what areas need thinning.

If you've got it really thin, you can probably just light it with a candle. I found sticking a light bulb on the inside to work the best. If you want, you can carve a hole in the back and stick a flashlight through to illuminate the design. You might be able to stick a nightlight inside with an extension cord.

Dremel has some very nice templates, but they aren't for the beginner. They are very detailed. I couldn't carve the fine lines and corners and points that were on the template.

I found much more success just drawing on the pumpkin with

http://www.dremel.com/html/products/tools/pumpkin_patterns.html

http://www.dremel.com/html/products/tools/pumpkin_tips.html