the science of craft

Pumpkin…patterned.

Here’s a step-by-step on carving this pattern on a pumpkin. Tips on drawing it out, giving it structure, and getting some light gradients.

Pumpkin…patterned

STEP 1.

You must choose, but choose wisely.
This one was a little less than 1’ tall and had a 17” diameter. This was the largest one they had a home depot, I probably would have preferred larger. (But keep in mind, the larger the pumpkin, the more carving time it will require!).

STEP 2.
Measure and draw the middle pattern row.
Measure the circumference of the pumkin. This is the length of the pattern row you’ll draw. Mine was 17”, so I drew a line 17” long and divided it up into the number of repeat I wanted. This is basically so when you draw that first pattern ring, the last repeat isn’t super small or cut off. You want it relatively uniform because the rest of the pattern drawing is based off that ring. I used CAD, but you could definitely do this by had with a ruler as well. Once I had it drawn, I roughly cut it out leaving a lot of extra paper and traced it on the pumpkin with an exacto knife.

I chose this ice-cream cone shaped pattern, because I want to try to do a play with the light quality. The pointy part will be cut straight back, while the rounded part will be cut at an angle so I can get a light gradient from top to bottom.

STEP 3.

Draw the rest of the pattern.

Do it row by row. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just relatively close.

STEP 4.

Start Carving!

Cut off the lid, I opted to mimic the pattern at the seam. Scoop out the guts and start on the pattern. To get the gradient lighting effect cut straight back on the pointy section. When cutting the sides, point the knife down at the corners where the arc is and up at the point. This will keep the boundary of the cut pumpkin within the shape, and out of the other repeats, helping make the whole thing a bit more structural since there will be more intact material behind the pumpkin skin. On the curved part point downward while cutting, don’t worry if it’s a little off, you can always go back an correct it later.

STEP 5.

Finishing up.

Carve row by row from the top down to base. This makes it a little easer to handle.

It took a little while to do this, I made some pumpkin seed snacks and had a quick break (here are some recipes). Finish the last row, and light it up. (ps- turn the camera on manual and keep the shutter open a while if you want to get a good picture). It should make a cool pattern on the floor and wall.