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TRADITIONAL
PUMPKIN CARVING |
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A well
carved pumpkin will impress your friends,
family, neighbors and best of all, you're
trick-or-treaters! Carving a
pumpkin into a Jack-O'-Lantern freehand with
a sharp knife is
the traditional way of doing it, it is very
easy and only takes a few basic tools. A large
sturdy spoon or ice-cream scoop, a thin
bladed knife and some newspaper is all you need to get started.
For
more information on tools click here.
With a long, thin bladed
knife, cut out the top of the pumpkin a few inches out from the stem. The hole should be
large enough to allow you to scoop out the guts (seeds and stringy membrane) by hand and
with a large spoon. Generally, the size of the hole should be about two-thirds the
diameter of the pumpkin. While you can cut a round circle out, you'll find that cutting a
five or six sided opening will work the best. As you cut out the top hole, angle the knife
so that the lid and hole will be somewhat cone shaped. This will help prevent the lid from
falling into the hole. Now use the spoon to scrap the inside walls clean.
Inspect the surface
of the pumpkin to decide the best side to carve your
face. Now, visualizing the face you want to carve,
use your knife to carefully cut out the individual
parts of the face or you can pre-marked the pumpkin
by using a Crayon to draw the face onto the surface
of the pumpkin and cut through the lines you drew.
When you are finished cutting, carefully push out
the pieces to view the final results.
Make sure that you have
scrapped the bottom of the pumpkin flat, so that the candle or candle
holder will sit level in the pumpkin.
We prefer the traditional use of candles to illuminate our Jack-O'-Lanterns. A Votive
candle, placed in a clear glass candle holder is safer and will actually last longer.
Also, plain white candles give off the most light and will illuminate the inside of your
Jack-O'-Lantern better than colored candles.
Now you're all set to light up your pumpkin for Halloween night!
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 TIP: Don't throw out those
little glass jars that Kraft brand cheese spread comes in, they make great candle holders! When empty,
simply soak them in hot water to remove the label and wash them out. Votive candles fit in them
perfectly! Candles burn longer in them and the added height of the glass makes the candle more resistant to
being blown out by the wind. |
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