Advanced Pumpkin Carving: Innovative Halloween Design Ideas

Want to make your pumpkin unique with a minimum of fuss? Use these advanced tips to take your pumpkin carving to a new level this Halloween:

Learn how to utilize light and shadow when carving your pumpkin to turn it into a work of art.

Cheap household items such as toothpicks or waxed paper add interest to your design.

And use something that's in every home's medicine cabinet to preserve your pumpkin after carving it!

Use light and shadow when you carve

Pumpkins are thick - don't carve all the way through your pumpkin in some areas. Carving shallowly through the pumpkin rind will allow a small amount of light through. Carving nearly the whole way through the pumpkin will allow more light through, yet still not as much as an area carved completely out. Using different carving depths in your design will make the pumpkin glow, and be more visually interesting.

Pumpkins have a backside! Carve a small ghost or other design in the back of the pumpkin, and it will project onto the wall behind it. Be sure to carve the backside design towards the top of the back of the pumpkin, above the light source. Scrape the inside of the pumpkin to about an inch thick before carving your projection design.

Use household items to jazz up your pumpkin

Colored waxed paper adds, well, color! Give your pumpkin eerie red eyes by cutting red waxed paper a bit larger than the cut-out eyes, and attach to the inside of the pumpkin with pins. You can also use tissue paper for the same effect, but if you do, use something other than a candle (i.e., no open flames) to light your pumpkin.

Attach "eyeballs" to toothpicks and stick them in the eye holes. The eyeballs will appear to float within the design.

Carve shapes, such as ears, from leftover pumpkin parts and attach them to the pumpkin with toothpicks. If you've carved a Frankenstein face, for example, fashion neck bolts and attach those.

Add "floating" props to your pumpkin

Attach wire to small Halloween props such as ghosts or bats and stick the other end into the pumpkin. The props will appear to be floating or flying around it. Don't overdo it - too much detritus floating around your pumpkin will distract from the star attraction: your amazing carving design. Two or three wire-attached props is enough to be intriguing without overwhelming

Once you've finished carving your pumpkin masterpiece, rub petroleum jelly on it with a soft cloth or paper towel. Lightly coat all surfaces, both outside and inside. The petroleum jelly seals the moisture in the pumpkin and slows the drying out process, keeping your pumpkin fresh longer.