How to make a Halloween watermelon out of paper. Unusual pumpkin for Halloween: choose yours! Decorative pumpkins: for those who don't like to carve

On the night of October 31 to November 1, one of the ancient holidays in the world - Halloween. This ancient Celtic celebration has interesting story, original traditions and funny paraphernalia. The holiday strangely combines two traditions: the honoring of evil spirits and the worship of all saints.

In the USA, Europe and Canada, on this day it is customary to dress up in costumes of evil spirits, hold masquerades, light bonfires and build jack-o'-lanterns. It is not surprising that on the approaches to famous holiday, many people have a question: how to make a pumpkin for Halloween? Today we will try to give you comprehensive instructions on how to make a Jack-O-Lantern.

Pumpkin is the main attribute of Halloween. Celebrants, as a rule, cut out ominous faces on the ripe fruit and insert a candle inside, constructing a kind of lantern. The habit of making vegetable lamps originated in Ireland and Great Britain. Celtic monks (Druids) made them from turnips, beets, rutabaga and used them to drive out evil spirits.

Initially, this ritual had nothing to do with Halloween, but in the 19th century, North America made it the main tradition of this holiday. Only instead of these vegetables they began to use pumpkin, since it symbolizes the harvest time. Americans named the jack-o-lantern the Jack-O-Lantern and made it the official symbol of Halloween.

Jack Lantern - who is he?

Before you start making a pumpkin for Halloween, you should familiarize yourself with the legend of Jack-O-Lantern, whose soul still wanders in search of peace.

According to legend, Jack led a miserable life as a lazy farmer, drunkard and thief. Running away in Once again With goods stolen from a crowd of angry peasants, he met the devil, who announced his hour of death. But Jack did not want to die and asked the messenger of hell to delay his death a little, offering in return to discredit the sinless peasants.

The insidious agreement was that the devil would turn into gold coin, with which Jack will pay for the stolen things. The coin will then disappear and the greedy villagers will start a fight to find out who stole it. The devil liked Jack's idea. He immediately turned himself into a gold coin and climbed into the thief's pocket.

But since the stolen item was a cross, the demon instantly lost his power. Jack released him on the condition that he would not take his soul to hell.

But when he died, his soul was not accepted either in heaven or in hell. Finding his way in the pitch darkness, Jack asked the devil for a lantern, to which he threw him several smoldering coals. The thief built a lamp from a pumpkin, put coals in it and began to wander between heaven and earth in search of peace. This is how the Jack Lantern appeared, commemorated annually on the night of November 1st.

How to Make a Halloween Pumpkin: Step-by-Step Guide

To make a Jack-O-Lantern you will need the following arsenal of available tools:

pumpkin;
cutting board;
knives (one long, one short with a thin, sharp blade);
spoon;
felt-tip pen, marker or stencil with a face;
candle.

Attention! Try to choose the freshest pumpkin. The skin of such a fruit has not yet hardened, which means it will be easier for you to carve patterns on it.

So that the lantern can not only fulfill its purpose on the day of the holiday, but also please the eye afterwards, check the pumpkin for the presence/absence of damage and rotten areas. At the same time, its shape and size do not matter.

Let's get started. Detailed Process making the lantern is shown in the photo.

Step 1. After choosing a pumpkin, cover the table with old newspapers or oilcloth, since carving the fruit is fraught with contamination.

Step 2. On the top of the pumpkin (around the stem), draw a circle or square with a marker to indicate the future hole. Make it large enough so that you can easily remove the pulp by hand or with a large spoon.

Step 3. Armed with a long kitchen knife, cut out the marked “cap”. This process must be performed at a slight angle so that you can cover the pumpkin with the cut off top, like a lid.

Step 4. Using a sharp-edged spoon, scoop out the pulp and seeds. Particularly work on the “front” part of the vegetable. The pulp in this area should be removed and leveled with a spoon until the wall thickness reaches two centimeters.

Step 5. Before making the Halloween pumpkin's face, use a felt-tip pen to draw the outlines of the eyes, nose, and mouth with a sinister smile on the skin. The eyes and nose are drawn in the form of three triangles, and the mouth is drawn in the shape of a crescent with two fangs.

Attention! Make the features of the face large and noticeable, otherwise they will be difficult to cut out.

If you have stocked up on a stencil, attach it to the fruit with tape or glue and transfer the design to the pumpkin dotted lines. To do this, you can use either a knife, a needle or a thin awl. After which the template can be removed.

Step 6. Taking a short knife with a thin blade in your hands, carefully draw it along the contour of the design. You need to cut slowly so as not to spoil the future lantern. The cut pieces can be pushed inside the pumpkin, or pry with a knife and pull forward. To ensure that the contours are smooth and clear, do not forget to scrape off the flesh protruding here and there with a knife.

To obtain a clear picture, you can use special tools for carving vegetables.

Step 7. Having freed the pumpkin from the cut out pieces, fix the candle in its cavity and cover the fruit with a lid. Main character Halloween Jack Lantern is ready!

To make the pattern last longer, cover its contours with Vaseline or vegetable oil.
To keep your jack-o'-lantern fresh, soak it in water for a few hours.
Make several small holes in the lid of the fruit so that hot air flows out without frying the pumpkin from the inside.
Before use, place candles in the freezer for 2-3 hours - the lantern will burn longer.
To ensure that your Jack-O-Lantern not only burns, but also spreads a fragrance into the air, rub the inside of it with crushed cinnamon or nutmeg.

Attention! A cleaned and carved pumpkin will keep a decent appearance only for 3-5 days, so it is necessary to build the lantern on the day or the day before the holiday.

You can admire a variety of pumpkin ideas in the photos presented.

Paper Halloween pumpkin

construct original crafts for the holiday you can make not only from vegetables, but also from paper. A paper pumpkin is suitable for home decoration and as a souvenir or gift for guests. Let's look at how to make a Halloween pumpkin from colored paper quickly and easily.

To do this you will need the following tools:

A-4 sheet of orange color;
green A-4 sheet;
black A-4 sheet;
threads with a needle;
scissors;
pencil and ruler;
glue.

Step 1. Using a pencil and ruler, divide an orange sheet of paper into several thin strips, approximately 1.5-2 cm wide and 15-16 cm long. Cut the sheet with scissors. If you want to make your pumpkin unusual, use a tool with a raised edge. For one craft you need 18-20 paper strips.

Bright, vitamin autumn vegetable- this is not only the basis delicious dishes(you can cook a lot of tasty and unusual things), but it is also an excellent material for creativity. Pumpkin carved openwork vases, decorative candlesticks, unusual lanterns. Pumpkin for Halloween is a separate issue. We liked some of the traditions of the ancient Celts, so many people enjoy carving pumpkins for Halloween (October 31).

Why do you carve pumpkins for Halloween?

Traditional sinister pumpkin on Halloween

Let evil spirits and all evil spirits be honored on Halloween, mainly English-speaking countries, we also will not miss the opportunity to have fun. An unusual, funny carved pumpkin for Halloween will create an atmosphere of fairy tale and magic in your home. Glowing from the inside, a grinning pumpkin with cut out eyes is a symbol of Halloween; it is carved to protect the house from dark forces.

The “terrible” lantern, the pumpkin head, appeared thanks to an Irish legend that tells how an old farmer named Jack, leading a vicious life, was able to fool the devil himself twice, for which he was doomed to wander the world with a pumpkin head after being killed. and the smoldering fire inside her.

But it’s time to move from words to decisive actions. Carving a Halloween pumpkin isn't that difficult.

Pumpkin for Halloween: mastering the instructions

Drawings-sketches for a jack-o'-lantern

Try pulling the pumpkin's tail: if it is strong, then this is your Halloween pumpkin; if it comes off easily, then this is a rotten vegetable that is not suitable for processing.

First, we draw a sketch on paper, and then transfer it to the pumpkin peel. We paint over the places intended for cutting with a marker (this will make them easier to see). Using a kitchen knife or pocket knife, we begin to carve out the Halloween pumpkin, trying to accurately follow the outline. There is no need to rush, hold the “head” well, rotate it so that it is convenient to cut under different angles. A candle will complete the composition (insert it directly into the pumpkin head, light it, and replace the cut cap).

Unusual pumpkin for Halloween: choose yours!

Painted pumpkins for Halloween

A scary glowing pumpkin face is a classic of the genre, a completely predictable holiday decor. If you approach the issue creatively, then a Halloween pumpkin may not necessarily be sinister. Use the hints and come up with your own creative option. Perhaps it will occur to you to cut out the traditional elements of the face in a different way - with crosses, asterisks, triangles, or somehow interestingly arrange teeth in the “mouth” of the flashlight...

Painted pumpkins for Halloween

If for some reason it is difficult or impossible to carve a pumpkin (thick skin, no sharp enough knife, tedious, no time to study, a shame to ruin it, etc.), try painting it. Very beautiful and unusual. So yourself creativity To a question.

What you will need:

pumpkins (any shape)
black and colored markers
white acrylic paint
paint brush
template with skull
paper knife
simple pencil

How to make a painted pumpkin for Halloween:

Halloween pumpkin with painting

Prepare a template with a skull.
Print out the sketch.
Cut out the template with a paper knife.
Place the template on the surface of the pumpkin and carefully trace its outline. Paint the skull with white paint and let dry completely.
In the meantime, when the paint dries, prepare a skull, whichever one you like best, you can cut out patterns on paper or sketch directly onto the surface of the pumpkin.
Apply paper template dried on the pumpkin, make a black outline on the skull - outline the eye sockets and jaw, decorate the skull with flowers and other elements (use colored markers or felt-tip pens, do not press the paint too hard so that White background did not crumble).

Stencils for decorating pumpkins

Unusual pumpkin cooler for Halloween

If the “ugly” theme is not to your liking, you can build something airy, beautiful, reminiscent of painting techniques or lace. To create a masterpiece you will not need many tools: a glass contour, a brush, acrylic paints, toothpicks.

First coat the entire pumpkin with paint (evenly), leave to dry to avoid fingerprints. Then use a toothpick to decorate the peel with openwork, flowers, leaves, mysterious symbols, geometric shapes. Feel free to fantasize; this Halloween pumpkin will become an original decorative element and a great gift for friends.

Pumpkin for Halloween: functional and tasty

Halloween Pumpkin Casserole

Halloween Cookies

For the dough:

80 g softened butter
100 g sugar
200 g flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

The dough should be plastic and easy to roll out.

For the filling:

1 cup pumpkin puree (pulp of peeled and baked (or boiled) pumpkin until smooth in a blender)
2 eggs (white in the dough, mix the yolk with a spoon of water and brush the cookies before baking)
0.5 cups condensed milk
2 tablespoons sugar (optional, sometimes I don't use it at all in this recipe)
pinch of cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour

You should get a homogeneous mass like thick homemade sour cream.

How to make Halloween cookies:

Cut out a pumpkin stencil from baking paper.
Mix all the ingredients for the dough, knead the dough, roll out the layer to make a circle or semicircle, fold in half, attach a stencil, cut out the shape, separate the layers. Leave the bottom of the Halloween cookies (one of the shapes) unchanged, cut out eyes and teeth on the top, like on a real pumpkin. (Roll out the dough scraps as well).
Place a spoonful of filling on the bottom of the cookies, glue the top and bottom of the dough, mold the edges with a fork (for beauty too), brush with yolk, lightly sprinkle with sugar and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees to bake for 20 minutes.

When the main attribute of the holiday is already ready, you can also make a “healthy” pumpkin. For example, if you are expecting guests, you can make a kind of refrigerator from a large vegetable, cut in half. To do this, cut out the core from both halves, clean it, fill it with ice cubes and put bottles of drinks there. Unusual and original!

Pumpkin dishes will become a real decoration of the holiday table. Try cooking a stew, casserole or pancakes; your guests will definitely appreciate your efforts and culinary talent. Show your imagination and your Halloween pumpkin will be beautiful, tasty and healthy!

It seems that the pumpkin was specially created for creativity. Interesting vases, openwork candlesticks or decorative lanterns - this is not the entire list of what can be made from this autumn fruit. Grinning faces will create fabulous atmosphere in your home, floral or geometric patterns will complement natural material and will become an original piece of decor for any interior, and vampires, the bats and evil spirits will terrify not only children, but also adults. Moreover, very soon the gates between the material and other worlds will be opened again, all devilry will descend to earth and most people, according to the good old Celtic tradition, will honor evil spirits by celebrating Halloween.

An integral attribute of this “terrible” holiday - the pumpkin head - owes its appearance to the Irish legend about an old farmer named Jack, who not only led a vicious life, but twice deceived the devil himself, after which he was doomed to wander around the world after death with a pumpkin head and a smoldering ember inside her.

But enough theory: it’s time to start putting words into action. And today we will tell you not only about how to choose, prepare and make a pumpkin for Halloween, but also share interesting and useful ideas.

Pumpkin for Halloween: step-by-step instructions

Choosing a fruit

In order to create a pumpkin arrangement that will scare away evil spirits from your home, you first need to choose the “right” vegetable. Actually, a fairly smooth pumpkin with an intact surface and no rotten places is ideal for this role. Moreover, it must be a fresh fruit, which will have a soft peel that is easy to process. By the way, in order not to make a mistake and accidentally buy a spoiled pumpkin, first pull its tail: if it comes off easily, then most likely it has already begun to rot from the inside.

Preparing the tools

It is equally important to prepare the tools themselves. To carve a Halloween pumpkin, you will need several thin, well-sharpened knives with blades different lengths(you can also use woodworking tools), a strong tablespoon, a felt-tip pen or marker for drawing, and a short candle.

Making a pumpkin

Now that the preparatory work is completed, you can start creating!

To do this, use a marker at the base of the pumpkin (where the tail grows) to mark the “lid” in the form of a simple circle or polygon. Then, using a knife, cut it off. At the same time, in order to get a cone-shaped cutout, and your lid does not fall inside the “head” as a result, hold it at an angle of 45 degrees. It's pretty labor-intensive process, so you will have to be patient and put in a lot of effort.

After the “trephination” is completed, it’s time to “clean” your beauty. It is much more convenient to start freeing it from pulp and seeds directly with your hands. And then use a tablespoon to scrape off the remaining fibers from the inner walls. Remember that the optimal thickness of the walls of the pumpkin in the part where you are going to cut out the face is 2-3 centimeters.

Your pumpkin is almost ready, all that’s left is to make it a funny or angry face, or maybe not even a face…. Whatever it is, draw a sketch on paper first, make sure that it is exactly what you imagined - and you can safely transfer the drawing to the peel.

Next, paint over with a marker the places that you are going to cut out so that they are better visible, and, armed with a kitchen or penknife, begin the “jewelry” work. To do this, use back-and-forth movements, trying to adhere to the contour as accurately as possible. Take your time. If necessary, remove the tool and insert it at a new angle.

To complete the composition, insert a candle inside the pumpkin head, light it and put the lid back on the pumpkin.

How to make a pumpkin for Halloween - video

TOP 10 pumpkins for Halloween: interesting ideas

Familiar character

Pumpkin with a glowing scary face for Halloween - classic version holiday decor. However, you don't have to literally resort to standards when creating predictable images - it's Halloween! Especially in the 21st century. Approach the task creatively and creatively. Twist the fruit in your hands - perhaps, along with inspiration, new ideas will come to your mind. Say, if instead of the trivial round, square or triangular elements"faces" cut out crosses, stars or even bats, then you will already add a little personality to a separate pumpkin. If you're a fan of more unconventional solutions, let's experiment with more unconventional and sophisticated design approaches together!

Famous lantern

Have you ever wondered why, when carving various faces out of pumpkins, everyone calls them a lantern? After all, a lantern should be a lantern! It doesn’t matter whether it’s ancient or modern, camping or garden, but a lantern. Do you share the same opinion? Then, choosing any image of the lantern you like, transfer it to the pumpkin, and, armed with a thin knife, cut out only that part through which the light should be visible. Place a candle inside and your pumpkin will take on an original look.

Pumpkin in a pumpkin

As you can imagine, Halloween is also about competition among pumpkins. Therefore, it is quite possible to see a pumpkin horror devouring another monster...

To create such a composition, you will need a huge and a very small pumpkin (you can also use an orange and a pumpkin of any size). And then proceed according to the proven scheme: having come up with a scarier face, cut it out. At the same time, when you need to cut out the mouth, it is best to start with a narrower part of it, and first make the wide hole for the “victim” narrower, gradually trimming it so that it does not fall out of the mouth.

Snowman Jack

As you know, there is always and everywhere a place for something good and bright. Therefore, although Halloween is a time of revelry for evil spirits, not everything on it should be evil and scary. In addition, there is very little time left until winter, which means it’s time to remember about snowmen.

Agree, the greeter is right next to front door pumpkin snowman Jack will create a real sensation among invited guests. Hat, collar from old shirt, 2-3 buttons, felt-tip pens, a wine bottle stopper and a little glue will help you make a fat good fellow who will become unusual holiday decoration your house.

Halloween lace pumpkin

What if we digress even more from the “ugly” topic and try to make something beautiful and airy? Let's say, master the technique of painting? Moreover, in order to create such beauty, you only need acrylic paints, a brush, a glass outline and a few toothpicks.

First, cover the pumpkin with an even layer of paint and let it dry thoroughly. Once it is free of your fingerprints, use a toothpick to draw some interesting patterns on the pumpkin, and then steal it with an outline. Or immediately decorate the peel openwork leaves, geometric shapes or mysterious symbols. Do not limit your imagination - and you will succeed original item decor, but also great gift for friends.

Glamorous pumpkin

When glamor goes out of fashion, many will probably breathe a sigh of relief, but for now, glossy stories are a source of inspiration when working on design festive interior, especially when we're talking about about making it terrible beautiful decor. Gold or silver plating, rhinestones, sequins - there is nothing easier than making such a glamorous pumpkin. Or you can paint the fruit black, draw a skull and crossbones on it in silver, and glue a decorative pink organza bow on top - and then you’ll have a punk-glam pumpkin.

Pumpkin that vomited

Perhaps such an idea seems disgusting, but believe me, such a disgusting image looks very impressive. The secret is that you cut out a pumpkin according to a known pattern, but unlike a traditional face, its mouth should be wide open and its eyes wide and slightly slanted.

In addition, after you free it from the seeds and pulp, put part of the cleaned insides in its mouth so that they hang down and fall out, and part below it. By the way, the same idea can be used to decorate a festive table, only put in the pumpkin’s mouth not the insides, but some real appetizer or sauce.

Text messages

Agree that romantic message, carved on a pumpkin by someone shy guy, who can't wait for Valentine's Day, looks sincere and sweet. What if there was also a sign for the party, a symbolic logo, cut out on it? music group, mysterious spells, or themed phrases like “In the Witch’s House” or “Beware. Zombie!"? Depending on the size of your pumpkin, cut out one word or a whole phrase on it, and also write them down in letters or syllables on several pumpkins of approximately the same size and place them in the desired sequence.

Pumpkin burger

Believe it or not, but on your festive table By Halloween, a pumpkin can become not only a decorative item, but also completely irreplaceable, using it as a dish. Alternatively, it can be shaped like a huge hamburger. To do this, cut the pumpkin in half and remove the core. Next, on one half, place a large chop instead of the usual cutlet, slices of cheese, tomato slices, lettuce leaves, and cover your “sandwich” with the other, like sesame, decorating it with the seeds that you peeled from the core.

Functional pumpkin

As they say, good things never go to waste, so you can try to make the pumpkin not just beautiful, but also useful. For example, if you decide to have a party and invite guests, then a pumpkin can completely replace your refrigerator. Cut it in half, cut out the core, fill it crushed ice and place bottles of drinks. Such an extraordinary “dish” will come in very handy and will be remembered by your guests for a long time. And you can come up with a lot of such examples! The main thing is to give free rein to your imagination.

Try to make your Halloween pumpkin original and interesting. Happy All Saints' Day to you!

Halloween appeared several centuries ago. According to an old Irish legend, it was invented by a blacksmith named Jack. He was a heavy drunkard, and also very stingy. Jack deceived the devil twice and received a promise from him not to plot all sorts of intrigues for him, but soon the blacksmith died without having time to take advantage of this.

After his death, the Irishman did not go to heaven or hell and was forced to wander the earth. Satan threw a piece of coal to the blacksmith, which he put in an empty pumpkin and began to wander around the world with this makeshift lamp.

How to make a jack-o'-lantern

To do this, you need to choose a pumpkin of the correct spherical shape. bright orange color. Any size fruit will work to make a pumpkin head, but the best lanterns are made from medium-sized pumpkins.

In addition, you will need:

sharp knife;

spoon;

awl;

scotch;

scissors;

stencil.

Make a stencil. Traditionally, the pumpkin head is depicted with 2 eyes and a nose in the form of triangles and a large mouth. But modern masters carve a wide variety of subjects. You can also draw them on a piece of paper and use the drawing as a template.

Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of the pumpkin. Do this at an angle so that later it stays in place and does not fall inward. Clean the fruit and pulp. Use a spoon to scrape out the walls; their thickness should be no more than two centimeters.

Attach the stencil using pieces of tape to the side where the face will be. Now make punctures with an awl along the contours of the design. In this case, the holes should be located quite often at a distance of 2-3 mm from each other.

Remove the template and start cutting out the design with a sharp knife. Cut through the walls of the fruit. Do this slowly and carefully. To cut small parts, use special knives for carving. After cutting along all the contours, remove the cut out parts and carefully cut the flesh at an angle so that it is not visible from the front side.

Immediately coat the cut areas of the pumpkin with a small amount of vegetable oil, so the pulp will not deteriorate for quite a long time, and the lantern will last longer. Traditionally, a burning candle is placed inside the Jack-o'-lantern, but it will be much safer if you place a regular battery-powered lantern inside the pumpkin.

Pumpkin - main symbol Halloween (or All Saints' Day). Why exactly a pumpkin and why do they carve beastly faces on it?

The tradition of carving vegetable lanterns comes from Ireland and Great Britain and dates back to the times of the Celtic Druid monks, who used these sinister-looking lanterns to drive out demons and evil spirits.

Lanterns were usually carved from turnips, beets and rutabaga, and until the 19th century had nothing to do with All Saints' Day.

The custom of carving pumpkins for Halloween came from North America, where pumpkin was associated with the harvest season. The American jack-o-lantern was named the Jack-O-Lantern and became the official symbol of Halloween in 1866.

Who is the Jack-O-Lantern?

A pumpkin light flickering in the darkness symbolizes the souls of the dead wandering between heaven and hell.

Legend has it that once upon a time there lived a careless farmer, a drunkard and a thief, Jack. One day Jack was running away from angry peasants whom he had robbed. And then on the way he met the devil, who announced to Jack that the hour of his death had come. Sly Jack persuaded the devil to delay death in exchange for the opportunity to bewitch the righteous peasants who were chasing the thief. He suggested that the devil turn into a coin, with which Jack would pay for the stolen things, and when the devil/coin disappeared, the peasants would fight with each other, finding out who stole it. The devil agreed and, turning into a silver coin, jumped into Jack's pocket. But he was immediately deprived of his witchcraft power, as he found himself next to the cross that Jack had stolen in the village. Jack promised to let the devil go if he promised not to take his soul to hell.

When the time of death came, Jack could not go to heaven because of his sinful life, but he was not allowed into hell either, because they promised. It was dark around and Jack had nowhere to go. He asked for a lantern, and the devil mockingly threw him embers from hell. Jack carved a lantern out of a pumpkin, put coals in it and began to wander the earth in search of peace.

How to carve a Halloween pumpkin (Jack-O-Lantern)?

You will need:

A knife with a sharp and short blade. It is most convenient to make cuts with a small saw or a short knife with a serrated sharpening, a penknife, or a file knife. If possible, it is best to immediately purchase a special carving kit that includes everything necessary tools. Using regular knives is more difficult to work with pumpkins. A carving knife costs around 50 UAH, and the set shown in the picture below costs 300 UAH.

Template with a face

Awl (thick needle, ballpoint pen)

Scraper (spatula)

Cutting board

Candle. Do not use a candle that is too tall, otherwise the top wall of the pumpkin may burn. If there are small children in the house and you are afraid of experimenting with fire, a regular flashlight will do.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Instructions

1. Pumpkin selection. Choose the most beautiful, most proportional, round and orange pumpkin. Choose only ripe fruits with a smooth and dense surface without damage or stains. It is desirable that the pumpkin be symmetrical. Pay attention to the tail (stem) of the pumpkin. It should be hard, dry and at least 5 cm long. Pumpkins that have begun to spoil discard the tail. If you plan to place a candle inside later, it is recommended to select a fruit more than 20 cm in height. Remember, we don't care what the pumpkin tastes like, we're only interested in how it looks after carving. Reminder: pumpkin, especially if it is not dried fresh air, begins to rot in 5-7 days, so it is best to prepare it 3-4 days before the holiday.

2. Wash, dry, apply a design. Wash and dry the selected pumpkin. If this is your first time carving a pumpkin, put the knife aside and grab a marker first. You will use it to draw lines along which you will then make cuts. Make sure that the marker is easily erased from the surface and does not leave marks.

3. Cleaning the pumpkin. The Jack O'Lantern job begins by cutting out the top of the pumpkin. You can also cut top part pumpkin, and the bottom one. This option is appropriate for those who do not plan to place a candle inside, but want to insert a jar with a candle or a flashlight.

We cut the lid along the contour using a knife, which must be held at an angle to form a cone-shaped cut: this way your lid (eventually) will not fall inside the “head”. To remove the lid, pull the stem and twist the lid if necessary. Trim any excess pulp and fiber from the lid if you use it.
Next we need to clean the inside of the pumpkin. It is very convenient to clean out the seeds and pulp directly with your hands. To do this, use a special spoon for pulp. In the absence of such a tool, you will have to work with an ordinary tablespoon. Remove all the insides from the pumpkin and scrape down the sides. If the pumpkin is large, then the top hole should be no smaller than your fist so that your hand can easily penetrate inside.

For optimal results, the thickness of the walls on the side of the pumpkin where you will cut the face should be 2-3 centimeters. There is no need to thoroughly scrape the sides, otherwise the thin peel will remain unsupported and fall through. The teeth on the knife leave small nicks. The edges of the cut need to be trimmed a little.

4. Applying a pattern to the pumpkin. Now you can move on to applying patterns to the sides of the pumpkin.

Draw a sketch on paper first, make sure this is exactly what you want. Keep in mind that straight lines are much easier to cut later than rounded ones. We attach the design to the smooth and beautiful side of the pumpkin with electrical tape and an awl ( ballpoint pen) outline the outline that is imprinted on the peel. Paint over the areas of the pumpkin that will be cut out to make them easier to see. This will make it easier for you to cut.

Pumpkin stencils
If you have no artistic skills, you're great suitable option using a stencil (template). Several examples are presented below. By printing such templates on paper, you can make your work much easier and you don’t have to worry about the result.

5. Cut out the design. Place the tip of the knife on the outline and gently press it. Use a back and forth motion to cut the pumpkin. Take your time, try to follow the contour as closely as possible. If you need to do sharp corner, then pull out the knife and insert it at a new angle.

6. Making lighting. After finishing the work, leave the pumpkin to dry.

If you lightly sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin with cinnamon, the aroma from such a special candle will fill the whole house with holiday in minutes.

Then the lighting can be installed. This could be a small candle, a garland or a lantern. You can place a candle (or several candles) inside the pumpkin. Place the candle in a glass cup and leave the top of the pumpkin open for ventilation. Another alternative could be a small flashlight.