Gizzi Erskine’s Step-by-Step Pumpkin Designs

Carving a pumpkin this Halloween? Whether you’re after an iconic spooky lantern or want to dazzle the neighbours with a custom glitter creation, you’ll find inspiration in Gizzi’s Season’s Eatings.

SPOOKY PUMPKIN LANTERN

You will need:
1 HUGE Pumpkin
a marker pen
pumpkin cutters or a thin sharp knife
a spoon
tea lights

I find it’s easiest to draw the design of your scary face on to the pumpkin with a marker pen before you start. Draw holes for the eyes, nose, mouth, or whatever you fancy!

Cut out a lid at the top of the pumpkin by inserting a sharp knife in a circle around the stalk. Lift this out, then scoop out all of the seeds and gubbins with a spoon until the inside is empty.

Now you are ready to carve out the eyes, nose and mouth. Take your time with this, and be sure to supervise any young children. Another nice thing to do is just carve the skin away in a pattern without cutting through the flesh, as this will glow orange once the pumpkin is illuminated. Once you’ve finished your design, light a tea light and carefully place inside. Put the lid back on to prevent the candle from going out.

PRETTY PUMPKIN LANTERNS
You will need:
a variety of pumpkins in different sizes
pumpkin cutters or a thin sharp knife
a spoon
a marker pen
a hand drill or electric drill
tea lights

Take your pumpkin and cut out a lid and scoop out the seeds in the same way as the Spooky Pumpkin Lantern (see above), but instead of drawing a face on the front, draw dot patterns all over the entire pumpkin. Try not to make them too close together. You can do this in a geometric way, or even draw something special like a collection of stars.

Next take your drill and drill out the holes to build up the pattern. Use a drill bit that’s not too fine, but also not too large, or alternatively use a variety of different-sized drill bits.

Once you’ve finished your design, light a tea light and carefully place inside. Put the lid back on to prevent the candle from going out.

GLITTER PUMPKINS
You will need:
a variety of pumpkins or gourds in different sizes
acrylic paint, any colour you like but it must match your glitter
a paint brush
glitter
PVA glue

Paint your pumpkins with the acrylic paint and leave to dry.

To make the acrylic glitter, simply mix your glitter with the PVA glue until your glue is thick with glitter but still the consistency of paint. Brush the glitter glue over the entire pumpkins – this will turn translucent when it dries. You may decide to do two coats depending on how glittery you want your pumpkins. Allow ample time to dry in a ventilated area.

CAT PUMPKINS
You will need:
a variety of pumpkins in different sizes (the rounder varieties are better)
a paint brush
black, white and gold acrylic paint
black, orange and grey card
PVA glue

Paint your pumpkins with the black acrylic paint, leaving two eye shapes.

Paint the eyes with white acrylic paint. Once the whites of the eyes have dried, paint the pupils black. You can paint around the pupils with gold paint for the irises.

For the ears, cut out two triangles of black card. Bend back a small flap along the base of the triangle, then stick the ears on to the pumpkin by gluing down the folded flap with PVA glue.

For the nose, cut out a triangle of orange card. Cut three thin strips of grey card for the whiskers and stick them to the back of the nose. Glue this onto the face of the pumpkin. Ta da!

Extracted from Gizzi’s Season’s Eatings. Available here.