Coyote Heart

How To Carve A Harry Potter Pumpkin

Every year I think about doing something a little different from the norm with our pumpkin. I saw a news story about The Pumpkin Lady (http://www.pumpkinlady.com/) and her fabulous carved pumpkins and read her 'how-to' instructions.
She uses mostly foam pumpkins but I applied the same principles to a fresh pumpkin and we enjoyed the results very much. I chose Harry Potter because my grandchildren really love the Harry Potter movies.

Step 1:
Find an image, preferably not too complex, that you wish to carve. I focused on Harry's head. I opened the image in Adobe Photoshop (however you can use any image program you like) and i desaturated it (took the color out). Once I did this, it was time to figure out which areas would be completely carved out for the most dramatic lighting through the pumpkin and which areas would be carved as a 'layer' of thinner pumpkin which allows for a shaded effect by diffusing those areas of light.
I used the brush tool and chose 2 colors, one for each type of carving and colored the areas to get an idea how the final 'glowing' would look. Once I was satisfied with the plan, I printed out 2 copies.

Step 2:

Next, tape one of the colored copies to the surface of the pumpkin. I chose the more flat side to carve. Use a straight pin(needle) to poke holes along the areas to be carved. This will create a dotted pattern once you remove the paper image. You will need the second image you printed as a visual reminder of which areas to carve a layer from and which to carve all the way through.

Step 3:

It looks rather beastly as you work on it and the real treat is how the image POPS out at you once you have it lit in the dark.

FINAL: