Pumpkin Carving - Finishing Details

Other Tools
Some tools that I failed to mention last time is as follows. A drywall knife is a useful tool but a crude one. Light weight and easy to navigate but use it only for large rough cuts, like the ones you would do to open the top. Another unlikely tool is vaseline. I know right, vaseline, but when you apply it to the inside of a cleaned pumpkin and on the cuts, it will help the pumpkin retain it's moisture for longer and slow the inevitable rotting. A useful thing.

Finishing Details
Though it may seem odd to write about the finishing details before writing about the act of carving the pumpkins themselves, it is for good reason. The finishing details are the thing that you need to think of before you start carving, not after.

The Lid
The first thing you will do when you start with the pumpkin is make a hole to get into the pumpkin. Make the cut at wide angle, and make a square notch in the back. This will act as a key hole to align the lid easily afterward. Make the cut however it best allows you to cut the face.

The Guts
Guts can make for a useful finish. Think of them as vomit, or spittle, or other guts. Use them for puking pumpkins, or as drools from a pumpkin's mouth. If you are doing a zombie themed pumpkin, leave some guts on the lid, and on the inside where the face of the pumpkin is to be. That way when you look into the pumpkin you will be able to see the guts dangling behind the eyes and out of the mouth.

Candles
Tealight candles may seem like a great idea due to cost and abundance. In groups of three or four these may be a fine choice, but when the climate is cold these little candles will not be able to heat up enough to produce a worthy flame, and will not burn brightly. Larger candles an inch and a half tall and an inch in diameter are ideal for this purpose. And will likely last a good four hours.

Removing Skin
This is a technique that I am quite novice on myself. It does something really cool though and that is add an extra layer to the two layer artwork. If you are really skilled you do those awesome pumpkin sculptures...

However this is about pumpkin carving and jack'o laterns, not sculpting. Now what you can do is take a flat wood scraper and scrap the skin down on the design before you ever start to carve. If you try to carve and then skin, you will just destroy the pumpkin. In terms of finish it gives you an additional texture. As I wrote previously I am not too experienced with this but here is a pumpkin done last year to emphasize the teeth.