Want to get high-tech with your good old fashioned jack o' lanterns? You'll need special tools to scoop out the seeds and chisel just the right face, of course.
Target had a "set of 7 tools that let you sculpt and add intricate details."
Dick's Sporting Goods sells an $11.99 kit to carve the Florida Gators mascot into your pumpkin.
This is the strangest of them all: I found this CD Pattern Maker, a combo pack of computer software and tools, at Wegmans and it is also available online ($14.95). Pumpkin perfectionists can use the software to architect their pumpkin and even resize the design to fit your particular pumpkin. Then print out a template and use the special tools to carve in the design.
I carved a pumpkin with a small knife and scooped out with a ice cream scooper.
And a question - the term organic vegetables are becoming weird. REally do not know what it is now.
yesterday i bought organic bananas and honestly it did not taste like one. I think the organic industry is turning into a fad and the real ones who genuinely practise organic is where ??? Please help.
Growing up, we were always a kitchen/swiss-army knife pumpkin carving family, but this year I bought a Target carving kit ($9.99!).
I was skeptical, but it was great. The little serrated knifette was especially awesome. It reduced the amount out-of-control hacking at the pumpkin, and it turned corners really well.
On the other hand, I had people over to carve pumpkins, so those little tools (and my grapefruit knife, which was pretty helpful) went through about 8 pumpkins, which is probably as much as it can handle. You don't get terribly sturdy tools for $9.99 a set at Target.
I'll post pictures when I get a chance.
I just ran across this gadget, too - the Pumpkin Gutter, an extension for an electric drill. http://www.getcarvingquicker.com/GutterInstructions.htm
For serious pumpkin carvers only I guess...
v - I too was very impressed with the little serrated knives that come in the carving kits. They are especially helpful on small details - I used them to do a fantastic Vincent Price jack o'lantern a few years ago.
This year I'm going to try a simple "polka dot" pumpkin using an apple corer.
The pumpkin gutter reminds me of our power tool story.
My husband decided to carve his pumpkin using power tools one year. So, he attached a series of bits to his drill (the kind that let you cut holes in tile or ??) and went to town. Let me tell you...he was picking pumpkin bits off the ceiling, a beautiful brick wall and everything else within a 15' radius. He certainly finished quickly. His pumpkin looked amazing. It was a hanging lantern/pendant lamp with a randomly sized circle pattern all over. But it took forever to get all the pumpkin guts off of everything.
You missed the Dremel kit! I'm trying that this year.
Yeah, I've had excellent luck with the Target Pumpkin Masters kits for about 10 years now. They're sold elsewhere as well. And the CD Pattern Maker is good if you want to create your own, too.
Juli, Andy, V and everyone -- have you sent in your pumpkins to our Flickr stream yet? We're preparing our pumpkin round-up post this afternoon.