OK, I made this jack o'lantern of one of our local meterologists. He asked me to. ;)

This is him: http://images.ibsys.com/2006/1219/10563157_320X240.jpg

And this is his pumpkin: http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff286/chrissymariel/Darrenpumpkin.jpg

I also made one for my cousin. He posted on his blog. www.morocca180.com

This is so fun. I've never tried making realistic jack o'lanterns before this year!

Those are awesome! How did you come to realism in punkin' carving? Was it a natural progression from stamp carving? ;)

wow good job! I enjoyed the candel light used to make natural light. (shadeing) you rock!

I've wanted to try that myself but I have no idea where to start,besides the obvious of getting a pumpkin. Can you give a hint?

Shiloh

Sure. :) Go to www.carvingpumpkins.com. The guy there walks you right through it. :)

Thank you so much for posting this! My daughter wants me to carve a certain something on my pumpkin this year...one question...
How did you get your image transfered onto the pumpkin?
I'm wondering about all the details...

If you go to carvingpumpkins.com, the guy gives you all the steps.

Basically, get a good image and Photoshop it. Crop out what you don't want, make the face the right size and greyscale it. Then posterize it down to four colors. It will give you black, white and two shades of grey. What you want to do is make it so you only have one shade of grey, so that's where the artistic eye comes in. With the computer, you'll need to decide what should be cut out vs. what should be shaded and color them accordingly. (The guy on the site gives you better details with illustrations.)

Print it out, cut it out, tape it to the pumpkin. You may need to make a couple of snips and tucks in non-obvious places (like hair) to make it lay on the round surface. Then take an awl or a thumbtack and poke little holes around the lines, outlining it.

I'd recommend leaving your computer screen on and nearby, or printing another copy, so you can have one to look at. After you have all the outlines poked, pull the paper off. Then look at your second copy and see what you've got. The white areas should be completely cut out. The black areas remain orange. The grey spots are for taking off the skin but not cutting it out completely so you have some shading. :)

Voila!

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Go to www.carvingpumpkins.com. The guy there walks you right through it. :)

He makes it seem so easy!

Very cool!!!

We grow pumpkins commercially - well, sort of commercially. We have about 2/3 an acre of pumpkins, which in a good year (like this year) is a heck of a lot of pumpkins. One gets really tired of hauling them around - pumpkins are heavy!! But it makes a decent Christmas for us ;-))

Last year Archimedes Screw carved some amazing pumpkins - wonder if the pics are still around, or if she's got 2007's offerings posted yet ;-))

Mama Fox

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Last year Archimedes Screw carved some amazing pumpkins - wonder if the pics are still around, or if she's got 2007's offerings posted yet ;-))

Thanks! I've only got one done, but I did put it in there.
http://www.atlasquest.com/gallery/viewalbum.html?gAlbumId=173

Feel free to add some, that's an open album.

I saw your pumpkin on TV yesterday what a great job.

Thank you! He might put it on again this weekend. :)

Brandy,
Thank you so much! Between you and Archimedes Screw, I was emboldened enough to give it a try!
My first creation...I've added it to Archimedes Screw's gallery.

Mrs. Doglvrs


ps...for transfer, I sent a sheet of tracing paper through my inkjet printer (taped to a regular piece of paper)....then I snipped and tucked and rubbed the image right onto my pumpkin! It worked wonderfully!