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Carving Pumpkins: The Master at Work

Resident Carver

Resident Carver

My husband makes it look easy.  Year after year we’re blown away by his carved creations.  We grow ’em, he carves ’em.

This past spring I simply stepped out-of-the-way while my compost bin produced close to a dozen viable pumpkins. If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that we had two early casualties: Frank and Shelly.

Of the remaining pumpkins, The Master Carver crafted six.

As the boys get older, pumpkin carving requests change too.  Gone are the days of sweet Max, the bunny from Max and Ruby.  In Max’s place, I present Slender Man. According to Wikipedia, Slender Man is

a fictional character that originated as an Internet meme created by Something Awful forums user Victor Surge in 2009. It is depicted as resembling a thin, unnaturally tall man with a blank and usually featureless face, and wearing a black suit. The Slender Man is commonly said to stalk, abduct, or traumatize people, particularly children.[1] The Slender Man is not tied to any particular story, but appears in many disparate works of fiction, mostly composed online.

Slender Man

Slender Man

Next up, my 13-year-old requested the saying ‘Twerk or Treat’ as a send up to Miley Cyrus’ endlessly debated VMA performance.  It’s both topical and comical but remains PG.

Twerk Treat Pumpkin.2

Twerk or Treat

sawing flames

Sawing flames (sounds like the name of a band)

Halloween Countdown:

Pumpkin campfire

Campfire, inspired my Martha Stewart

Please peruse pumpkins past on my page Passionate about Pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!

30 thoughts on “Carving Pumpkins: The Master at Work”

  3. Applauding loudly !!!! Holy, that Miley Cyrus looked really hard. So much to carve out without it falling to pieces. Great Job (par usual) Mike! Loving that big happy smile too. I’ve never heard of ‘Slender Man’, but what’s not to like..LOL. Creepy or what?

    That was a clever compilation of mini pumpkins. Leave it to Martha to be original. I’ve never seen that before. Mike must have been at it for hours. Are you going to carve your ghosty white guy or is he leaking too much? You probably get lots of kids at the door, I bought 8 regular size treats just in case the kids within the condo’s come over. We’ve never had a single one though, so it doesn’t seem likely 😦 Jim usually takes it off to work. Well, with Halloween nearly done, we focus on Christmas here but I know Thanksgiving still comes up for you. Not that I ever need a reason to celebrate and craft…hehe. Fab Jack-O-Lanterns my dears, have fun tomorrow!! xoK

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    • I don’t know how he does it year after year, but it does take a long time. He was disappointed to break one of her eyes in the carving process, a mistake only he notices. I think she looks fab and so does the creepy slenderman. I think the camp fire may be my favorite though.

      I showed Mike all the wonderful comments last night.

      I didn’t carve the green pumpkin. I’ll open it up eventually to see what the flesh looks like, then I’ll offer it to the squirrels and save some of the seeds for next year. I’m intrigued.

      Thanks for your well wishes. Yes, American Thanksgiving is next and Christmas in less than eight weeks.

      Sorry you don’t get any trick or treaters.

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  4. This is the most exposure I have ever had to the American custom of Halloween – I did not know it went on for so long, that it required quite so much garden decoration [and probably indoors too I’m guessing], so much costume fabrication, so much partying and that it required so much pumpkin carving skill – it is one full on festival! I love that everyone gets involved! But what happens to the pumpkins after tomorrow?

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    • I’m not sure if we are the best example as we are a bit over the top.

      I think my personal love of costuming and gardening lend themselves so well to this time of year.

      The carved pumpkins go fast. They dry out by day two, and start to mold (depending on temperatures) within days. Untended, they’ll leave a puddle of goo on your porch.

      Half the Pilgrims arriving in America in the 1600s perished (starved to death) in the first year. The Native Americans taught them about pumpkins (which can last for months and months in a root cellar and helped see them through the winter). Of course, you know how we brutally thanked them for their trouble. Sigh.

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      • The rampant and arrogant European empiricism and notions of Christianity have much to answer for – not just amongst the native peoples of the lands they invaded, but also their own lower classes, from which I am thankfully descended!

        I did not even know that there was such a thing as a special carving pumpkin – we grow ’em and eat ’em 🙂

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        • Far more sensible to eat them. The carving pumpkins have a tougher shell, better suited to carving. I’m sure they’re edible, just not as tasty as ‘sugar pie’ for instance. (How can you go wrong with anything called ‘sugar pie’ I ask you?

          Yes, rampant and arrogant describe it well. Horrifying, too. So much violence under the guise of religion.

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  5. Amazing pumpkins — both the growing AND the carving, Alys! With my boys in high school now, there’s less build-up to Halloween. I’ll be carving the pumpkins myself today (and not a moment too soon, given that it’s HALLOWEEN TODAY). Looking forward to the Witchin’ Kitchen, which I do each year for the neighborhood even if my kids aren’t among the costumed crowds. (I’m dressed as a witch behind a table, and the kids have to reach in to bowls along the length to identify the creepy stuff inside each — bones, eyeballs, blood clots, intestines, brains…). Can’t have a Witchin’ Kitchen without carved pumpkins, so I’d better get on it now!

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    • Martha, I love that idea of a Witchin’ Kitchen. I’ve not see or heard it out here on the West Coast. So clever.

      I’m like you…I see my self celebrating Halloween long after the boys completely retire. My 16 year old hasn’t been into it for years and my 13 year old is definitely winding down. Seeing one year old Scooby Doo at the door was great fun. I love the costumes and the sweet faces. I think ages four to eight are the perfect years: they’re still into the magic of it all.

      Of course we had plenty of teenagers this year too, but 95% of them were polite and costumed, so I don’t mind a bit.

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  6. Those are extremely impressive pumpkins! Your husband is really talented!
    I have heard of the slender man before and it’s definitely creepy. It reminds me of the bogey man we used to hear about as small children, which used to frighten the life out of me!

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        • Eeek. I can just picture it. It’s amazing what we believe for years, long past when it makes sense, because someone we trusted told us so. I can remember a few times when reality finally dawned on me, thinking ‘how could I have believe it for so long.

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    • No fair calling your self poor parents. I’m sure you’ve got all your priorities in good working order.

      My husband *loves* carving these pumpkins, and actually took part of a day off of work to do so. Yes, we’re that crazy!

      So glad you enjoyed this.

      When our boys were small, we bought a cute kit with a small wooden ‘hammer” and clear, plastic spikes. They could tap them into the pumpkins and make a design.

      They eventually lost interest in decorating them at all, and are happy to turn it over to dad.

      I’m just happy growing them…and dressing them up in lace before the big day.

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