SELECTING YOUR PUMPKINS & STENCILS

Try to pick out the stencils you will be using before you buy your pumpkins. This will allow you to create a shopping list or at least a mental idea of the shapes and sizes of pumpkins you'll need. Selecting the pumpkins you'll carve for your Halloween Jack-O'-Lanterns is very important. You'll need to pick pumpkins according to what you want to carve on them. Medium to large pumpkins work best for most stencils that you'll make or buy. Be sure to select pumpkins that are large enough and as close to the same shape as the stencils you're going to carve into them.

CARVING WITH PUMPKIN STENCILS

Attaching the pumpkin stencil
Prepare your pumpkins as you would for basic carving, i.e. cut out the top hole and gut the pumpkin out. Select the pumpkin stencil you want to use and trim the excess paper from it with scissors. Be sure to leave at least a 1/2 inch border for the tape to go on. Attach the stencil to the face of the pumpkin with tape. Top first, then the bottom and lastly the sides. You may have to crease it to tape the corners, if so, try to make the creases where the stencil will be distorted the least.

Transferring the pumpkin stencil
Using the transfer tool, press the pointed tip into and through the design lines on the pumpkin stencil spaced about a 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch apart. Complex and thin designs might require the dots to be a little closer together. The tip of the transfer tool should be pushed in just enough to go through the paper and the outer skin of the pumpkin, not all the way through the pumpkin.

It's important that you take your time when transferring the image from the stencil. Remember, you're making guide lines for sawing. Before removing the pumpkin stencil, look it over carefully to make sure that all the lines have been transferred clearly. Once the paper stencil is removed you'll see the outline of the stencils stencil marked on the face of the pumpkin via little dots. Once you remove the stencil be sure to save it in case you need to refer to it while carving.

Carving out the Transfer
Using the Carving Saw, push the tip of the saw-blade into a template hole and saw through the design lines with short back-and-forth motions. Basically, you're playing "connect the dots". It's important to remember that these are "saws", not knives. The saw is not used in the same way as a knife. You never cut with it, you saw with it. Take your time and follow the stencil edges carefully. Always align the saw blade to make the cuts straight into the pumpkin. When making sharp corners, remove the saw and re-insert it at the new angle. To make removal of the pieces easier you can cut them into smaller section while still in the pumpkin. Then carefully push out all of the cut pieces with your finger or an un-sharpened pencil.

Once you've removed all of the cut pieces, carefully trim the inside edges of the pumpkin of any excess flesh with the Carving Saw or a small knife. We like to carve the excess off at about a 45 degree angle. This allows more light to come through, showing your design to it's fullest. Remove any cut pieces that have fallen inside the pumpkin from your carving. Coat the inside and exposed edges with petroleum jelly or a spray-on preserver like PumpkinFresh.com to help your Jack O' Lantern last as long as possible. Your finished pumpkin should look like the one above. The silhouette, in this case our Halloween cat, should be clearly visible.

LIGHTING YOUR JACK O' LANTERNS

Using Candles
Candles have been the age old method of illuminating Jack O' Lanterns since, well, forever. Regular Votive candles, placed in clear glass candle holders like the one shown to the right, are safer, brighter and will last a lot longer than exposed candles. If you use candles to light your pumpkins, or for any other Halloween activity, remember, to never leave a lit candle unsupervised. Never use a lit candle in an artificial pumpkin. Always consider the inherent danger of fire.

A New Way To Illuminate Your Pumpkins
Over the years we've seen several different battery powered units meant to illuminate your Jack O' Lantern's instead of using candles. Unfortunately, none of the ones that we've tried have done a very good job or brought anything new to the fine art of pumpkin display, until now! PumpkinLights.com, does both. This light is suitable for any size pumpkin it will fit in. We highly recommend you try them out for yourself.

Be sure to take lots of pictures of your masterpieces for your Halloween photo album or scrapbook. For more information visit HalloweenPictures101.com.