Not your typical jack-o'-lantern
Thursday, October 29, 2009
For the second year, Connie Philips has been gearing up for Halloween like many others — by carving pumpkins. But the difference is in the details.
Philips uses an intricate technique to carve her pumpkins, using methods she picked up off the Internet. Last year she carved five pumpkins, and by the end of this week she hopes to have completed eight of them in designs as varied as a big pumpkin eating a little pumpkin, a KU pumpkin by request and pumpkins with leaf shapes carved into them. Some of her work is on display at Emporia Fitness.
Her favorite part of carving a jack-o’-lantern is working on the teeth, she said.
The trick, she said, is to use a smaller blade rather than a large kitchen knife for detailed work.
“I use a jigsaw blade to carve into the pumpkin,” she said.
Also useful is to spread Vaseline on the surface of the gourd to keep it from drying out. To keep the pumpkin clean, use Lysol to remove mold spots as they appear she said.