Step 1: Choosing the Design

I Googled for some cool pumpkins and I found some that were quite challenging, but that's were the fun is !

The carver is Ray Villafane who is a real master (please check his website !)

The problem was I didn't choose my pumpkin. My parents-in-law gave me one and it didn't have at all the shape I needed to copy the original. So I had to adapt, and I had to "compress" the design...

Step 2: The Tools

I just used some basic carving tools and a kind of plastic scrapper to empty the pumpkin

Step 3: The Carving

The fun part.

First, I drew the face on the pumpkin with a simple ball pen, which is certainly a bad idea because it isn't easy at all. Maybe next time, I could use some other kind of pen...

Then the carving begins...

I started with the eyes. The overall shape, and then getting into the details, using only the two carving tools shown in the picture.

After that the nose and I finished with the mouth.

You shall not be afraid to carve quite deep if you want a nice volume in the end.

Step 4: Empty the Pumpkin

I guess that this step can be done before or after the carving...

After I cut the hole in the top of the pumpkin and emptied it, I realized how thick it was... and that the carved parts wouldn't glow in the dark with a simple candle light inside. I had to diminish the thickness of the pumpkin from the inside so that the light could pass trough...