Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns: A How-To Guide
Nothing says “Halloween” like a hand carved pumpkin, dimly lit from within by a candle that sheds light on its eerily creepy face. Yes, year after year, jack-o-lanterns continue to be a very important part of Halloween.
The original jack-o-lanterns in Ireland and Scotland were usually made out of turnips, and smaller than the pumpkin version that has become the standard Halloween design in America. The great thing about using a pumpkin is that it is easier to carve, and you have so much more scope to design an impressive face on the side of a pumpkin. Pumpkins come mostly in either grey or orange. It is the orange color that has become most associated with Halloween.
When choosing a pumpkin to use as a jack-o-lantern, make sure that it is not overly ripe. If a pumpkin has strong smell or sounds hollow when you tap on the outside of it, it is too ripe to be used. Don’t forget to seriously consider the color, shape, and overall condition of the pumpkin when making your selection. You want to pick the very best pumpkin you can for your jack-o-lantern. And, after picking one out, don’t hold onto it by its stem, since it could snap apart and leave you with a squashed pumpkin instead of a jack-o-lantern.
The first steps in turning a plain old pumpkin into a scary Halloween jack-o-lantern are cleaning it, drying it, and cutting off the top part where the stem is located. Then, get all of the soft flesh and seeds out of the pumpkin. You will want to be left with just the thick surface of the pumpkin flesh. Since you need to be able to place a short candle inside the pumpkin, it is also important that you make sure that you leave the bottom of it flat, stable, and reasonably smooth.
Removing all the pumpkin innards is done most easily with a big spoon. After you do that, you can move onto the face carving process.
Some people grab a kitchen knife at this point, and start hacking away. There is a better approach. First, work on your design. You can buy stencils with intricate jack-o-lantern faces, or you can design your own on a sheet of paper with a pen or pencil. You might even find one you could print from the internet. A great design makes all the difference to how your jack-o-lantern will look, and will likely be a lot more detailed than something you work on as you go.
Once your paper design is complete, tape it onto the pumpkin in the position you want it. Then, punch lots of small holes with a sharp instrument in the pumpkin flesh, following your pattern.
When you take the paper off, your design will be outlined on the pumpkin and very easy to carve out exactly how you want it.
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