Prenten Fraziers Forum of Relative Information: Pumpkin Contest- Carving Neytiri

I wasn't going to carve a pumpkin this year but Carrie wanted me to so she brought me one because she is the bomb!

So I guess I will give it a GO.

This year will be my first to enter a pumpkin carving contest. The Gardens contest is due Thursday, Oct 28. Over 1,500 people will come to the activities on that evening the pumpkins are displayed.

It is rather exciting to enter a competition and I recommend everyone do it in one form or another. It builds character. Not sure what kind though.

I am keen on traditional carving methods but I prefer to attempt a shadow scraping which is really where unlimited sculpting potential exists.

First a subject had to be decided upon. I know Avatar is big this year so after a quick Google search I decided that it had to be Neytiri

It wasn’t long before I found an image that I liked.

Pretty much anything can be turned into a shadow carving but there are a few “Tricks” that can help ease the work


First you will want to copy then convert your image to gray-scale in Photo-shop. I used Gimp, a free down-loadable photo editing program with a lot of great features. Print two of these out as big as possible on a sheet of paper.

For further light referencing, I also printed an inverted image.

Here are my tools. The only mandatory tools in this project are the X-acto knife and scraper ( bottom left) though the citrus peel scraper was a must. Can’t remember what the dental floss was supposed to be for. I forgot to include my push pin in this Photo.

A few chemicals to use are white vinegar and petroleum jelly. These prevent the pumpkin from oxidizing and dehydrating thus increasing the life of your work. I would like to find a better chemical for preservation purposes.

A good smooth pumpkin with thick even skin will work best. 1” thick shells are ideal. Tape the paper to the pumpkin and see to it that it stretches smoothly. No matter where the paper folds are, be sure NOT to let the paper fold over the eyes as these are the most important feature. I was also careful not to place the eyes over any pumpkin ridges.

Trace the image with a push pin making sure to focus on outlining the “black” sections. Avoid poking pin holes into any black. It is best to err slightly on the side of white. It can be easy to miss detail so this part was worth the extra time.

Once done remove the paper to reveal the results. It is easy to see if you missed any detail from the back of the paper.

With the pin holes as guides, fill in all areas that will NOT be cut out. These are the solid black areas from the picture.

Avoid shading. only high contrast here!

My next task was to cut all the skin off where there was no marker. An x-acto knife was crucial for doing this effectively along edges. Cut shallow but evenly.

A citrus peel scraper made light work of the middle parts

Throughout the project, spraying and brushing with vinegar keeps everything fresh and clean.

Whew! I got threw with only minor mistakes which I keep to myself.

Patience will pay off in the long run though your audience might not last.

Cut out your lid. I made mine go down the back to make it easier to work with the insides.

Your canvas is both the inside and outside of the pumpkin. You want even lighting tones so make the insides as smooth as possible I used the pastry cutter for this.

Since light is your medium, insert a bulb from a cheap lamp into the back end. You will be carving the rest of the pumpkin in the dark.

A hint of glow should be visible through the pumpkin. By this time the prep work is done, however, the art work has only begun.

The eyes are the soul of any portrait so I do nothing else until I perfect them; it is just my preference. Dig and scrape on both sides until the eyes are enhanced to their full brightness.

Everything else is scraped to compliment the eyes. Spray and clean as you go. This is more of a how-to and not an art lesson so from here on out depends on your patience. When the light gets turned back on, it should look like a creepy ghoulish monster from the lagoon!

That’s good because it saves the “AHHH” moment for when the lights go out.

I kept the lights out the entire time until I was finished because it really breaks concentration.

wash everything. then before you add any petroleum jelly be sure the surface is very dry. It is a pain to work with.

The Freckles and other major highlights where cutting goes all the way through were the last details which is where my inverted image came in handy. I ended up just poking holes with my big pointy dentist looking tool thingy.


Yep, I was surprised too!

$100 Grand Prize Winner.

Next year I will be held to carving another pumpkin for sure. I have seen better pumpkins than mine so if they up the prize I might have to pull out the big guns. Its Ironic because the panel man at the Gardens said I might have sold Neytiri had I placed a price tag on it. Now I really should have thought of that. Oh well there's always next year. HA HA

The Gardens had some other nice pumpkins