Pumpkin Carving Creativity

By Chris Dunmire

Your eyes do not deceive you. What you see above is a real carved PUNKin based on my Nit Wits comic Punkin — right down to the purple hair, brow-rings, and tongue studs. I took my concept right to the fruit of the matter and made it real.

See, just when you think you've come to the end of a good idea after its initial execution (drawing, writing, inventing), creativity reminds you that one good (or witty) idea just may be reused for another application, having multiple uses. Yay! for creativity and innovation.

The good news is that you too, can carve the Nit Wits PUNKin if you so desire because I've created a carving template you can download and print for personal use along with the following project directions. And if you're seeking more free pumpkin carving templates, be sure to see Creativity Portal's pumpkin carving template resource section for my recommendations.

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Printable PUNKin Template

PUNKin Carving Project How-to Guide

Tools and Materials Needed:

• 1 Medium-sized pumpkin
• 1 Printed PUNKin Template
• 3-4 "Eyebrow-rings"
  (Made from craft wire or paper clips. Wrapping craft wire around a cylinder-shaped item like a glue stick forms a perfect ring)
• 1-2 "Tongue Studs"
  (Made from screw tops or other fitting hardware)
• 8-10 Stick or T-pins
• A sharp carving knife
• A sharp pointy-tool
• A metal pumpkin-guts scooping spoon
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• Optional: 1 Sheet of self-sticking laminate paper, purple acrylic paint, paintbrush

Tongue Preparation:

Separate the tongue from the template and cut out along the dotted line. To protect the tongue from getting wet from the rain or other outdoor elements, you may want to laminate it first using self-sticking laminate paper.

Next, pierce the tongue with your sharp pointy-tool and assemble your "tongue-studs" into the tongue. Secure with a few dots of craft glue on the underside of the tongue.

How to Carve and Decorate your PUNKin Pumpkin:

1. Cut PUNKin Lid: Cut a "lid" in the pumpkin top by carving a 4" to 6" diameter circle around the stem at a slight backslash angle (\). Pull the stem out and scrape off all the pumpkin guts (seeds and stringy stuff). If the pumpkin lid is too thick, you can trim off 1/8" of the flesh if you'd like.
   
   
2. Clean Out PUNKin: Scoop out all of the pumpkin guts and seeds with your scooping spoon (toast the seeds later if you want a nice nutritious snack).
   
   
3. Trace Template: Position and pin the PUNKin template (the eyes and mouth part) on the pumpkin where you want to carve the face.
   
   Using your sharp pointy-tool, trace (puncture dot-holes) the eyes and mouth through the template into the pumpkin skin about 1/8" apart. When you're done tracing, remove the template.
   
   
4. Carve Face: Using your carving knife, carefully connect the dot-holes and carve out the PUNKin eyes and mouth.
   
   
5. Attach PUNK Bling Jewelry: Assemble the "eyebrow rings" to PUNKin eye. TIP: Pierce the pumpkin skin in two places with your sharp pointy-tool first before pushing each end of the ring into the pumpkin.
   
   
6. Attach Tongue: Assemble the prepared tongue with "studs" to PUNKin by cutting a slit in the bottom part of the PUNKin mouth and tucking the tongue flap inside. Secure with several pins inside the mouth and/or from the inside of the PUNKin.
   
   
7. Paint PUNKin Hair: Paint the pumpkin stem with purple acrylic paint and allow it to air dry before placing it back onto the pumpkin top.

Final PUNKin Touches:

• If you plan on using the PUNKin in a Jack-O-Lantern fashion, simply place a candle inside in the traditional safety-first manner.
  
  
• Although PUNKin's hate labels, feel free to print the below nifty PUNKin sign to pin to your PUNKin to help explain the humor. To print, right-click on the image and save it to your computer for printing. •

© 2006 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.