Halloween - Pumpkin Carving

Halloween - is not that far away and we've announced a Pumpkin Carving Competition to celebrate the Summer's End Festival! Halloween is perfect for taking pictures. This blogpost is to give a helping hand to our contestants!

Everybody reading this blog is welcome to take part. Please visit our Facebook Page to post your photos

General Pumpkin Carving Advice:

1. Cut a hole in the top for the lid.  Make sure you angle the saw inwards so your lid sits on top of the pumpkin and doesn’t just fall through;

2. Scoop out the seeds and strings with a spoon;

3. Scrape some of the flesh from the inside so your pumpkin is about an inch thick all the way around (or at least wherever you’ll be carving).  You can poke  a straight pin through it to estimate the thickness;

If you are thinking of a  fancier design pumpkin, then:

4. Print out the pattern.

5. Trim off excess paper

6. Tape or use pins to affix the pattern to the pumpkin.

7. Trace your pattern by poking holes with a sharp object like a nail. Be patient here, it may take a while.

8. Rub flour or chalk dust all over the part where you poked the holes so you can see them better.


9. Push a nail through the pumpkin skin where you want to start carving. Turn and push until it’s all the way into the pumpkin, then remove. Repeat for all parts you will be carving out before starting the carving to avoid breaking the pumpkin.

10. Using your nail hole as a starting point start cutting the design. Use a sawing motion to cut out your design and a  very light pressure… take your time and allow the sawing to do the work rather than applying pressure and forcing it.

11. When making curves, just slightly turn the saw.  When making sharp corners, remove the saw and re-insert it at an angle.

12. To remove pieces, push them out from the inside.  For larger pieces, you may want to cut them into smaller bits and remove them in sections

13. If you are using candle, light the candle and place it on a piece of tinfoil inside the pumpkin.  Put the lid on.  Let it sit a minute

Remove the lid and there should be a smoke mark on it. Cut a vent in the lid where the smoke mark show.

Here's a few templates for your beautiful pumpkins to make the competition even more fun and challenge:

Tree Template

Spider Template

Jack Template

Pumpkin King Template

Ghost Template

Pumpkin Face Template

Bat Template


If you are a skilled Pumpkin Artist, you might try the Haunted House Template or Cat Pumpkin Template Witch Template


Good Luck and looking forward to receiving photos of your wonderfully carved pumpkins! You may also try to take some photos in the process and send us your Pumpkin Carving Story!