I thought I would try my hand at carving the popular cannibalistic pumpkin that I’ve seen so many times before. Just as I was starting out, I realized that this was a good opportunity to document it with my camera. So below is a little tutorial I put together for anyone who might want to try this out. It’s not too difficult if you are just patient and take it slow.

STEP 1:
The first thing you want to do before setting out on this is to get the proper tools and items.
This includes the following:

1. Large Pumpkin
2. Tiny Pumpkin
3. Washable Marker
4. Large Knife
5. Smaller Steak Knife
6. Large Spoon
7. Small Spoon

STEP 2:
Take your washable marker and draw out the face on the big pumpkin. Make sure to measure the circumfrence of the tiny pumpkin and make the the mouth that you sketch on the big pumpkin large enough to hold that size.


STEP 3:
Grab your large knife and cut a hole in the top of the large pumpkin for the cap. I like to go in a circle, but add one notch so I know which way the cap goes back on later.

STEP 4:
Take the cap off and set it to the side.

STEP 5:
Get your children involved by having them scoop out the insides. Kids love this part. Look at my daughter’s face expression, she is having a blast!

STEP 6:
Once you get all the seeds and innards out, then get your spoon and scrape out the extra stuff that clings to the side.

When you are done, your pumpkin should have a smooth inside all the way around. Nice and clean.

STEP 7:
Take out your large knife and cut a hole inside where the mouth is going to be.

STEP 8:
Get your smaller steak knife and start trimming off pieces, making the hole bigger and bigger as you go. The reason you are doing this is that you will be constantly cutting and then trying to place your tiny pumpkin into the hole so that it will fit snugly inside.

STEP 9:
When you have the hole for the mouth done and you have tested that the tiny pumpkin fits perfectly, then it’s time for the skinning of the teeth.
See where the knife is in the photo below. You want your knife to go into this area between the meat and the skin of the pumpkin. Start shoving your knife in between very carefully as shown.

Begin cutting this way, taking off little pieces of the skin, while leaving the meat of the pumpkin intact. You are basically slowly shaving off pieces of the pumpkin’s skin. This is a delicate process, so take your time. This isn’t like using a computer where you can CTRL+Z (undo) if you make a mistake, so be careful not to trim too much.

Keep skinning the rest of the teeth until you have removed all the skin covering.

STEP 10:
The next part takes patience as well. Go in and begin carving out the teeth. It shouldn’t be too difficult to do, since the texture is wet and easier to cut out than the skin was.

STEP 11:
Now follow the same techniques you just learned for the eyes. You should have the hang of it now.
Create the hole, carve it out to the lines you drew in. For the eyes, skin them like you did the teeth.

STEP 12:
Grab the tiny pumpkin and do the exact same thing as you did with the big pumpkin, except don’t cut a hole in the top. Instead, make the mouth big, so you can scoop out all the insides through the mouth.

FINAL STEP:
Take the tiny pumpkin and put it inside the big pumpkin’s mouth. If there is any pen marks from the initial sketch you made, take a wet paper towel and wipe them off.

You now have your cannibalistic pumpkin carving!

You can add a hat or maybe put some hay underneath it when you set it out for the kids coming by to trick or treat!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!