craftalot

Hello, Merlin-type crafty people! I bring you the Pendragon pumpkin in time for Halloween.

Materials and tools:
• a pumpkin, gutted and prepped for carving
• this stock art by

reni_m of the Pendragon crest, printed out, sized to your pumpkin
• tape
• candle
• carving tools (I was able to find these in a cheap kit from the supermarket):
- pounce wheel (it looks like a little spur)
- tiny saw
- little stabby thing like a toothpick

Process:
1. Tape the image as flat to your pumpkin as you can manage. You can make rips in the corners to allow the paper to curve with its surface, providing you don't rip the design.
2. Follow the outline with the pounce wheel so you'll have a dotted line to carve along when the paper is removed. Any extremeties that are too detailed for the pounce wheel can be marked with the stabby/toothpick tool. I left some extra space between the neck and the wing so that part would be less likely to accidentally break off.
3. Remove the paper and carve with the tiny saw. Outlining and carving took me an hour or more, and I had to take breaks so my hand wouldn't cramp. If it looks like you won't get enough light through for the narrower parts to be visible, leave the lines the same but cut in at a wider angle instead of straight toward the pumpkin's center.
4. Take it outside the same night you carve it if the weather is cool, or it will start to wither. I'm doing battery-powered candles this year so I can place them on the walk without the wind blowing the candle out.

Results:

I hope this was all right; I've never done a craft tutorial before, so I was guessing at the level of detail to include. The reason I did a tutorial at all instead of just linking to it was that I'd never used a pounce wheel for pumpkin-carving before, and it made everything so much easier! I hope somebody will get some use out of this. :)

I carved this one a bit early this year, so I'm thinking about getting another pumpkin next week. Anyone have ideas for a companion Merlin-related design?