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I've seen " Extreme Pumpkins" on various media, and taken my turn trying it out. I like doing it...to a degree. Since my father the hoarder still won't throw anything away. I am left without a suitable, comfortable place to do it. This year I considered trying to carve a rendition of my truck, or a steam locomotive. But that's a bit too involved, so I settled for a vampire. I drew it out first, and having gone into insulin shock too many times, I find that I have great difficulty getting things proportional. One eye is larger than the other, the mouth is not centered etc. Despite trying to redraw it several times, the results are always off.
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2
I decided to just wing-it.
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3
The primary tool I use is a cheese grater. Although it quickly clogs up, if gets the smooth skin off fairly rapidly.
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4
This is after about fifteen minutes of shaving.
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5
Yes, it is a messy endeavor.
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6
I have an inexpensive set of decoy carving tools which I use to get started.
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7
Once the firm outer layer is removed, almost anything can be used to scrape away the unwanted portions. An old spoon works well.
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8
Not knowing how thick the skin is, makes it a bit harrowing to risk scraping away too much. So the work goes in steps.
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9
My sister got me a pumpkin carving set. At first I found it to be a kind of useless, but later found some ways to make good of it.
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10
It is now late in the afternoon ( evident from the way the sun hits Count Pumpkula)
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11
Now having roughed-out the basics, I have to fine tune the details.
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12
Yes, it is still asymmetrical, but I'd put it up against the ordinary Jack-O-Lantern.
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13
There are dozens of things I'd like to do to "tighten it up, but that's getting a bit picayune, so I'll stop here and let it go at that.
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14
The light will come through the openings and the thin spots, which means that the bottom will be more prominent than the top.
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15
Here's the proof.
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16
These photos look compressed, the pumpkin is actually long and narrow, like a squash. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the camera or the web site
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