Review & Giveaway - Extreme Pumpkin Carving: 2nd Edition Revised & Expanded Review

Extreme Pumpkin Carving: 2nd Edition Revised & Expanded Review
By: Vic Hood & Jack A. Williams
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
Pub. Date: September 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1565238060
Pages: 104










Review:

by Gary Falin

Halloween is nearly upon us, meaning its time to buy costumes, bags of candy, and pumpkins to carve for All Hallows' Eve. The origin of jack-o-lanterns is unknown, but the earliest known use of pumpkin carving occurred in the East Anglia during the 1660s; though others claim it originated from Ireland. According to a myth, lighting a jack-o-lantern will keep the undead away from your home. The first record of pumpkin carving in United States was recorded in 1866 and it is now a tradition around Halloween for both kids and adults, who like to make jack-o-lanterns by using printed stencils and place a lit candle inside the pumpkin, thus singling the trick-or treaters that this house is giving away candy.

by John Roth

For others, pumpkin carving is a craft or art. There are even pumpkin carving competitions, like the annual Food Network's Halloween War, but typically these carvings are on the extreme side. Fox Chapel Publishing recently published Extreme Pumpkin Carving (Second Edition: Revised & Expanded) by Vic Hood & Jack A. Williams featuring twenty amazing designs from frightful to fabulous.

Instead of cutting out your pumpkin, you'll learn how to carve a pumpkin like a piece of wood using simple tools, such as a permanent marker, a permanent-heavy-line-felt-tip-marker, a single blade knife or pocket knife, a butcher knife, an old toothbrush, a finish nail and/or pounce wheel, and masking tape. If you have any wood carving tools, you can use those too.

A 200-pound pumpkin called "Cheeky" by artist Terri Hardin.

Extreme Pumpkin Carving shows you step-by-step through photos and descriptions how to make two different deigns. There is a gallery of twenty-three examples of the best carved pumpkins. Finally, there are twenty different patterns that you can photocopy or trace onto a piece of paper. Then you can enlarge or reduce the pattern to fit the size of your pumpkin. Tape the pattern to the pumpkin, transfer the pattern by using a nail or pounce wheel and then you can begin carving.

I carve at least one pumpkin a year since I was a middle-grader. Typically, I make a photocopy of a pattern using stock paper. Then I cut the pattern pieces out and use them as stencils on the pumpkin. I have watched a few episodes of Halloween War on the Food Network and I also wondered how they did their carvings. The authors did a wonderful job taking step-by-step picture, telling you exactly what to do. Overall, I enjoyed Extreme Pumpkin Carving as it has many useful tips and it makes pumpkin carving fun!

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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