Carve Pumpkins Like A Pro

Courtesy/ John Woodard. New Hampshire Magazine logo by John Woodard

It’s about time to flock to your local pumpkin patch. This week is just about the perfect time for you to carve pumpkins (and have them still look good) before trick-or-treaters swarm the streets for the most anticipated night of the month. I don’t know about you, but for some of us, pumpkin carving is a near-death-defying annual feat. Once my fingers survive another October carving session, I sit back and look at my crooked, basic, wonky jack-o-lantern and think, “There must be an easier way to do this.”

Cue John Woodard. The Freedom native has made an unexpected career out of carving pumpkins and creating sand and ice sculptures.

“It started with snow,” said Woodard, “My son was young, and I thought it would be neat to go and make something with snow, but I didn’t want it to be a boring snowman. It morphed into trying bigger and better things; I made Thomas the Tank Engine, Tow Mater and a Corvette that I colored blue.”

Since that first time snow sculpting, Woodard has competed on snow carving’s national stage- the US National Snow Carving Championships in Lake Geneva, WI.

“You have a team of 3 people, a 10x10x8 space and 72 hours. Eating and sleeping is optional,” said Woodard.

In 2020, Woodard teamed up with his cousin, Glenn Woodard, and Jeff Brown (a professional pumpkin carver and multimedia artist) to create a snow sculpture of a reading monkey. The trio came in 2^nd overall, and won first in the People’s Choice category. Woodard made such a splash at Nationals, that he was asked to be a master carver on Disney’s Best in Snow.

Courtesy/ John Woodard. Woodard, Woodard and Brown’s 2020 US National Snow Sculpting Championship piece

“It started as a hobby that’s gone completely out of control,” said Woodard, jokingly, “I’ve been doing snow for 14 years, and pumpkins for 10.”

As Woodard’s skills as a carver and sculptor have expanded, so have his mediums. As mother nature started giving him less snow, he switched to sand sculpting after the town of Freedom asked him to carve at the beach. Having never carved sand before, Woodard called up Matt Long, a master carver and sand sculptor, and asked for his help. Long met Woodard at the sand event, and showed him the tricks of the trade. Woodard now creates sand sculptures for businesses and participates in a sand sculpting event in Wildwood, NJ. He also teaches sand sculpting classes for kids.

“After beaches start closing, and sand sculpting season is over, it’s Halloween,” said Woodard, “And of course, I can’t just do a jack-o-lantern. I have to do something crazy.”This year, he’s planning to challenge himself by doing something he’s never done before- a large lit phoenix that looks like it’s coming from the ground.

Courtesy/ John Woodard. Woodard’s phoenix, carved for the Hopewell Valley Pumpkin Carving Event.

“I pick things because people ask, or I want to, or I’ll do something to challenge myself and do something new,” said Woodard.

If you’re looking to try something new with your pumpkin carving this year, here’s how Woodard recommends you get started.

Pumpkin Art In General:

“There are three main types of things you can with pumpkin art,” said Woodard, “There’s traditional, etching and 3D carving.”

Traditional:
“You empty out the pumpkin, and cut all the way through the hollowed pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern.”

Etching:
“You shave skin off the pumpkin, and as you shave, the light gets brighter because you’re carving outside in. You can make it look like you took an orange and black photo of something, and you can get these really immaculate scenes through etching. Most of the time, you’re emptying out the pumpkin. If it’s your first one, I say do a silhouette (like initials, or a ghost, or a witches’ hat). To see how you’re doing as you’re carving, put an LED light, or strip of flickering Christmas lights into a hole in the back of the pumpkin.”

3D Carving:
“This is what I like to do! You’re carving into the flesh of the pumpkin to make an image or a face. You can make it as advanced as you want… Jeff Brown made a cube once, which is super advanced!”

Courtesy/ John Woodard. Carved for the Doylestown, PA Pumpkinfest with over 100lbs of pumpkin

“If you want to get really good at pumpkin carving and etching, there are thousands of YouTube videos where artists will talk you through how to do it,” said Woodard, “And if you want to do a jack-o-lantern, there are thousands of patterns out there!”

Picking the Right Pumpkin:
“Don’t pay a fortune for your pumpkin,” said Woodard, “When you know what design you want to do, you can find a pumpkin that will work for it. If you want to do a 3D pumpkin, look for the heaviest pumpkin with the most flesh. It doesn’t have to be the biggest pumpkin, but the walls should be thick. Don’t overlook the weird shaped pumpkins, because they can make the most interesting carves.”

Tools of the Trade:
Woodard doesn’t like to use knives for his pumpkins, and recommends using a ribbon tool set for clay, instead of knives.

“Knives have a high degree of accidents,” said Woodard, “The craft store, or a ceramic store, has ribbon tools that come in all different shapes and sizes. They have an edge to them, and the risk of an accident is far lower. You can have kids exploring carving without the fear of losing a finger. It takes a little getting used to, but I would rather focus on developing creativity than a fear of being cut.”

Pumpkin Longevity:
“A pumpkin is a part of nature,” said Woodard, “What it wants to do eventually is ROT. The more you take the pumpkin apart, the faster it’s going to decay.”

“Pumpkins start to decay as once oxygen gets into the flesh of the pumpkin. When you start carving away, you’re introducing oxygen to the pumpkin. If you carve into the entire pumpkin and remove seeds, you’re exposing the entire inside of the pumpkin to oxygen and it will start to decay faster. For a commercial job, I’ll wash the pumpkin with heavily diluted bleach to make it last a little longer,” said Woodard.

“Some places will throw the pumpkin in a brine tank and basically pickle it to make it last longer. I personally hate the smell of vinegar, so I will take vegetable oil and paint the flesh with it, because vegetable oil isn’t going to evaporate like the water in the flesh will. It’ll still decay, but not as fast.”