How to Carve a Pumpkin and Handy Leftover Tips

First you're going to need a pumpkin. If you grow them... great! If not you'll need to get down to the local store and buy one. You have 2 options here.

1. Buy a pumpkin which you like and draw a design to fit the pumpkin.
2. Draw your design first and then buy a pumpkin to fit your design.

Use your kitchen knife to cut around the stalk of the pumpkin to create the lid. The trick here is to cut on an angle. Rather than stab your pumpkin straight down, angle your knife in towards the center as you cut. This will make the bottom of the lid smaller than the top and will allow for shrinkage as it starts to dry out.

How big you make the lid is entirely up to you. I like my lid about twice the size of my fist so I don't lose any carving area. Of course, it also depends on the size of your pumpkin!

Now for the tricky part. You're going to need to transfer your design on to the pumpkin. If you already have it drawn on a piece of paper, tape the design to the pumpkin (see below) and use a needle to make holes in the pumpkin as you follow the design. What you're aiming for is kind of like a dot to dot.

The design I'm using here is of Sox the cat from my It's A Cat's Life series of paintings.

After you've done this, take your non-permanent marker and join up the dots. You don't have to but it makes it easier to see what you are doing when it comes to carving. Alternatively and if you're feeling confident, you could just draw your design straight on to the pumpkin.

Time to start carving. To make things easier, score the design into the flesh of the pumpkin with a craft knife/scalpel first and then start carving. Don't try and take out an entire piece all in one go either. Remove each section a piece at a time. I find a scalpel or craft knife works best for getting in to those difficult areas.

If you want varying degrees of light to shine through your pumpkin try only removing the top layer of a particular section. Instead of removing all of the flesh to make a hole, only cut half way through and remove the top layer. Have a look at the cat's nose if you're not sure what I mean.

That's all there is to it. Remember to wash off the non-permanent marker so you have a nice clean pumpkin. A pumpkin like this will take around 2 hours to complete from cutting the lid to the last cut. Depending on how intricate the design is of course means it could take longer.

Instead of wasting all that left over pumpkin from making your Jack O Lantern, why not turn it into a soup that's guaranteed to get rid of those winter blues.

The following recipe makes around 8-10 bowls. Simply pop it in the freezer to keep for another day.

You will need:

* 3 leeks - finely chopped
* 3 medium sized onions - finely chopped
* 8 medium sized carrots - grated
* Leftover pumpkin - chop or grate into small pieces
* 3 medium red chillies - finely chopped
* 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped or crushed
* 8 chicken stock cubes (or vegetable)
* 2 cups of milk
* 2-3 pints of water
* Ground black pepper