Tower of Pumpkins Stencils

Jessica Tull
·1 min read

Nothing is chummier than a dog pile with friends, unless you're at the bottom of it! The bottom, glum-faced pumpkin quite literally plays the heavy in this tower; we weighted it down by adding heavy rocks and sand to its interior for extra stability.

To carve:

1. Hollow out four pumpkins in various shapes, colors, and sizes, scraping the inside walls thinnest on the sides you're planning to carve. (No thicker than 1" works best.)

2. Print out the stencil patterns and tape them to the pumpkins' surfaces. Use a pin to prick through the paper into the surface of the pumpkin, creating closely spaced pin pricks along the stencil lines.

3. Peel off the stencils, and use the pin pricks as cutting guides for carving the pumpkins. (Note: Don't carve the bottom pumpkin's eyebrows! You'll etch them in Step 4.) Cut along the pin pricks, carving completely through the wall of the pumpkin. Push out cutout sections once you've finished carving the design.

4. Use a gouging tool to gently scrape off the pumpkin's surface skin along the eyebrows, scraping in parallel lines to mimic the look of hair.

5. Add rocks and sand to the interior of the largest pumpkin, and add an electric candle. Stack other pumpkins largest to smallest, illuminating each one and leaving lids off all but the top pumpkin.