Halloween Pumpkin Carving Stencils That Bring Star Wars & More To Your Porch

Your Halloween pumpkins don’t have the same old boring designs. Get some pumpkin stencils and carving! You can make some amazing stuff, including Star Wars pumpkins or for Twilight fans, Edward and Bella. How about Jay Leno? The Kool Aide guy? A Cylon pumpkin? Some tips and links, below.

Like many, I’ve been carving pumpkins for ages for Halloween. But about 10 years ago, I was transformed into a master pumpkin carver by virtue of living in Britain. There, Halloween wasn’t widely celebrated at the time, and carving pumpkins wasn’t commonly done. When some friends saw my basic Jack-O-Lantern, you know — eyes, nose and a basic toothy grin — they wanted me to teach them my “masterful” skills.

That started an annual pumpkin carving fest. I started bringing back Halloween pumpkin carving tools on trips back to the US. These often where bundled with stencils. I dived into making more complex pumpkins.

Last year, I thought it would be fun to make an Obama pumpkin. It occured to me to search for a carving pattern. I not only found one but also discovered there are stencils for all types of pumpkin designs on the web.

This year, I specifically went looking for some fun patterns and was amazed at what’s out there, for free. Some links are below. But first, some very fast pumpkin carving tips:

1. Scrape out your pumpkin very well. It should feel fairly dry when you’ve done it right. I mean, it’ll be moist — but it won’t be wet.
2. Never, ever, wash the inside of your pumpkin after scraping. It’s like sending an invitation to Mr. Mold
3. Definitely buy some cheap carving tools, which are often sold in local supermarkets. The small knifes are save for kids and adults and really work.
4. Tape your pattern over the top of your pumpkin. If it is too big, use a copier to shrink it down.
5. Use a poking tool to punch along the lines of your pattern, making a little follow-the-dots trail in the pumpkin itself that you’ll cut.
6. When done, keep the pattern to refer to as you cut. It’s very easy to make a mistake and cut where you shouldn’t, so look to your pattern
7. When all else fails, and you’ve made a mistake, a paper clip or toothpick often works as a way to “glue” something you’ve cut back into the right place.

A little note to those who make pumpkin patterns. Promise me you’re actually trying to carve using them. Often they include tiny holes or cuts next to another one that are extremely difficult to actually do.

How about those patterns?

Star Wars Pumpkins: Put a Sith or Darth Vader on your porch with these free Star Wars pumpkin patterns from StarWars.com. The ones I did last night were above. The Stormtrooper, ugh — the entire thing fell apart, patched back up with paper clips. But it was fun to try.

Twilight Pumpkins: If you’re a big Twilight fan, I stumbled across these free Twilight pumpkin stencils from Gather.

Cylon Pumpkins: Sadly, I didn’t find any good Battlestar Galactica stencils. That’s probably because I got distracted by these stories about how to make Cylon pumpkins with red LEDs.

More Pumpkin Patterns: eHow has a nice collection of free simple templates, as does Celebrating Halloween. Check out the vomiting pumpkin that anyone can do. Squidoo has a nice page with links to some templates, examples of tools and tips. Pumpkin Glow has an amazing collection of un-Halloween patterns. Jay Leno pumpkin? The Kool Aid guy? They’ve got them, and for free. If you want to pay, Zombie Pumpkins has what looks to be a nice collection. You can get over 200 for $20.

Postscript: Now you want to see a real master? Look at Noel Dickover’s work here. Yes, that’s a friggin’ Death Star pumpkin! And look at the detail for the Where The Wild Things Are one.