Click here to hear TagYerit's song SciFi (first half) in RealAudio while you enjoy some of our carvings.

Pumpkins carved from 2006

The pumpkins you find on these pages were either done by Rich & Flo Newman (aka TagYerit) or sent in by friends & contributors. There are easily more than 10 pages by now, so give  yourself plenty of time to explore the vast range of wonderful creations assembled here!

The Kabali Diner could be the earliest start we've had on carving.. Flo designed & carved it on Sept. 23rd as a gift. The 'coffee drinking patron' was drawn by cartoonist Carl Mefferd.

You never know from one day to the next what will ultimately demand your intention. Rich had planned on carving another in his series with the pumpkin head guy. His plan was to do Pumpkin guy's self portrait in an homage to Normal Rockwell. But FIRST ... a request came in from a news director @ ESPN, " any chance you will make Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon pumpkins for ESPN\'s Pardon the Interruption?" Well, initially it wasn't at the top of my list, but I had been wanting to try a bonafide portrait pumpkin and here was my chance to do 2 portraits on one pumpkin. Tony & Mike's Heads on a Stick segment was the perfect ruse. Looks like the Norman Rockwell will wait till next year.

Not bad, but it can be unnerving. If you look at the unlit pumpkins, they don't look like they're gonna work at all. And it goes against all the natural tendencies to sculpt a face. Here's a case where you have to know the tricks, trust your brain and ignore your instincts. I took each face seperately in my graphics program, desaturated (removed color), increased contrast and ended up with  "Three Tone" patterns. (that is ...white, gray and black). If you don't have graphics software, the same thing can be done with a copy machine. The pic of Tony came out pretty well, but the light I used inside the pumpkin was too bright and Mike didn't come out as well as in the picture as he actually did in real time. Overnighted the pumpkin to PTI where it will be used for Monday night's show. If you're intimidated by trying this kind of an approach, do what I did. I reminded myself that it's only a vegetable. I got it about 90% there on my own, but Flo definitely helped refine them even more.

Here's Rosey on her first hot air balloon ride. (Rosey's a Pug / Jack Russell mix) ... Flo has been exploring the shape of the pumpkin in her designs. A hot air balloon complete with the ribs of the pumpkin that coincide with the ribs of the balloon. If she were to do it again, she'd try for a more oblong pumpkin - tall and thin. That way the balloon might be the whole width of the pumpkin and a more gradual curve from the pumpkin to the basket. Usually we crop off the surroundings, but this chair creates such a nice effect that we decided to leave the whole composition.

Here's my (Rich of TagYerit's) first, and to date, only painted pumpkin. It's a foam pumpkin I picked up at Michael's to experiment with carving. Didn't have much luck with the details I usually like to create ... instead created this mask of Pumpkinhead Astaire for my Halloween costume.

The final pumpkin I carved this year missed the Oct. 31 deadline, but it served to try out 2 different ideas that I had been toying with. - carved on both sides of the same pumpkin. First what happens if you carve in reverse, so the part that juts out most (i.e. a nose) is actually carved deepest. I used a wooden rabbit mask for the model and the following is the result. (unlit and lit) I did get confused a few times and reversed my intended reversal. Still kind of  an interesting result ...

Then, I went for the color ... A monarch butterfly is essentially 3 colors - white black & orange (actually varies between yellows and oranges). So wherever a butterfly is white, I cut through, where it's black I left intact and where it should be orange is peeled. Another thing you'll notice is that I've tried to spruce up the overall composition by putting a few branches in there as well. The cut through dots  don't really give the white I was after, but I still think it's effective.

Well that's it for us this year, but don't stop now. Below you'll find an incredible array of incredible work by some incredibly creative folks.

Sean lives in Seattle. "These are pics of my first and second attempts at "non-traditional" (triangles eyes, zig-zag mouth, etc.) pumpkin carving. Both of these are done free-hand, drawing on the pumpkin directly (call me a purist, but I don't like the idea of stencils). Yoda I did last year ('05), and Frankenstein I finished just moments ago (2006)."

A week later Sean sent the following, "I think I caught the pumpkin carving bug this year... and it's contageous! My girlfriend Hiromi carved Col. Sanders, I carved the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Gargoyle for a carving competition at work."

"I have to admit, I had no idea what I was doing but I thought I would give a crack at the sculpture esque pumpkins. It's not bad for a first timer, my neighbors came up with requests afterward. The bad boy sat outside for a day." -- Dusty

C. Brant Page: "Here are some pictures of the pumpkin I carved this year. I have been carving for the last 8 or so years. My tool of choice is a steak knife or paring knife. This is a small one this year, but I try to do 100lb pumpkins which helps with the details. This one took about 4 hours to carve."

Sergio carved the butterfly pumpkin for his fiance'. It was the first pumpkin he'd carved in years, but now he's hooked as you can see from his stylized devil & horse.

This series was done by cartoonist Carl Mefferd of his aunt & uncle's pets:

Janet Lange: "These are a few pumpkins I created this year. I am going to do some really different ones next year. This is the first year I did something different (i.e carving, sculpting). I experimented alot, but would like to try some really hard ones next year! Your site is wonderful and full of ideas."

Cassidy Raher is a 28 year-old professional from San Francisco, who has dabbled in pumpkin carving for about 5 years. "It's so amazing that year after year, it's still a rush to be somewhat worried about how the pumpkins will turn out as you're carving them. Then you throw a candle in, switch off the lights, and you get that excitement you've been waiting for. I have two brothers and this past Halloween I tried my hand at carving both of their faces into pumpkins. My inspiration started because my older brother is in the US Army and wasn't around for the Holiday festivities. I carved his face in honor of him, and while I was at it, I decided to add my other brother to the mix. "

These are from a number of carvings that Daniel did in 2005, but I'm just getting them up for 2006. You can see more of his pumpkins done in 2004 . others that he did include Elvira, "pirates of the carribean" , skull, Frankenstein, and Marilyn Munroe. Obviously, he's a busy guy. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

Lee Ellis sent in a few of her pictures from this year's batch ... (see also her pumpkins from 2005)

"Jack took me about 4.5 hours. (The) first one I have done without a stencil and just reversed the photo on Microsoft Picture it. So it is for that reason I am most pleased."

"I also did this double Dragon for a local charity. It was carved on the 24th and had to last until tomorow (Oct. 31)! It is still in Great shape du to the massive amounts of vaseline I used...LOL but it got $145.00 at the auction so I am very happy about that too!" Lee says the Double Dragon took about 2.5 hours.

We created these galleries to show the depth of expression possible with carved pumpkins. But we never forget that the most simple designs, including the traditional triangle cut-out faces can bring much joy. That is why we welcome the chance to let you show off your creations, regardless of skill level or source of design. (time & space permitting) . At whatever level you're at, we hope you'll find inspiration here and send us your pictures.

See what we mean! James Brett sent us these pictures from last year. His sons, at the time aged 2 & 5, obviously raring to celebrate.

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The following were done by Khrystyne Andrews with the help of her son Alexander. Dracula (with the bats) was a pattern from Pumpkin Masters and she found the pattern for the cat "somewhere" on the web.
  

Emily's dragon along with a trio of Emily pumpkins

One each carved by Bonnie and Emily. The floral design comes from Mexican Dia de los Muertos motifs.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin - the bottom is cut off instead of the top. Bonnie sprinkled cinnamon inside and it smelled great.

The World on a Pumpkin

Now what could be scarier at Halloween (or any other time of the year) than Hannibal Lecter???

Ana sent me this of her 2006 pumpkin.

  Julie Nebel Dooley paints pet portraits and recently started painting them on pumpkins. More of her work at the Pumpkin Painting Page

Keep going, there's so much to see!