Categories
DIY

Pumpkin Carving for Geeks

Halloween 035

I am a pumpkin carving geek.  I can’t get enough of it!  As soon as October rolls around, there’s nothing I want to do more than buy a dozen of the largest pumpkins Fred Meyer carries and sit at home with my pairing knife whittling away at orange flesh.  [Tip: Fred Meyer’s scales max out somewhere around 30 lbs., so find the heaviest pumpkins you can and you’ll get a great deal!]

Over the past few years, I’ve developed a few pumpkin carving techniques (ahem… using lasers), but I am certainly not alone when it comes to geeking out over gords.  Check out this collection of nerd-o-lanterns!

You’ve gotta love a Star Trek pumpkin!  This one was carved by Alex Wer, who runs ThePumpkinGeek.com.  He’s got several dozen other Star Trek carvings, including a whole page dedicated to the series lady characters.  These are the most photorealistic carvings I’ve seen, though his site doesn’t indicate that he uses any special machinery for his carving process.
How could I mention Star Trek without also paying homage to Star Wars?  This is a pretty mean Vader (via Walyou), especially given that it appears to be carved, not etched. 
Although I won’t award many points for skill, this Pac-o-Lantern gets props for creativity and retro flair.  Now, if it were motorized and playable in a giant field of hay bales, I’d be there with a roll of quarters.
This pumpkin is included not because of the subject matter, but because of the method.  It was carved using a CNC machine (a computer controlled rotary cutting tool).  See the full details of the process at Lumenlab. 

And of course, so as not to be outdone, here are a few pumpkins I carved in years past.

pumpkins 095 This is a 7” sugar pie pumpkin with the first verse of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven etched into it with a laser.  Perhaps it would have been scarier to engrave the Patriot Act.
bats and angels This is one of my favorites.  It’s M.C. Escher’s Angels and Devils.  This was also carved with a laser, as it would have been nearly impossible to capture the detail near the edges where the pattern repeats. 
bill gates pumpkin

Finally, my Sistine Chapel, the Bill Gates.  This one was hand carved and took about two hours to complete. 

For all the engineering geeks out there, I’ve published a primer on carving pumpkins with a laser. 

I’m at a bit of a loss for what to carve this year.  If you’ve got suggestions, leave ‘em in the comments.  If the idea is good enough (and you live in the Seattle area) I might just carve it for you!

74 comments on “Pumpkin Carving for Geeks”

Just moved back to the UK from Seattle… love the pumpkins – perhaps an ‘Up’ house on balloons pumpkin for the great neighbours I left behind.

Hi – these are amaizing! Any chance you can be hired to carve some pumpkins for an event next Halloween 2011? We are looking for some really cool, well done carvings!

Love the work!
Lisa

First of all I would like to say terrific blog!
I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Thank you!

Heya outstanding blog! Does running a blog such as
this take a massive amount work? I have very little expertise
in programming however I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, should you have any suggestions or tips for new
blog owners please share. I know this is off subject however I simply had to ask.
Thanks a lot!

I hardly leave a response, but I looked at some of the remarks on Pumpkin Carving for Geeks | Seattle Food Geek. I actually do have a couple of questions for you if it’s okay. Could it be simply me or do a few of the comments appear like they are written by brain dead individuals? 😛 And, if you are posting at other online sites, I would like to keep up with you. Could you make a list of all of all your shared sites like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

Hey there! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My website looks weird when browsing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share. Many thanks!

Greetings! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website?

I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!

Thanks for a marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading
it, you could be a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will eventually come back
later in life. I want to encourage you continue your great work,
have a nice evening!

One more thing to say is that an online business administration diploma is designed for individuals to be able to
well proceed to bachelors degree courses. The Ninety credit college degree meets the other
bachelor college degree requirements then when you earn the associate of arts in BA online, you will get
access to the most up-to-date technologies in this particular field.
Some reasons why students want to get their associate degree in business is because they can be interested in this area and want to receive the
general education necessary in advance of jumping in a bachelor
diploma program. Thx for the tips you provide inside your blog.

I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here.
The sketch is tasteful, your authored subject matter stylish.

nonetheless, you command get got an edginess over that you wish be delivering
the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same
nearly a lot often inside case you shield this
hike.

Thanks for your post on this web site. From my very own experience, there are occassions when softening way up a photograph might provide the professional photographer with a
chunk of an inventive flare. Often however, that soft clouds isn’t what precisely you had under consideration and can sometimes spoil an otherwise good picture, especially if you anticipate enlarging the item.

Thanks for the thoughts you are giving on this website.
Another thing I would really like to say is the fact getting hold of duplicates of your credit rating in order to inspect accuracy of each detail
may be the first measures you have to accomplish in
repairing credit. You are looking to freshen your credit file from
detrimental details mistakes that wreck your credit score.

I have noticed that of all different types of insurance, medical care insurance is the most dubious because of the issue between the insurance coverage company’s need to remain afloat and the user’s need to
have insurance cover. Insurance companies’ earnings on overall health plans are very low, consequently some organizations struggle to make a profit. Thanks for the thoughts you talk about through this blog.

Hi, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses?
If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or
anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any support is very much appreciated.

After looking at a number of the blog posts on your website,
I really like your way of writing a blog. I added it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back
soon. Take a look at my web site as well and tell me your opinion.

Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if
you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.

I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I
think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a
bit, but instead of that, this is fantastic blog.
An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.

Hello There. I discovered your weblog using msn. That is a very smartly
written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and
return to learn more of your helpful info.

Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.

I wonder what Emmeline Pankhurst would have thought of today’s culture? One cannot re-read Kafka enough these days – the lessons for our generation especially have never been more salient. Volunteering and community have been killed by Cameron’s ‘Big Society’.

A touch of nutmeg really bolsters the egg flavours in an otherwise traditional Yorkshire pudding, which can really focus the mind on other issues. I’m so glad we ended our 4 week holiday through Central Asia with an afternoon of volunteering at a Mongolian orphanage – it really made us feel we were giving something back at this time of global crisis. Oh well, as long as the frankenfood corporations can keep making a profit hey?

I visited a Rauschenberg exhibition the other day after a saunter through Borough market and it struck me. If my cleaner can speak such wonderful English, why can’t all children in the UK learn at least two foreign languages? That’s what we learned from Toussaint L’Ouverture.

After a late night pilates session me and my chums were discussing things. I would rather vote for the BNP than let my three year old eat anything sold in Asda! Volunteering and community have been killed by Cameron’s ‘Big Society’.

I don’t go to the pub often since I hate commercial lagers, but I was drinking an American Pale Ale with a friend yesterday and it really got us thinking. The whole concept of maternity leave is an affront to gender equality – let’s put an end to this patriarchal system of repression and stigmatisation! Oh well, as long as the frankenfood corporations can keep making a profit hey?

I can’t help but wonder what Edward Snowden would think about this. Why are the cis-sexual backlash movement intent on opressing my right to fair-trade cocoa? It’s time for the working class to fight back!

is an Online Poker gambling agent with a wide variety of online card gambling games.
This type of online poker & dominoqq can be enjoyed anytime and anywhere through a computer and smartphone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.