Get your carving set ready! If you like a Zombie theme for Halloween, it can be a challenge to carve a Jack-O-Lantern worthy of the name. Here are some ideas for creating a super-creepy Halloween decoration. We’ve rounded up ideas on how to make a zombie pumpkin. Not a children’s activity, they require some time and careful carving. But definitely worth the effort!
How do you make a pumpkin look sick?
Ick. But scary! Make sure to cut the pumpkin mouth low on the pumpkin so you can have the um, throw up, coming out of the pumpkin mouth. You can use fibrous strands and seed, sometimes called pumpkin brains. Or you could mix up some oatmeal with other chunky things with a little bit of green food dye and have it coming out the pumpkins mouth. Be creative and have some fun!
How do you make a shadow pumpkin? Or not go all of the way through the pumpkin?
Use some of the specialty pumpkin carving tools that will take the surface layer off of the pumpkin but not go all of the way through to the center of the pumpkin. By using this pumpkin carving method, when you place a light in your pumpkin, it just looks like a shadow flickering from inside. This can be a nice technique for some zombie pumpkin designs.
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You can also use a rotary pumpkin-carving tool or a wood carving tool to slowly remove the top layer of the pumpkin skin. Vary the depth of the carving to get different types of details.
How to Make a Zombie Pumpkin
Make creepy and scary pumpkins with the ideas, tutorials, stencils and tools suggested by these pumpkin artists.
If you like Zombies for Halloween, have some fun this Halloween carving the best zombie pumpkins in the neighborhood! Browse through these articles to get tips and tricks before you get started.
You can make your zombie pumpkin very serious, even outrageously scary, or make a silly zombie pumpkin. Add props to your pumpkin display to create more of a showcase, make multiple zombie pumpkins to interact with each other! But, most of all have some zombie fun!
Once you start, you'll be headed back to the pumpkin patch for more scary looking pumpkins with bumps and irregularities that can be made into scars and other facial features.
Ray Villafane is a master monster pumpkin carver! The Wall Street Journal calls him “The Picasso of Pumpkin Carving” – high praise, indeed. Via Pumpkinheadz products, Ray offers detailed videos, tutorials and specialty carving tools for intricate designs, including zombies.
The Stylish Geek did a five-day, five-pumpkin challenge to make creepy pumpkin centerpieces for a wedding. (Yes, a wedding!) Read her story and enjoy photos of the process – including making room in the frig to keep the monsters cool as cucumbers.
Enjoy the outrageously creepy? Randommization shows you some amazing examples of what one can do with a pumpkin and a blade. There are no instructions here – just pumpkin carvings that must be seen to be believed!
If you need to brush up on your basic carving skills, Fortune of the Zombie Pumpkins has a detailed tutorial with tips on pattern transfer, fine tuning, preservation and lighting. There is a shop with patterns if you are not up to creating your own zombie.
Paulo Machado is another inspiring pumpkin sculptor. Paulo is very connected to his work and puts a bit of himself into each stroke, especially the pumpkins he carves for charity.
See Paulo in action demonstrating his 3-D pumpkin carving technique in this YouTube video.
Check out all of our Halloween ideas on Create Whimsy!
