The Blue Brick | Photography and Handcrafts by Shireen Nadir

Today I wanted to share a beautiful, simple technique that Tito taught me for carving relief patterns into pumpkins. It’s fun, quick and something a little different for your fall home decor.

For purposes of this tutorial I used a very small pumpkin – but this will work on any size.

You will need the same tools used for carving linoleum blocks. They’re easy to find at any art store and fairly affordable. I like to grab a few different tips while I’m at it, though I did this entire pumpkin with the tip that’s currently shown on the carving tool.

This pumpkin was a present for Tito – sort of a Hallowe’en valentine :) So I started by writing ‘Amor’ on my pumpkin which is Spanish for ‘Love’.

I then got to work widening my letters and starting the filigree. Pumpkin gives the perfect resistance to carving, so even someone who does not have a steady hand can do fairly intricate carving. I like to work free-form, but you can also start your design by tracing it out with a pencil.

My inspiration for the design was based around the mendhi that my cousin Dolly had done on my hands in India. It’s a recurring theme in my work, even in my pottery.

I took my time and put in a lot of detail. It’s kind of meditative ;)

And voila! They make lovely home decorations and gifts – Tito loved his. We will enjoy having it on our kitchen counter this Autumn :)