Free download

The Ultimate Book on
Pumpkin Carving

How Any Kid Can Carve Incredible Pumpkins

Everything you need to know. 64 chapters covering every technique, every tool, nine carving styles. Written by someone who has carved pumpkin portraits for over 30 years and taught 500+ kids. Free, forever.

Get the free book ↓
The Ultimate Book on Pumpkin Carving by Jeremy Burghall — free EPUB download

What’s inside

64 chapters across 10 parts

This isn’t a pamphlet. It covers everything from choosing your perfect pumpkin to photographing your finished carving, even getting your pumpkin in the news.

Part 1

Introduction

  • How to use this book
  • Quick history of pumpkin carving
  • Anyone can do this
Part 2

Carving styles

  • Nine carving styles explained
  • From Basic Shapes to Sculpting
  • Choosing the right style
Part 3

Who’s carving?

  • Best styles by age — 5+
  • Best styles by age — 8+
  • Best styles by age — 10+
  • Best styles by age — 12+
Part 4

Tools & safety

  • Carving safety
  • Carving tools
  • Other tools and supplies
Part 5

The pumpkin

  • Picking the perfect pumpkin
  • Supermarket vs pumpkin farm
  • Giant and foam pumpkins
  • Getting it ready to carve
Part 6

The stencil

  • Finding a stencil
  • Drawing your own
  • Making one with Pumpkin Studio
  • Making your stencil fit
Part 7

Carving

  • What order to carve
  • Attaching the stencil
  • Sawing, scraping, sculpting
  • Fixing mistakes
Part 8

After carving

  • Keeping your pumpkin fresh
  • The Vaseline method
  • The bleach and water method
  • Lighting your pumpkin
Part 9

Display & sharing

  • Indoor vs outdoor display
  • Pumpkin photography
  • How to get your pumpkin on the news
Part 10

Extras

  • Roasting pumpkin seeds
  • Watermelon carving
  • Quick reference guide
  • Full tools & supplies list
Jeremy Burghall presenting 20+ pumpkin portraits at the Burnaby Halloween Festival launch event

Jeremy presenting 20+ pumpkin portraits carved for the Burnaby Halloween Festival launch event.

About the author

Jeremy Burghall

Jeremy has been carving pumpkin portraits for over 30 years, since he was ten years old. It started with the ending credits of a Halloween episode of Roseanne — portraits of the cast carved into pumpkins. He thought, I want to try that. And that was it.

Year after year, hundreds of trick-or-treaters stopped to admire his carvings. His pumpkins have been featured on CBC, CTV, Global, Citytv, Breakfast Television, and The Vancouver Sun.

He has taught hundreds of kids across Greater Vancouver, from elementary to high school, and organized large-scale displays through the Burnaby Halloween Festival — hundreds of pumpkins carved by the students themselves.

In 2006 he co-created Pumpkinshop, one of the first programs for converting photos into pumpkin carving stencils. Twenty years later, he rebuilt that vision as Pumpkin Studio.

30+ Years carving
500+ Kids taught
20+ Portraits in one night
64 Chapters written
Featured on CBC CTV Global Citytv Breakfast Television The Vancouver Sun

From the classroom

What kids say after their first carving

“I enjoyed making Cookie Monster come to life.”

Sam, age 11

“At first I wasn’t sure about the carving because we were doing a face, but it turned out way better than I thought.”

Alex, age 15

“Making the stencil was my favorite part.”

Jordan, age 14

The Ultimate Book on Pumpkin Carving

It’s completely free

The Ultimate Book on Pumpkin Carving How Any Kid Can Carve Incredible Pumpkins

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