Love Wins Heart Pumpkin

From pumpkin to porch

1. 1

   Pick a tall pumpkin and open it up

   Choose a tall, smooth pumpkin with a flat front panel big enough for a heart plus a line of text. An adult should cut a lid or, better for lettering, a wide bottom hatch so the shell stays intact on the carving face. Scrape the inside of the front wall down to about one inch thick so light passes through easily. A thinner wall also makes the fine letter gaps easier to cut cleanly.

2. 2

   Transfer the stencil accurately

   Print a heart-with-text stencil sized to your pumpkin and tape it flat, snipping the paper edges so it hugs the curve. Poke through the outline with a pin or transfer tool, tracing the heart border, the top and bottom edge of the horizontal bar, and every letter edge. Go slowly around the letters since a missed dot means a crooked V or W later. Peel the paper and connect your dots with a washable marker before any blade touches the shell.

3. 3

   Carve the letter gaps first, left to right

   Start with the small negative spaces between and inside the letters while the wall is still solid and strong. Use a fine detail saw or a craft knife and work in tight sequence from L through the final S rather than jumping around. This keeps the remaining wall evenly supported and protects the narrow slivers between letters. Leave the letters themselves attached to the bar above and below so they read as dark silhouettes.

4. 4

   Open the heart around the text

   Now cut the large heart interior in sections, doing the top lobes and the pointed bottom last. Keep the horizontal bar that holds the words as an uncut bridge spanning the heart's widest point. Cut the big open areas after the fine work so the shell does not flex while you handle delicate letters. Push each freed piece inward and out to avoid chipping the edges.

5. 5

   Clean edges and test the glow

   Bevel the cut edges slightly toward the inside so more light spills through the openings. Trim any ragged bits around the letters with the tip of your knife and check that no letter is hanging by a thread. Drop in an LED light, never a candle, and view it in a dark room. If a letter looks lost, shave the inside wall a little thinner around it to brighten the contrast.

6. 6

   Stage and photograph it

   Set the pumpkin at eye level on gravel or a step so the message sits straight on for the camera. Use one or two bright LEDs and shoot at dusk when the sky still holds a little color. Turn the pumpkin slightly so the ridges do not distort the letters. A dab of petroleum jelly on the cut edges slows drying and keeps the glow crisp for a few days.