Finley the Friendly Fish

From pumpkin to porch

1. 1

   Prep the pumpkin and pick a flat face

   Choose a pumpkin with a broad, smooth side that faces out. Wipe it clean and dry so your marker will stick. Instead of cutting a top lid, cut a round hole in the back or bottom so you can reach an LED light in later. Scoop the inside of the carving wall down to about one inch thick using a sturdy scraper so etching is easier.

2. 2

   Sketch the fish with a dry-erase marker

   Draw one simple fish in profile: a rounded body, a pointed nose, and a forked tail. Keep it large and centered on the flat face so it has room to swim. Dry-erase marker lets you wipe and redraw until the shape feels right. Mark the dot for the eye, the curved gill line, and the top and bottom fins as guides for later.

3. 3

   Score the outline

   With a small carving saw or a detail knife, trace lightly along the whole outline of the body and tail. You are cutting a shallow groove, not going through the wall. This groove gives your peeling a clean edge to stop against. Take your time on the tail fork so the two points stay crisp.

4. 4

   Peel the body for a soft glow

   Using a ribbon loop tool or a lino gouge, shave off just the orange skin inside the outline to expose the pale flesh underneath. Aim for an even, shallow depth so the whole body lights up the same warm tone. Leave the eye as an untouched dot so it stays dark. Work in small strokes and check the surface often; you can always remove more but cannot put skin back.

5. 5

   Add fins, gills, and tail lines last

   Now scratch the interior detail lines into the peeled body: the curved gill arc, the ray lines in the fins, and a few strokes in the tail. Press only hard enough to remove a little more flesh so these lines glow brighter than the body around them. Keeping them for last means the surface is already set and you are only adding accents. Wipe away any leftover marker with a damp cloth.

6. 6

   Light it and photograph

   Set a battery LED puck inside and aim it toward the carved face. Test in a dark room and deepen any lines that look faint. Because this is a surface carve, the glow will be gentle rather than blazing, which suits the calm fish look. Set it on a porch bench and shoot at dusk for the warmest color.

Written with AI to match this design