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Carve a fright-fully good pumpkin

21 October 2015

As we approach Hallowe'en, families will again be carving intricate shapes out of the side of pumpkins to make spooky lanterns for their windows and doorsteps. But this year your creation doesn't have to be limited to wonky fangs and mismatched eyes.

Artist Louise Bradley, from BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, has put together a guide to a spotty design, inspired by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, that is sure to impress. And remember, children shouldn't try making this on their own. It's best to get the help of an adult for the tricky cutting and scooping.

Choose a pumpkin – regular shapes work best with this design – maybe you can find one like Yayoi Kusama’s artwork

Step one

Remove the lid, cutting at a 45 degree angle towards the middle, so the top fits back in, and include a ‘tooth’ shape to make it easy to put back in the correct place.

Step two

Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits (keep seeds for roasting!). Carve out the flesh using a scooper, wide metal spoon or apple corer – at this stage leave the flesh about 1cm thick all round

Step three

Draw holes with a brown pen on alternate segments of pumpkin and lid from top to bottom, leaving gaps between
Many shops now sell pumpkin shaping tools to make it safer to create your design

Step four

Use a corer to score circles into the skin on pumpkin and lid – just shallow cuts

Yayoi Kusama

Japan's most successful living artist artist is perhaps best known for covering her artworks and installations with repeating dots and circles.

Describing herself as an obsessional artist, Kusama started to paint using polka dots and nets as motifs at around age ten. The inspiration for her use of repetitive patterns came from the hallucinations she has suffered since early childhood.

She was a mainstay of the modern art scene in 1960s New York before she moved back to Japan in 1973. Her work is seen to have influenced artists such as Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst.

Kusama has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution since 1977 but works in a studio across the street to create her art.

A creative perspective

Step five

Cut out the circles – rotating the pumpkin not the blade is easier.

Step six

Cut down narrow stripes into the skin in between segments – not all the way through!

Step seven

Use a pumpkin tool or screwdriver to make smaller holes all the way through the sides

As always with a Halloween lantern, children shouldn't try making it without the help of an adult.

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is hosting a mass pumpkin carving event where it hopes to carve more than 1,000 lanterns.

You can find other pumpkin themed events as part of the national Get Creative Family Arts Festival which runs from 9 October to 1 November 2015.

Step eight

Use an apple corer to make holes in solid segments, push through and pull back out with the corer

Get Creative Family Arts Festival

The Get Creative Family Arts Festival started in October 2013 with the aim of developing the range of arts events and activities available to families - the quality as well as the overall experience.

It is the initiative of eight organisations: The Association of British Orchestras, Dance UK, the Independent Theatre Council, The Society of London Theatre, UK Theatre, Contemporary Visual Arts Network, Family and Childcare Trust, The Audience Agency.

Since launch, more than a million family members have taken part. Events span all forms of performing and visual arts, and leading figures from the arts including Lord Lloyd Webber and Zoë Wanamaker are supporters.

The finished lantern will look great with an LED tea-light inside.

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