I’m preparing to have family over for Thanksgiving dinner later today. I took a minute to check my email and found that Jim Morgan who is an Executive Chef in Pennsylvania sent me this marvelous carving of a turkey carved from pumpkin. I had to take a moment to post this photo so that you could see it. Isn’t it great?
Jim says that the tail and head are carved from a 2nd pumpkin. Great idea Jim.
Trukey carved from pumpkin by Jim Morgan
Some of the first vegetable carvings that I made were for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. It was a bouquet of vegetable flowers. If I could make this my first time, you can, too.
I show you step-by-step how to make the yam (orange) and turnip (white) flowers as well as cucumber leaves in my video lesson, Yam and Turnip Flowers Made with U-cutters. And, you can learn how to make the beet roses in my video lessons, Hearts and Roses. It’s easy once I show you how.
My first vegetable bouquet - used at Thanksgiving
I carved and assembled this bouquet continue reading…
At this time of year, you might be looking for some great ideas for Thanksgiving centerpieces. In this article, I’ve compiled some of the ideas for fall and Thanksgiving centerpieces that I have posted in previous years. I hope that these photos and 2 short video ideas give you some inspiration for your own Thanksgiving centerpieces this year.
Last year, I carved a few different centerpieces including one that looked like a turkey. It was carved from kabocha squash.
You can take a look at more continue reading…
It’s been a very busy fall this year with introducing Ray Villafane’s 3D Pumpkin Carving Tutorials on DVD and with my carving at the White House. I hope that you had a very Happy Halloween.
Lots of my customer/students have been having fun learning how to carve pumpkins with Ray Villafane’s Pumpkin Carving DVD. It is really not as difficult as it seems to carve pumpkins with expressive 3D faces.
At first it seems totally daunting. But when Ray Villafane breaks in down into a series of easy to follow steps, anyone can do it. Really! Well. anyone who wants to do it.
I have had so many student/customers send me emails telling me how pleased they are with their first attempts at carving faces after watching Ray Villafane‘s DVD tutorials.
One student told me that he thought carving faces would be too difficult. He though that he had to be an artist to sculpt pumpkin faces. But when he saw how Ray Villafane breaks it down into steps he thought, Wow, maybe I dont’ have to be an artist. He told me that he was so pleased with their pumpkin carvings and how they cna’t wait till next year to show off thier pumpkins at Halloween.
Take a look at photos of pumpkins that some people have carved after watching the DVD lessons by Ray Villanfane . continue reading…
Witch Face Carved by Pam Leno
What a blast! What a memorable experience!
I had the honor of carving pumpkins at the White House for the first family’s Halloween trick or treat event.
The White House hosted a Halloween party with trick or treating for military families. The trick-or-treating was done on the front portico and drive way of the White House. Our team created a carved pumpkin display for the event.
How did I get invited? continue reading…
Ray Villafane’s 3-D Pumpkin Class was a blast. Here a some photos of the finished and unfinished pumpkin carvings done during the class.
You can learn how to carve3-D pumpkins like these in Ray’s new DVD Tutorials.
The Carve IV was a really fun vegetable carving event held in beautiful Holland, MI.
In the video on this page you will hear from pro contestants, collegiate contestants, judges and organizers of this one-of-a-kind event.
Maybe it will motivate you to attend next year. Or, even start you own vegetable and fruit carving competition in your area.
Take a look. continue reading…
Would you like to see what went on at The Carve IV, Vegetable and Fruit Carving competition? You can also see photos of last year’s carving competition event, THE CARVE III
It was a really fun event for everyone from the competitors, to the audience, to the children who attended. This video will show you how the Professionals in the People’s Choice carving competition set up their beautiful displays. You’ll see how the audience was entranced by the amazing carvings and you’ll see how even the children got in on the fun.
And of course there was drama. You’ll also see how disaster struck one of the People’s Choice competitors. continue reading…
I recently posted an article about carved pumpkin lanterns made to celebrate Halloween. In it, I show a bunch of carved pumpkins with movie and cartoon themes. One thing that these carved pumpkin lanterns all have in common is that they use varying thickness of the pumpkin to create varying shades of light and dark.
In order to help you carve your own carved pumpkin lanterns, I’ve made a free video to illustrate the concept of carving varying thicknesses to make differing shades of light and dark. Take a look and you will see what I mean. You will find it useful the next time you carve a pumpkin lantern. And the same concept works well when you carve lanterns from melons.
Take a look. continue reading…
Want to see some truly amazing and inspiring pumpkin carving?
Pumpkin Carving of David Letterman by Ray Villafane
Tonight the Finale of Food Network’s “Halloween Wars” airs. It’s on Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 9pm ET/PT
Watch it and you will see Ray Villafane in action carving his extreme pumpkins.
If you miss that, you can see Ray carve his extreme 3-D pumpkins on the following shows.
October 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm ET, the Weather Channel will air a segment featuring Ray called Pumpkinpalooza.
And you can see Ray on Martha Stewart Live on the Hallmark Channel at 10 am on October 18th and 19th, 2011
LIVE in person Class With Food Network Champion Ray Villafane.
Perhaps you are hunting for ideas for pumpkin carvings for Halloween. Or maybe you are having an Autumn party and are looking for some cool pumpkin lantern ideas.
Iron Man Movie Themed Pumpkin Carving
You will get some of fun ideas from these photos of cartoon and movie themed pumpkin carvings in this article.
These are just a fraction of the pumpkin carvings made for the annual Halloween celebration in Encinitas, California. Members of the Self Realization Fellowship carve all of these lovely pumpkins. Then all of these great pumpkin carvings are displayed throughout old downtown Encinitas along Highway 101.
I wish I could give individual credit to each person who made these lovely pumpkin carvings but I don’t know who they are and who carved what. I do know that many to these pumpkin carvings were carved by the brothers (monks) who live at the Self Realization Fellowship. continue reading…
Ray would never say that about himself, but I would! And thousand of others would agree with me.
You’ve seen his work in many viral emails that circulate at this time of year.
You’ve seen Ray Villafane win pumpkin carving competitions on the Food Network.
He’s appeared on The Today Show, the Evening News with Katie Couric, Martha Stewart and more.
Ray Villafane has carved all over the world and has even had the honor of carving pumpkins at the White House.
Now, you have an opportunity to learn secrets of outrageous pumpkin carving in a small LIVE class with Ray Villafane. And it’s just in time for Halloween!
Ray Villafane taught art in K-12 schools for 13 years. So, he knows how to teach! If Ray can teach children, he can surely teach you. He is great at breaking it down to steps so that even a beginner can have great results with their pumpkin carvings. for those who already have pumpkin carving skills, he will take you to the next level. To see photos, video and details about Ray Villafane’s outrageous pumpkin carving class, click here.
Or visit http://www.vegetablefruitcarving.com/pumpkin-carving-instruction-ray-villafane/
With Ray Villafane’s expert instruction in a small class setting, you will be carving the most amazing Halloween pumpkins that you have ever carved!Seats have been filling up fast, so take a look at this opportunity now.
When you go to the page that gives more detail about Ray Villafane’s live class, you will see lots more photos and videos of his amazing pumpkin carvings.
Ray Villafane and his carvings are truly amazing. With Ray Villafane’s expert instruction, you will amaze your friends and family with your outrageous 3D pumpkin carvings this Halloween.
James Perales with his Carvings
Here is another set of melon rind carving ideas. Watermelon carving does not just have to be about carving watermelons. Rinds can make pretty carvings, too.
Yesterday, I wrote an article about melon rind carving decorations and serving plates from watermelon rind. Today I want to share with you some more beautiful melon rind carving ideas.
These photos were sent to me and are the work of James Perales. He has taken the rind from honeydew and watermelon and carved it into decorations that really make his fruit display far more dramatic and beautiful that it otherwise would be. Keeping in mind that the rind would most likely be thrown out anyway, these melon rind carving decorations are very cost effective. continue reading…
When you cut up a watermelon to serve, why not make something fun and decorative with the watermelon rind?
The watermelon rind can be easily carved into a serving plate for fruit salad. In an earlier blog article I showed how to make a watermelon bowl. Why not make a watermelon rind platter? Take a look at these to pretty carving ideas sent to me.
With some creative strokes of the knife, student/customer Teresita Stafford took some watermelon rind that might otherwise be thrown away and turned in into a pretty flower shaped serving dish for fruit salad. continue reading…
The Carve IV is the largest vegetable and fruit carving competition of it’s kind in the United States. This will be it’s 4th year and it keeps getting bigger and better. There will be over 50 carving competitors this year.
Two teams from Columbus Culinary Institute led by instructor Nicole Bennet won the First Place Overall Team award and the Fourth Place Overall Team award at The Carve III
The Carve will be held on September 30th and October 1st in the charming town of Holland Michigan. There are two different types of food carving competitions that take place at The Carve IV- The U.S. Collegiate National Championships (for students) and the People’s Choice Competition for pros and hobbists. In addition there will be free vegetable and fruit carving seminars and an area for children to have some creative fruit and vegetable fun.
Take a look at lots of photos from last year’s competition. continue reading…
Have you ever seen how pretty Armenian cucumbers are? Do you know when is a cucumber really a melon? Find out in the short video below. continue reading…
Nita’s Swan Watermelon Carving Won the 2nd Place Award
I recently participated in a watermelon carving competition for which I carved a Watermelon Swan that won the second place award. I posted lots of photos of all the other winners and participants in an earlier blog post about the watermelon carving competition.
As a result of seeing the photos of my carved watermelon swan, I got a lot a requests asking for more details and information about my watermelon swan. So I made up this short video to show you more details.
If you are an intermediate or advanced carver, this may give you some ideas for creating your own watermelon swan. If you are a beginner, perhaps you will be inspired to learn more. Take a look. continue reading…
Examples of cakes taught in Nita's Watermelon Cakes video lessons
Watermelon cakes can make a healthy alternative to regular cakes that are full of artery clogging butter, (or worse yet, trans fats), diabetes inducing sugar and processed white flour full of gluten that lots of people are allergic to. I still love cakes, but it is nice to have a pretty and healthy alternative.
Did you know that I offer some video lessons where I show how to make several different carved watermelon cakes? The photo to the right show 3 of the cake designs that I teach. The first one is a super simple cake made with watermelon, honeydew and pineapple. In another post on my blog you can see how students took the idea and added their own ideas to come up with a fun variety of watermelon cakes. The second cake from carved watermelon that I teach is a Happy Birthday design. The third that you see topped with carved roses my look intricate and difficult but it is easier than you night think , once you are shown how. You’ll be surprised at what you can do.
Anyway, I wanted to show you an elaborate take on my watermelon cake idea. This video is by Tiron Gabi and shows a multi-tiered watermelon cake all carved from one very large watermelon.
Look at all that detail. continue reading…
I participated in a fun watermelon carving competition with my fruit carving class mates at the Thai Temple. I continue to learn and practice almost every week with these ladies. Once a year, we do a friendly competition.
You will enjoy seeing all of the idea inspiring photos from the watermelon carving competition in this article and in the photo gallery below. continue reading…
Examples of cakes taught in Nita's Watermelon Cakes video lessons
Look at this beautiful variety of watermelon cakes below! I love seeing how people take an idea and make it their own. I thought you might enjoy seeing these photos, too.
About 9 days ago, Mike Ghali ordered my new Watermelon Cakes video lessons and has since carved such a beautiful watermelon cake with roses on top. Isn’t it lovely? Great job Mike!
Here is what Mike wrote in his email to me that included his photo. continue reading…
Want to carve impressive watermelons?
You can with these easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
The Hearts and Roses video lessons are designed for beginners with no special tools required.
Carving Melon Flowers
Intermediate Lessons show how to carve smooth and jagged petals, step-by-step.
Learn 3 Lovely Centerpieces
Nita's VegetableFruitCarving.com presents
Amazing Carving with Jimmy Zhang
