Jana Phung carves one of her first watermelon roses

Have you ever wanted to carve watermelon roses?

To a newcomer, fruit carving can seem daunting. Especially when you see lots of photos of carvings by experts and pros.

Carving watermelon roses can be easier than it looks when you get good instructions.

Today, I’ll be showing you watermelons carved with roses by students . In many cases these are their first or second attempts at carving the rose design. Some have carved their rose patterns into watermelons and some have carved cantaloupe, honeydew and other melons. All of these students have learned to carve watermelon roses from my video lessons.

You can see from the first continue reading…

Get creative with watermelon this summer

Since August 3rd is National Watermelon Day in the United States, I wanted to share some fresh and fun watermelon recipes with you. Even if you don’t live in the United States, you really don’t a special day to celebrate this delicious and versatile fruit. Watermelon is enjoyed and loved any day of the year, but nothing beats it on hot summer days!

Watermelon is delicious on its own, but there are many different and interesting ways to use it as well. So here are a few watermelon recipes to get your creative culinary juices flowing. Oh and keep reading to find out about my free watermelon carving lessons! continue reading…

Aneta Lekas carving fruit at the Riu Mambo in the Dominican Republic

How does a medical office assistant end up with a vegetable and fruit carving business, get a chance to showcase her skills at a famous Riu hotel in the Dominican Republic and possibly on a television show? 

This inspiring story is about one of my vegetable and fruit carving students/customers, Aneta Lekas. If you follow my blog, you may recall that I featured Aneta’s vegetable and fruit arrangements  in a previous post. I recently received more beautiful photos of her latest vegetable and fruit carvings, plus some exciting news that I wanted to share with you. I think you will find her story truly uplifting. continue reading…

Watermelon carvings on The Bachelor?

OK. I hate to admit it but I watched The Bachelor TV show last night. It’s kind of like watching a train wreck. I don’t really want to look but I can’t take my eyes off of it.

It’s like eating junk food. I know it’s not good for me but I sometimes eat it anyway.

At the end of last night’s show they showed a clip of what is coming in next week’s show. The Bachelor and one of the bachelorettes were bathing in a big tub of liquid chocolate. And they had whip cream to play with, too.

Hmmm, now that’s an idea you can recreate at home for your Valentine’s Celebration…. continue reading…

I’m excited to announce that my new DVD “Carving Watermelons – Roses, Buds and Leaves” is now available in my shop.

It is a great introduction to Thai style watermelon carving. But don’t let the title fool you, is this video lesson you will also learn rose patterns that you can also carve into other melons and fruits like mangos and papayas.

Examples of Fruits carved with patterns taught in "Carving Watermelons - Roses, Buds and Leaves"

I created this video with beginners in mind, however, it’s also helpful for intermediate fruit carvers who would like to improve their watermelon carving techniques for carving delicate graceful roses. continue reading…

I’m working on my video of the month carving lessons. I’ll be starting with some easy beginner lessons and moving into more intermediate. As intricate as these carved melons look, they are not difficult to do if you are shown how….which is exactly what I’ll be doing in my upcoming lessons.

Which of these melon carving patterns would you be most interested in learning how to do? Please indicate with your vote below each of the photos that you would most like to learn. You can vote for as many as you like.

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Here is a creative use of watermelon carving for the Christmas season. A Watermelon Santa. It was done by fruit carver Yenny Medalith Caldas Garcia.

It is not common knowledge but today is National Watermelon Day in the United States. Refreshing, delicious. sweet watermelon. Yum. Why not have celebrate national watermelon day while watermelons are at the peak of their season? They are plentiful and inexpensive right now. I just bought a huge one today for only $1.99!

The following are some great ideas in honor of National Watermelon Day.

Watermelon Lanterns

If you are planning a luau or summer party that will go into the evening hours, you can create dramatic, glowing watermelon lanterns much like a Halloween Jack-O-Lantern – but prettier!  Your carved watermelon can be beautiful by day and night. Here are photos showing a carved watermelon that I made before and after turning it into a lantern. You can light your watermelon with a flashlight, or other battery powered light. You might try lighting with battery powered candle type lights. You can even light with a real candle as long as you open up the top or create holes to allow enough oxygen so that the flame will burn.

Besides carving, there are so many other things you can do with watermelon. Here are a few delicious, fun, unusual and downright silly watermelon ideas you may want to try.

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