Tomorrow, Sunday April 12st, 2013 the Food Network will air a new episode of Giada in Paradise that shows the art of Thai fruit carving on national TV. This show was shot if beautiful Thailand. While there, Giada de Laurentiis visits the Siam Carving Academy in Thailand to try her hand at Thai Fruit Carving. What a treat for the eyes that will be. Giada is gorgeous, Thailand is a beautiful tropical paradise and the stunning art of fruit carving all in one show will quite lovely to watch.

Giada in Paradise show – Giada di Laurentiis learns to carve fruit – Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

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In Thailand, the Songkran Festival signifying  the Thai New Year is celebrated for 3 to 10 days. Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word meaning change or move. It is celebrated as a time for renewal and cleansing, improving attitudes and behaviors and setting new resolutions.

Songkran is also known as the water festival. Some of that traditions of Songkran are quiet, introspective and spiritual. While others are wet and wild! continue reading…

Thai Fruit Carvings at Loy Krathong Festival

In  my previous blog post, I published some amazing photos and video showing the colorful Thai Festival of Lights, Loy Krathong in Thailand.

The Thai community here in Southern California also celebrates Loy Krathong with festivals, fruit carvings and floating flowers. Unfortunately, the incredible flying candle lit lanterns shown in my previous blog article are not a part of the celebration here. The beautiful lanterns lanterns that float into the sky could easily start huge fire storms here in Southern California.

The Loy Krathong festival here does includes beautiful fruit carvings, and the traditional water floats. At last year’s Loy Krathong the fruit carving members of the local Thai Temple and I carved vegetables and fruits to decorate one of the booths at the festival. Here are some photos of the carvings. continue reading…

Thai fruit carvings were a part of the Songkran Festival that I attended

Earlier this month, I attended a Songkran Festival celebration held here in California. Also known as the Water Festival, the Songkran Festival celebrates Thailand’s New Year and is usually a time for self reflection and spiritual homage. The Songkran Festival takes place in Thailand every year between April 13th and 15th, but the fun festivities, which include friendly street water fights, can last for several weeks!

Although I haven’t had the chance to go to continue reading…

Thailand flag made with red chili, shredded coconut and blue swimmer crab

I came across an original and clever food art idea that was showcased at the Sydney International Food Festival in Australia. To celebrate and promote the city of Sydney as a global dining destination, an advertising agency in Australia called WHYBIN\TBWA came up with the eye catching food art concept of arranging the traditional foods of different countries into national flags.

Feast your eyes on these clever food art flags from the Sydney Food Festival – a feast for the eyes, the taste continue reading…

Water Festival activities in Thailand to welcome the New year

The streets of Thailand will be splashing with fun, music and excitement for the Water Festival (also known as the Songkran Festival) between April 13^th to 15^th.

The Thai people are well known for their intricate and beautiful fruit carving. During the Songkran Festival  fruit carvings are prepared to display and share as you will see further down in this article. But first, let me show you why the Songkran festival is also called the Water Festival.

Anyone who is outside in Thailand during this time is a fair target for drive-by water shootings, water balloons and garden hoses. But not to worry, the Water Festival activities are all in good fun to welcome the Thai New Year. In fact, the Water Festival is a welcome relief from the hot weather in Thailand during April.

Many other countries in Asia also celebrate a New Year in April and regard this time as a period of transition to welcome positive changes, while clearing out negative elements from the past. Many of us may associate this idea with Spring season, such as spring cleaning, which doesn’t sound as fun as a massive street water fight! So I’d like to invite you on another armchair adventure to mystical Thailand for the Water Festival. continue reading…

Today, I want to share with you some photos and an instructional video from Thai master carver and teacher, Wan Hertz.

Thailand is one of the countries best known for it’s beautiful fruit carvings.  And, Wan Hertz carves some of the finest Thai fruit carving that I have seen. The detail and intricacy of her carvings are amazing. Take a look at this one. Can you believe that she did this in only 3 hours? Look how complex the detail is! continue reading…

Take a look at some beautiful Thai fruit carving that we displayed during the Songkran festival a couple of weeks ago. The Songkran festival celebrates traditional Thai new year. A group of us who carve  each brought some fruit carvings to display at the Songkran festival. Here they are:

Thai Fruit Carving and Vegetable Carving

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Kabocha Squash carved with Roses

Have you ever seen Thai fruit carving instructions that ask for Thai pumpkin? Or maybe the instructions just ask for pumpkin but it doesn’t look like the American pumpkin that you may be familiar with? That is what I experienced when first trying to learn fruit carving. Since then, my Thai friends and teachers have introduced me to Kabocha squash. This is what the Thai refer to as pumpkin. continue reading…

Honeydew carving can be easier than you think once you are shown how.

Here are a couple of melon carvings that I’ll be teaching in videos in my upcoming Carving of the Month Club.

Update: These Honeydew melon carving lessons are now available on DVD. Learn more about my Honeydew Carving Lessons by clicking this link.

Intermediate Honeydew Carving Video Lessons Available Now!

Honeydew flower carvings

These honeydew carvings were the two most requested melon carving designs of the photos that I posted in a previous blog post where I asked readers to vote for their favorite melons carvings that they would like to learn. continue reading…

Much of my carving training has been in the Thai fruit carving style. Thai fruit carving often includes lots of detailed and intricate melon carving. The results are colorful and enchanting to the eyes. 

A couple of weeks ago our group brought carvings to celebrate what we have learned. I thought that you might enjoy seeing these photos. They may provide inspiration for you to learn fruit carving. If you are already an experienced carver, maybe you will get some new ideas for patterns to carve.

Take a look at these lovely Thai fruit carvings.

Rather than try to view these with the Pic Lens or Slide show links, it will most likely work best if you click the photo that you want to see. Then you can click the ‘Next’ and ‘Back’ links to view photos before it and after it. Enjoy!

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If you enjoy carving melons, you will love the Thai Pro Flexible Blade knife. You can learn more about it here.

If you want to learn to carve melons in the Thai style, check out my video lessons Carving Watermelons – Roses, Buds and Leaves. A great next step after that is the video lessons in Carving Melon Flowers – Smooth and Jagged Petals. Because you can get online access right away, you can start learning Thai fruit carving today.

Yesterday I participated in a little friendly fruit carving competition and won 2nd prize. I thought you might like to see my arrangement. I hope it gives you some ideas for your own arrangements.

When you click on the small photos below, you will be able to see a larger photos as well as a description of the carved items.

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This past Sunday I participated in a Songkran Festival which celebrates the Thai Traditional New Year and is also known as the Water Festival. A group of us carved fruits and vegetables to make a lovely display table and I thought that you might enjoy these photos. They may give you some inspiration and ideas for carvings of your own.

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