How to Carve a Pumpkin – Halloween
Mancano, ormai, solo poche ore a Halloween. Avete già deciso il travestimento per l’occasione? Vi siete organizzati con gli amici per andare a fare dolcetto o scherzetto? E avete già intagliato la vostra zucca?
A proposito di zucca, se volete un’idea originale per realizzare una Jack-o’- lantern davvero spaventosa, questo video fa decisamente al caso vostro!
Ecco, intanto, cosa occorre per fare questa fantastica zucca di Halloween:
a large pumpkin = una zucca grande
a small pumpkin = una zucca piccola
a sharp knife = un coltello affilato
a spoon = un cucchiaio
a marker pen = un evidenziatore
a small knife or a penknife = un coltello piccolo o un coltellino tascabile
a tea light = tealight
a flashlight or a torch= pila tascabile
Per quanto riguarda il procedimento, andiamo a vedere i vari verbi usati nel video, in modo da capire meglio i passaggi da seguire:
(to) carve = intagliare
(to) cut off = tagliare via
(to) remove = rimuovere
(to) clean (something) up = pulire
(to) clean (something) out = empty (something) out = svuotare
(to) draw = disegnare
(to) gauge = misurare, stimare
(to) cut out = tagliare, eliminare
(to) stick to = seguire scrupolosamente, attenersi
(to) tidy (something) up = sistemare
(to) colour in = colorare
(to) wedge = conficcare
(to) take one’s time = fare con calma
(to) chew = mordere, masticare.
Già che ci siamo, diamo un’occhiata anche ad alcuni avverbi:
roughly = all’incirca, grosso modo
neatly = in modo accurato
e alcuni aggettivi:
fiddly = complicato, di precisione
therapeutic = terapeutico
cool = fico!
squared-off = squadrati
angry = cattivo, arrabbiato
aggressive = aggressivo
sad = triste
shocked = scioccato
terrified = terrorizzato
happy = felice
jovial = allegro.
E per finire, avete afferrato la parola che l’autore del video usa per parlare della zucca piccola?
munchkin = piccolino, piccoletto.
Realizzare questa Jack-o’-lantern è meno complicato di quanto possa sembrare, però, se volete fare un buon lavoro, servono calma e precisione, quindi: “go carefully and take your time!”
Vi lascio qui sotto la trascrizione del video. Se fate fatica a seguire, anche perché il narratore parla piuttosto velocemente, non dovete fare altro che cliccare sulla rotellina in basso a destra sulla schermata del video e ridurre la velocità di riproduzione.
E se volete saperne di più su Halloween e su come gli inglesi festeggiano la vigilia di Ognissanti (Halloween = the eve of All Saints’ Day), vi rimando ai post Halloween in the UK e It’s Halloween.
“Today I’m going to show you how to make this really cool pumpkin which is eating a mini pumpkin. We’ll need to use one large pumpkin and I’ve got three small ones, although you’ll only really need one. And we’re going to start by carving the large one. So, take a sharp knife and carefully cut off the top, remove it and clean it up. Then we need to clean out the inside, so I’m using a knife and a spoon to empty it out.
When you’re done, it’s time to draw on your design. I’m using one of the mini pumpkins to gauge the size of the mouth, then with a marker pen I’m drawing this sort of teardrop shape around the mini pumpkin. This line is actually going to be the end of the teeth and roughly the opening size into the mouth. Take your knife and carefully cut out the shape. Don’t worry if you don’t stick to the line exactly. You can take your mini pumpkin and test it for size.
Next, we need to use our pen again to draw around the teeth for the mouth. Then draw in lines for individual teeth. When you’re done, it should look like this.
For the next part, I’m using a small knife and I’m actually going to be using the one on my penknife. We need to cut just through the skin on the outside line all the way around. Then, cut a small gap in between individual teeth. Do the whole top row and of course the bottom.
When you’re done, you need to carefully remove the pumpkin skin from each individual tooth.
This bit is a bit fiddly, so do go carefully and take your time.
As you progress, you can really see it starting to take shape. It does take a bit of time, but I actually found it quite therapeutic.
Once you’re done, tidy it up as neatly as you can. You might need to clean out the gap in between the teeth a bit more, and, when you’ve finished, it should look like this. And it’s starting to look really cool!
Now we’ve finished the mouth, I’m drawing on the eyes. You can do whatever design you like, but I’m doing these squared-off, angry, aggressive looking eyes and I’m also drawing in a nose and pupils. Use a knife again to carefully cut it all out, and I’m using a black marker pen to colour in the pupils. And that’s our large pumpkin complete and ready to use.
You can push the mini pumpkin straight inside his mouth, but of course it’s more fun if we carve a face into the mini pumpkin as well. I drew on a sort of sad and shocked look, then cut out the design and emptied out the contents through the mouth, so I didn’t have to cut off the top. And there’s our mini munchkin ready to be eaten. Just wedge it in between the teeth and that’s our Halloween pumpkin finished! Pretty cool, huh?!
The teeth hold the small one in place and the whole design looks really good. The poor little munchkin looks really terrified and the large pumpkin looks like he’s just about to chew.
I also carved some faces into the other mini pumpkins, to place them alongside.
These guys look a lot more happy and jovial. Maybe they don’t know what fate awaits them!
It makes a really good display. Perfect for a Halloween party. You could leave it in the house or place it outside. It’s really good fun to make and it’ll surely impress your guests.
You can, of course, place a tea light candle inside, light it up and dim the lights. You get a really nice glow from inside the pumpkin. And you could use a flashlight or torch to light up their faces.
I hope you’ve enjoyed watching this video. If you want to see more pumpkin carving and fun Halloween ideas, you can click on the links or take a look at my youtube channel page. Stay safe, have fun, and, as always, thanks for watching.”
Ora che anche la zucca è pronta: Happy Halloween! j
