Carve your own Jesus Defeats Death pumpkin



Want to evangelize during "Halloween"? Need a Christian Pumpkin idea? Here's how to carve your own Jesus Defeats Death pumpkin. I made this pumpkin in 2002 using the 3-shade method of pumpkin carving. You can actually do this with any picture by using a picture editor to convert your picture to 3-tone (white/gray/black). When you actually carve your pumpkin, you carve just the outer skin off for the gray areas, and carve all the way through to the inside of the pumpkin for the white areas.

Tip: As you expose pumpkin flesh, it immediately starts to dehydrate and shrink. I'd suggest after carving your pumpkin, to lightly coat exposed areas with some clear coating like petroleum jelly to preserve your pumpkin (AS LONG AS WHATEVER YOU USE IS NOT FLAMMABLE!)


  1. First, print out the template, and transfer it to your pumpkin using a pin to poke lots of holes along all the boundary lines between light, grey, and dark sections. When you lift the template off the pumpkin, you should see the pattern on your pumpkin, with lines made up of tiny holes. You can print off text on your computer for the words "Jesus Defeats Death" and do the same to transfer that pattern to your pumpkin. 

  2. Cut out the top of your pumpkin and dispose of the seeds and pulp inside the pumpkin. 

  3. Use a knife to score all the lines you made with your pinholes. Don't cut deep! Just enough to penetrate the outer skin, making clean lines. This preparation step makes step 4 very easy!

  4. Using a knife or other small plastic/metal tool, scrape off the skin in all the areas where the template is colored gray. Don't cut all the way through into the inside of the pumpkin! You will not cut out the pumpkin's flesh in these areas. You will simply scrape off the outer skin so the pumpkin's flesh is visible, and so the candle light can dimly shine through it! When you get done, the candle will shine through the flesh and make a cool effect.

  5. Try a candle inside the pumpkin and see if it shines through the pumpkin's flesh in the areas where you scraped off the skin. If it's too dull, then scrape away at the inside of the pumpkin until the pumpkin's flesh is thin enough for the candle light to light up the pumpkin flesh in these areas like a night light. A sturdy metal spoon is a good tool for scraping away excess flesh on the inside of the pumpkin.

  6. Now cut all the way through the pumpkin (from outside to inside) to cut out the areas of the template that are white. In other words, you will cut the pumpkin's flesh completely away in these areas.

Enjoy your pumpkin, and let the world know about Reformation Day!

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