A FOOD sculptor from Bournemouth who created a pumpkin carving to remember Queen Elizabeth II has shared her tips ahead of Halloween.
Szimonetta Zombori, who is a chocolate and cakemaker, crafted an intricate portrait of a young Queen wearing a crown last year.
Szimonetta has previously created carvings for Blenheim Palace for the memorial of Winston Churchill.
Her work has previously been featured on the Lorraine show and also Talk TV.
Szimonetta said: “I thought it could be a nice way to remember Queen Elizabeth II.
“When I carve portrait into pumpkin it's always a difficult piece because the portrait has to be recognisable, and even a small carving mistake can ruin the whole carving.”
With Halloween taking place tomorrow, Szimonetta has shared her top five pumpkin carving tips:
1. When we choose a pumpkin we have to make sure it's not rotten around the steam or has mould. It has to be dry. Otherwise, you will see, your pumpkin will start to mould so much and so quickly especially in the house, at room temperature.
2. You can add one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of water and give a good bath to your carved pumpkin. Then rinse well, and dry your pumpkin. That will help to keep your pumpkin last longer.
3. If you want to keep your carving last long, then it's better to keep it outside and that can be a nice decoration on your porch or front door.
The carved pumpkin at room temperature, the warm room can start to rot so quickly.
4. If you do a stencil carving (when you are not cutting through the pumpkin wall, you only carve out the surface) then you can apply Vaseline, and petroleum jelly on the surface and that will keep moisturised the pumpkin won't dry out that quickly and it gives a nice shine to your masterpiece as well.
5. Spray with lemon water the surface at the end of the day and wrap the carving in cling film and put it in cold place such as the fridge or outside.
When I had to carve out 40 pumpkin for an event, I had to make sure the pumpkins I carved in the first few days will be the fresh that I carved out on day four or five. I was able to do that with this trick.
I sprayed each pumpkin at the evening and wrapped them u and all of them were fresh for the event.
Have you carved a pumpkin for Halloween?
Send us your Halloween pumpkin pictures!
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