Halloween Pumpkin Carving Challenge

This week, I have been set a Halloween Pumpkin Carving challenge by my favourite brand Ryobi to carve our pumpkins with a twist! We were asked to use any ONE+ tool to carve a pumpkin! As regular readers may know, we have taken on various projects from building Pallet Playhouse, Pallet Climbing Frame and testing out the 36V Fusion Cordless Lawnmower. We are no strangers to Ryobi and are thrilled to be part of this project.

Last year, Ryobi had carved their Ryobi pumpkins using a ONE+ multi-tool and this year they want their followers to try their hand at carving a pumpkin using any ONE+ tool. You can either download the design from their pumpkin carving templates or it could be an original design! Remember to follow @RyobiToolsEU and tweet using #RyobiPumpkinChallenge hashtag to showcase your awesome pumpkins!

After looking around on Pinterest and Google for ideas using drills, I decided to carve a Tinkerbell pumpkin and a Flowery Pattern pumpkin using the Ryobi ONE+ drill.

Before you carve your pumpkins, either cut the top crown or bottom end using a serrated knife. For these two pumpkins, I cut via the bottom end. Next, scoop out all the seeds and fibre and discard it away. If you prefer to save them, you can make a pumpkin pie or toast your pumpkin seeds! It took me around 40 minutes just to prepare these two large pumpkins!

For the Tinkerbell pumpkin, I simply printed out a few templates from Google and used the one that fit the size of my pumpkin. Use a pin to outline the template on the pumpkin.

Then use the serrated knife to cut out the outline. Next, I put in a size 8 drill bit onto the Ryobi ONE+ drill and started drilling as many holes as possible to create the pixie dust look! Using the drill bit did not give me clear definition of the holes. So I had to use a long BBQ stick to push through into the holes and create nicer circle shapes.

Then to light up this Tinkerbell pumpkin, I have used the Ryobi 18V Cordless Area Light to provide the lighting that I needed for this photo! You can use this as your centrepiece using the area light for your Halloween party! It not only can lasts for hours using the 5.0 Ryobi ONE+ battery, it is also very bright and not hot on the surface at all!

As for the flowery pattern pumpkin, I used a size 12 wood drill with the Ryobi ONE+ drill. This is more of a free pattern based on my imagination. The only guidance I used was the masking tape to divide the pumpkin into three sections: top, middle and bottom. Again, the holes lacked a bit of definition so I used a thick chopstick to clear the holes.

Hey presto! Again I used the area light to shine into the pumpkin!

Overall these two Halloween pumpkins took me around 2.5 hours to complete and they both look awesome. I am very impressed, especially as it was so easy to use the drill for making so many beautiful holes. What have you carved this week? Why not show it off with us by using the hashtag above!

Disclosure: We will receive complimentary tools for the purposes of writing this blog post and to take part in this challenge, however all thoughts and opinions remain our own.