Aside from eating (lots of) candy and dressing up in costumes, pumpkin carving is a quintessential Halloween tradition. And it’s one Lenny Calvin of Long Beach, New York, takes very serious.
“I certainly do see faces in pumpkins — it’s a very organic art form,” the pumpkin carving expert told Metro. “I don’t go in with a predetermined face I want to create, it depends on the face I see, the stem.”
Calvin isn’t just a random, self-taught “expert” on pumpkin carving, though. The artist is currently appearing on season eight of Food Network’s “Halloween Wars,” which will air its finale at 9 p.m. Sunday.
On “Halloween Wars,” six teams consisting of an expert pumpkin carver, a cake artist and sugar master face off to create Halloween-themed edible displays that are both delicious and scary. It’s the second time Calvin appeared on the show; he first showed off his mastery pumpkin carving during season six.
“The talent gets better and better every year,” Calvin said of the differences between his ‘Halloween Wars’ appearances.
Even an expert at pumpkin carving isn’t without mishaps
Though Calvin may be an expert at pumpkin carving, that’s not to say there are not some mishaps when he’s doing his craft.
“The type of pumpkin carving that I do, you don’t break into the pumpkin,” Calvin said. “So the biggest mishap is spending 10 to 12 hours on a carve and go right into the pumpkin and ruin the whole thing.”
When it comes to picking out the right pumpkin to carve, “it’s not a science,” he said. “Find one that feels heavy for its size and has a greener stem.”
And don’t be wary of misshapen pumpkins as “they lend for more space,” Calvin added. “I carve what most people discard. You get a lot of fun faces with weird-shaped pumpkins.”
If you think this pumpkin carving expert lives for this time of year when pumpkin spice everything is abundant, think again.
“I don’t eat any kind of pumpkin stuff,” Calvin said with a laugh.
