UK pumpkin carvers get creative with ‘villainous’ Halloween creations

Pumpkin carvers across the UK have been busy producing tributes to their favourite fictional characters, video games and bands as the nation gets ready for Halloween.

He said it took about an hour to make with a “few breaks in between” and was “very messy” as it was carved using a Dremel – a handheld tool which can have different components attached to it for different purposes.

“If you just cut the skin and if you do it at different depths, the light shines through at different levels of brightness.”

“Sticking an image on to a pumpkin is quite hard because the image is flat, whereas the pumpkin is round, so it’s quite hard to get a perfect image,” he said.

Becky Frost, a community programme manager at Rare Ltd, said her pumpkin, which has floating pieces sticking out from its head and a sinister-looking glare, took “just a couple of hours” to carve while she was making dinner on Thursday.

“It’s based on one of the skull designs from the video game Sea Of Thieves,” Ms Frost, who is based in Oxfordshire, told PA.

“A few people have said they’re going to try making their own, which is cool.”

She said the trickiest part was arranging the floating pieces on top.

“I used a handful of cocktail sticks and got poked a few times,” she added.

Katie, from Durham, who is a fan of The Wanted, spent two hours carving a tribute to member Tom Parker, who died in March 2022 at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She told PA: “It’s a heartfelt way to remember their music and keep their legacy alive.

She added it has been “amazing” to receive “such lovely comments” about her pumpkin, including a “surreal moment” when band member Jay McGuiness left a reply saying: “It’s so pretty and kinda spooky. It actually feels like looking at a memory.”