It’s that time of the year again when pumpkins find their way into our homes and workplaces. We use them for sustenance in our soups and in our pies. But their greatest use for us is as an art piece. Carving a pumpkin is a holiday tradition that families enjoy during Halloween and even Thanksgiving.

This year you want to impress the kids. This year you want to impress your neighbors and trick-o-treaters when they come to your door, so having the best looking pumpkin would be awesome. Last, you want to impress your co-workers when the annual pumpkin carving contest happens in your office.

If you just want to carve out triangles and edges, go ahead and buy that one piece tool. But if you want to create a new piece of installation art, here’s a rundown of tools you will need to make that pumpkin look great. Some are obvious, some are simple but they all make sense.

Sharpie - Map out your design by using a Sharpie pen or marker. It’s going to make a permanent mark and it won’t smudge because it dries fast.

X-acto knives - These are the tools that you will be making your first incisions with. A precision tool that will initiate the first stage of cutting.

Linoleum cutter - This tool, normally used in printmaking, will be used to create depth in the lines you drew up with the Sharpie and cutting with the X-acto knife. The X-acto knife is more of a blade that one can cut straight, the linoleum cutter can cut and scrape to a degree.

Those are the usual three but there are several types of X-acto knives and linoleum cutter. All with different blades, depths, sizes and shapes. Have as many as you can because as your designs get more intricate, you may need better tools.

Finally, you can spray vegetable oil or diluted lemon juice to keep your pumpkin design fresh and not sagging. Don’t forget to hollow out the pumpkin to take out all the seeds and have a safe candle or battery powered light to place inside. Add in some scary music and your pumpkin will be ready for the season.

Image credit: Nick Taylor on Flickr