Male: Since ancient times, in the beautiful Far East kingdom of Thailand the art of Kae-Sa-Luk has been passed from one generation to the next, keeping alive an intricately beautiful art form for centuries. Today, only a handful of artist practice these delicate art.
Pam Maneeratana, one of the last masters to be taught this, passes her skills on to you through this series of video lessons. Learn now from one of the few remaining master, this art of turning ordinary vegetables into things of beauty, to grace and decorate a formal dinner or a casual party.
Pam: The concept of carving a pumpkin style is to strip the line all over the pumpkin with a cutting into it as the picture you desire. Before we start to cut the pumpkin, we have to choose the pumpkin size, by choosing the size that you are comfortable with. The size that I always suggest people to start carving with is the medium size. The size that your hands can handle, and can lift up and let down very easily, without any force onto it.
The riches of the pumpkin also matter. The less ridges of the pumpkin is the easiest to carve. The pumpkin should be very pale orange color, and easy for you to carve.
The first step of carving the pumpkin is to make an outline base picture on the pumpkin. The way I always do, and is easy for me to make the face look nicer is by sectioning your pumpkin from the top to the bottom. The first one-third of the section will be the eye located. Then the second one, which is the middle part, will be the nose, then the teeth at the bottom.
The second step of making the pumpkin after you has outlined the eyes, the nose, and the teeth I will start to make details on each eye by stripping a line along the outer ring all the way on and on until the center of the eyes as go as the nose and the teeth.
After the eye, nose, and teeth had been filled in with all the details, then we start to scratch the knife on the face, the left over area of the pumpkin in order to make some wrinkle, and can make some more cut-off, in order for the light to shine through.
All the cut that we made on the pumpkin will create a channel for the light to shine through the pumpkin. All these light that shine through, will express the feeling for the pumpkin itself.
This is a knife that I used to carve the pumpkin. This style, this knife is a paring knife that has very pointed tip and very sharp on the inner side edge, and a firm handle. When I start to carve the pumpkin this style, I will hold knife like I hold a pencil, with these two finger on the knife, and the middle finger on the side of the knife, away from the tip, is about half inches.
After you know to hold a knife like a pencil and be comfortable with it, grab to a knife very firm into your three fingers. Have your two other fingers on the pumpkin in order for you to be rest on the pumpkin nicely. Then you will have to see in order to where you are going to make the eyes of the pumpkin. Normally, it will mean on the first one third of the pumpkin from the top.
When you start to make a strip of the pumpkin, you press the tip of the knife at where you are to begin. Press your knife with a slanted angle, then pull the knife backwards a little bit at a time. There will be sometime that you may have to draw the pumpkin a little bit to get to the right direction.
Then you will flip the knife over, and make another cut with an opposite angle. Do not forget to slant your knife with the same pressure, draw it backward and you will be able to make the joint cut underneath of the first cut. In order to continue the line, just continue it where you left off by placing the knife in. Draw it backwards towards you along the desire line that you would want, and then flip the knife over; make another cut with opposite angle. You will be able to make a joint cut underneath, and be able to take a strip off.
I will continue this all the way, in order to outline the eye of the pumpkins.
After I can see where the eyes will be, then I will come to make the nose. Normally, I will just make another two line, starting from the bottom of the eye line that I just made.
Now the nose had been done, then you will make the teeth of the pumpkin. I just make a simply teeth like two of them right from the side of the nose. Then we finish the eyelid, by close up the eye shape.
When I tell you about the size of the pumpkin, it comes to the point that I will talk about it again because many times, you have to turn the pumpkin around towards you in order for you to get a good grip of the pumpkin. And then, this has to be firm and you have to be able to draw it backward towards you. Sometimes, the pumpkin cannot be cut on the second cut, then you may have to make a repeated cut.
Now, we got all the outline of the pumpkin, we need to make a details of the eyes. First of all, I decide that the details of the eye should be a spiral cut all the way from this point into the center of the eyes. So I will move the pumpkin around and start from this side, then I will create another line, by cutting along the outer line that I just made.
I will make it on and on, but make sure that I got it nicely along the line that I had made from the very beginning. Once I come to the corner, I always move the pumpkin around, so I can be able to get a good grasp of the pumpkin. When I cut the pumpkin, I am always standing on the table, so I will be able to have all my two hand on the pumpkin.
When I cut to the end of the line, you can see that this is where I had begun. I will not cut to the first line that I just make; I just stopped at a little bit away from the line that I began with. Then I turn the pumpkin around, start again, right where I just done it.
In this way, you can see that the line will look like if had been continuing on and on, which I plan to do it around this eye.
Then I turn the pumpkin around again. Every time that you feel like you cannot control your pumpkin, or your cut very well, then you have to try to turn your pumpkin around, so you will be able to get control on the pumpkin again.
Again, once I cut it very close where I had begun, I will stop right before I cut it off. Then turn the pumpkin around, make a joint cut continuing the line.
Remember, slanting a knife is the must of stripping the line. You always place the knife in with a slanting angle. Draw it with some pressure, back towards you and then flip the knife over. Place the knife in with a slanting angle again, draw it backward toward you with the same pressure and you will be able to take a strip out. Then we place the knife in where we begin. Hold the knife backward with some pressure, then flip your knife over, make a joint cut underneath of the first cut that you just make. You will be able to take a strip off. Turn the pumpkin around. Make sure that you are comfortable where the pumpkin is toward you, so you can be able to put power and pressure to your hand and fingers.
Now, you did one eye done. So you will do the same thing to the other eyes by starting from the very end of the line, flip the knife over, and going on and on along the outer ring, until you go into there center as I have shown you. When the eye is done, then I will go on with the nose, like I have done with the eye, by making a strip along the outer side ring of the nose.
The most common problems that the students or the beginner will always have, is not to be able to take a strip off from your cut. You always are looking into your knife that if your knife is slanted, or if your knife makes enough pressure, the same way of both sides.
When I show you this way, it looks so easy. The way I stripped the pumpkin off, because I have done this for a long time and I have my experience of my knife. So, when you are first doing this, you may feel like you never succeed in what you try to do, but if you let yourself play with the knife this way for sometime, until you are comfortable with your knife. Then you will be able control your knife to the direction where I had said it on the tape. You will be able to make a strip off, just like I did. You will keep cutting until there has no room to cut anymore.
Then you are done with the nose. We will continue on the teeth. Same way, as we do with the nose and the eye. We will make a spiral pattern along the outer ring of the outline that we have done. We do with the same way to the other teeth.
Once you are done with all the details in the eyes the nose and the teeth, then you will start with the surface, the remaining surface of the face that we need to make a cut and another cut and another cut, in order for the light to shine through from those channel.
I make a nice curve line along the eyes line, just like a wrinkle on your face.
First, I will make a big line that maybe about four or five line on each side of the face. Then between those big lines, I will fill up some more cuts. Then some cut, and then some cut.
Any cut that you would make it will make the pumpkin look nice anyway; because the beauty of the pumpkin is coming from the lights that shine through those pumpkins fledge.
If you are comfortable with the knife, you can make any line or any direction of the cut as you desire. Can you see that all the cut that we made, if you keep making that cut on any surface that we left, or any surface that allow you to make a wish cut off on and on, you will see the beauty of the light, which shine through this pumpkin.
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