It’s Halloween, and that means pumpkins! If you want to do something this year other than carving a face with lopsided triangle eyes and crooked teeth, then check out these free car-themed pumpkin carving patterns. The links below take you to a PDF template of the pattern with instructions.
VW Templates
Volkswagen provides three fun templates with the classic Beetle or the more modern ID.4 and ID.Buzz. Those links will take you to a PDF stencil cutout for each.
Nissan Leaf
Why not go green this Halloween? Put a stop to the horrors of bad gas mileage with this pumpkin carving template of the Nissan Leaf. NissanPartsPlus.com and StoneyKins teamed up to create this carving pattern of the first-generation Leaf.
Chevy Camaro
The Mustang fan in your neighborhood will cringe with this pattern of a Chevy Camaro ZL1 1LE. On another note, have you ever tried to see how many pumpkins would fit in the back of a Chevy SUV? A few years ago, a group from McAllen, Texas, tried this with some pretty surprising results.
Pumpkin Carving Tips Courtesy of VW
- Use painter’s tape to hold the stencil in place and a washable marker to trace the outlines.
- For both stencils, carve the cut-out sections (those that are black on the PDF) first. Once you’ve carved those pieces, leave them in place; this helps maintain pumpkin strength while you scrape away other sections.
- Scraped-away but not completely carved-through sections are tricky. Start by using a craft utility knife to lightly trace the stencil outline. Then use a small sanding or linoleum carving tool to remove the topmost layers of the real or fake pumpkins.
Steps
- Cut a hole in the top or bottom of the pumpkin and clean out the inside.
- Using the print size commands or a copier, size the stencil based on the size of the pumpkin. Print and transfer the stencil to the pumpkin. You can do this in one of two ways: Cut out the stencil pieces and tape them to the pumpkin. Trace around the stencil pieces using a washable marker. Tape the entire stencil sheet to the pumpkin. Use a pin or awl to poke through the stencil at the edges, tracing the lines where you will need to cut or carve.
- Using a sharp knife or a pumpkin-carving tool, cut through, front to back, the two holes in each of the “headlights.” Leave these sections in for now to give you a good anchor point for the rest of the shape.
- Using a craft utility knife, carefully trace the edges of the circle sections of the logo and the outlines of the horizontal grille section. Do not cut all the way through; simply cut through the surface. These are the sections in which you will scrape off the outer edge of the pumpkin to create depth and shadow. Using a craft utility knife to outline the scraped areas helps keep the area from splintering. Use a carving tool to “scrape” the outer skin of the pumpkin inside the lines you just cut.
- Remove the previously carved-out carved pieces; place a battery-operated candle inside the pumpkin.
