Incredible (and freaky!) pumpkin carvings by Ray Villafane

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Sculptor Ray Villafane works with a variety of mediums, but his intricate pumpkin carvings are far and away the most popular of all. Since he began carving pumpkins over a decade ago, Ray has appeared on the CBS Evening News, Martha Stewart Show, and was invited to carve pumpkins at the White House. Ray has also won two back-to-back Food Network Challenges with his incredible pumpkin art. Click through the gallery to see more of Ray's "gordgeous" pumpkins.

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Each pumpkin can take 12 hours to carve. Villafane says he lets his vision for the final carving evolve as he works on each pumpkin.

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Sometimes the shape of the pumpkin itself dictates the carving, as with this football-inspired pumpkin.

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A "Shrek"-like creation.

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Currently, Ray is working on carving pumpkins for Heidi Klum's annual Halloween bash in Las Vegas.

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Ray Villafane creates incredible sculptures from ordinary pumpkins.

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From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/25/ray_villafane_pumpkins.DTL
 
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Pumpkin sculptors create eerie art form

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Pumpkin artists Ray Villafane, left, and Andy Bergholtz pose during a pumpkin carving exhibition in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Wednesday, October 26, 2011. The pumpkins will be displayed at Heidi Klum’s Halloween party and other Halloween events at the TAO and LAVO nightclubs.

Halloween front porches across America feature some sort of traditional jack-o-lantern: triangle eyes, a toothy grin and maybe a small nose.
These aren’t that type of pumpkin.
Ray Villafane and Andy Bergholtz spent Wednesday afternoon carving pumpkins at the Grand Canal Shoppes. Carving isn’t really the right word. They were sculpting pumpkins.
The end result is a dynamic 3D image protruding from the gourd.
The 10 pumpkins are destined for this weekend’s Halloween events at Tao and Lavo nightclubs, including a party hosted by Heidi Klum.
Villafane has been carving pumpkins for more than a decade and recently worked on projects in New York City and Washington, D.C. Last year he carved at the White House.
But this is his first installation in Las Vegas. “It’s kind of a unique opportunity to carve for such a high-profile event,” he said.
Each pumpkin takes four or five hours to create, although Villafane says he sometimes spends more than 10 hours on a project.
He hopes to get a whole team of pumpkin sculptors together and next year create a giant haunted pumpkin patch filled with their creations. “So people can experience the whole thing, not just see decorations at a party,” Villafane said.
For now, he and Bergholtz are entertaining shoppers at the Venetian, some of whom recognized Villafane from a recent appearance on Food Network.
Bergholtz is a longtime sculptor, but Villafane just recently persuaded him to try his hand at pumpkin carving.
“It is just sculpting in a different medium,” Bergholtz said.
“It’s not much different,” Villafane added. “There’s a small learning curve.”
So what’s the trick to sculpting a pumpkin? We asked Villafane for his top five tips:


1. Pick the right pumpkin

"The No. 1 most important tip, above everything else is to get a good pumpkin," Villafane said.
He drove 11 hours each way to Northern California to hand select his pumpkins from a grower there. He picks up and inspects 20 to 30 pumpkins for every one he likes, he said.
It has to be heavy for its size, indicating that the skin is thick. "That's very important," he said.


2. Push the limits

To make the image as 3D as possible, you have to carve as deep as you can, he said.
"Use all of the material," he said.
Even after more than 10 years of carving pumpkins, Villafane said he still sometimes goes too deep and cuts into the center, which isn't good, but it's important to push through as far as possible.

3. Use a point of reference

It's possible to just think of a picture and start carving, but Villafane suggests having a picture or object to use as a guide.
While working on his third pumpkin for Tao, he had a picture of a face on his iPhone, which was sitting right next to the pumpkin and occasionally ended up with some pumpkin shavings on it.

4. Adapt

The artist has to be flexible as sculpting progresses, Villafane said. "It does not always go according to plan, so unless you have unlimited pumpkins and unlimited time to start over, you've got to adapt," he said.

5. Have the right tools

This is a bit of a shameless plug, for Villafane sells a tool kit and instructional DVD on his website.
More importantly, he doesn't use a huge kitchen knife or anything with a serrated edge. The goal isn't to chop up the pumpkin, but to slowly whittle away the skin.
He recommends using tools with fine points, like an X-acto knife and a paring knife, and various sizes of clay ribbon loops.
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Article from: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/oct/26/sculptors-turn-pumpkin-carving-eerie-art-form/
 
Best pumpkin carving artwork I've seen!
 
Ray Villafane Carves the World’s Largest Pumpkin into an Intricate Spine-Tingling Sculpture

Last week, we brought you news that the world's largest pumpkin was going under the knife, and now we have actual photos of the carving in action! We were on the scene yesterday at the New York Botanical Garden, as carving master Ray Villafane whittled away sections of the 1,818.5 lb pumpkin to reveal an incredibly intricate three-dimensional scene of zombies and demons busting out of the orange shell.​
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A crowd of garden-goers watched in awe as Villafane deftly sliced and slivered pieces of the giant squash (yes, pumpkins are a type of winter squash). After a few hours, the orange flesh was transformed into a terrifying scene complete with an eerily realistic zombie and a ghastly ghoul breaking out of the pumpkin’s shell. Villafane even used the stringy innards of the pumpkin as “guts” draped in the hand of the zombie, who he depicted reaching out towards the audience.​
The pumpkin, which is currently the record holder for largest pumpkin in the world, was “raised” by Jim and Kelsey Bryson in Ormstown, Quebec. The orange behemoth is on display with its two slightly smaller brothers (grown in California and Pennsylvania) at the NYBG until October 30th, and all three will be carved into spooky sculptures by Villafane. The master carver was getting started on the fingers of another hand reaching out of the top of the giant pumpkin when we left, so we’re guessing the completed sculpture will be ready soon!​


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