Watermelon carving

[MooBoo]

I know its not summer yet, but with all the miserable weather we have been having here i thought i would try to inject a little sunshine by carving this watermelon:

The melon was only small so i had to reduce the image, but it came out great. I have a question though, i took out all the red flesh, but i've seen pictures with some of it still in, soooo is there a wrong or right way to gut a watermelon?

[ghostface]

I'm not sure about the gutting the watermelon thing but what I do know is that you did a fantastic job!

[Pumpken]

I've only carved a couple melons and I left some of the red in. It makes a pretty nice effect. But yours looks great just the way you did it. I would say either way is fine.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Ooh, I always love to see another carver digging into the melon territory. A fine job. I like the candles and flowers around the base.

As for removing all the red flesh - I personally scrape it all out, just to keep things cleaner. The red stuff is juicy, and leaving it in there could result in it dripping on you during carving, or leaving wet rings under wherever you display it.

But if you're not a clean freak like me, the red stuff might serve a purpose. Since it is juicy, it probably will help keep the cuts moist, so the design might not shrivel up as quickly. Plus, it can give you a reddish glow when lit.

[Hottie McNaughty]

Looks fantastic!

[RavensDestiny]

Love seeing a carving! I miss all the pics! Great job!

I also scoop out all the red. I've carved 2 melons and both times lit them with an electric light so I wanted to get all the wet drippy stuff out before combining said melon with electricity. Watermelons are definitely more messy to carve.

[MooBoo]

As for removing all the red flesh - I personally scrape it all out, just to keep things cleaner. The red stuff is juicy, and leaving it in there could result in it dripping on you during carving, or leaving wet rings under wherever you display it.

But if you're not a clean freak like me, the red stuff might serve a purpose. Since it is juicy, it probably will help keep the cuts moist, so the design might not shrivel up as quickly. Plus, it can give you a reddish glow when lit.

I am a clean freak, so having water rings every where would drive me crazy! But the red glow does look pretty, i guess i will have to use red lights in the future.
RavensDestiny - Watermelons are messy, but they are fun and delicious. I was nibbling at it all the way through carving.

[zombombie]

Looks great!

[SuperSonic]

Avoiding wet rings is easy. Put a plate underneath the melon if your that concerened over it.

I would scrape it all clean, but no one in my house likes water melon that much. There's a lot of red stuff in there.

[nosferatu]

That's a fabulous job and very appropriate given that it was the wettest June since records began and we are about to get three months rain in two days. Love the way you have displayed and photographed it too. Great job.