Find perfect pumpkin face on Web

Site-seeing with Jan Perry

Several of you have written to ask about pumpkin-carving techniques. There are so many sites with great tips and illustrations I thought I'd just try to list as many as possible and let you look for the fright face that's right for you.

http://www.pumpkin-carving.c om. My personal favorite for all things pumpkin. Not only do they show you step by step how to carve a face, they teach you how to choose the right pumpkin, how to preserve it once it's carved, how to photograph it to show it at its spooky best and even how to dispose of it once the big day is done.

http://www.jack-o-lantern.com . A great jack-o'-lantern site. This one offers a history as well as incredible carving instructions. It even offers tips on how to do portraits of your friends using your scanner, printer and a few simple tools.

http://www.designerpumpkins.com. Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio, is the Guinness Book of Records' world's fastest pumpkin carver. He also is selling a book and video on how you can do it, too.

See his fancy faces for free and find out where he'll be doing live demonstrations at this site.

http://byroads.com/magazine/pumpkins/patterns.html.. There are lots of great samples here. Patterns like Mr. Bones, Jill-o'-Lantern and my favorite, Man Under Your Bed. Old patterns are available for free download or printout but don't forget to click on the new pattern prompt to view five additional pages of pumpkins.

http://www.kraftfoods.com/html/features/halloween. From Kraft Foods - free pumpkin carving stencils and a lot more. The graphics here are wonderful.

http://www.the pumpkinfarm.com/carvemenu.html.. Not a lot - but some extremely clever patterns for making your pumpkin shine above the rest. (One uses a bat shape for the mouth; another is all hearts.) Be sure to visit the virtual carving station and e-mail your creation to family and friends.

http ://www.angelfire.com/ga2/radagist/radpumpkins.html.. Some incredibly intricate carvings by Tom Bennett.

http://www.damsitein n.com/pumpkins.htm.. Another portrait gallery of wonderful finished pieces. These have more traditional themes.

http://www7. lanline.com/~gusick/Pumpkins.. Being a Mets fan, my instinct was to leave this one out (his first carving is of the Yankees' logo), but there were just too many good ones to ignore the site.

Jan Perry is a freelance writer. Send questions or suggestions to her at SiteSeer2K@aol.com.