Artist gains fame for celebrity pumpkin carvings. NPR’s Steve Inskeep is an example

A pumpkin carver in Oklahoma has gained notoriety for her celebrity pumpkins where you only see the face once the pumpkin is lit in the dark. She says anyone can do it with the right template.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Last night, I attended a pumpkin carving party. Kids were carving their own pumpkins on a back porch of our friends, but none of them tried this – celebrities like Taylor Swift are showing up on pumpkins. Elizabeth Caldwell with member station KWGS has more on some unique jack-o’-lanterns creating a stir.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUMPKIN BEING CARVED)

ELIZABETH CALDWELL, BYLINE: In her garage in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Karrah Youngblood is carefully carving a pumpkin. She’s famous for creating celebrity faces.

KARRAH YOUNGBLOOD: See, he’s looking a little less like Hannibal Lecter now. (Laughter) He does still look really weird, though. We’re getting there, though.

CALDWELL: She says this pumpkin will eventually look like NPR’s Steve Inskeep. He’ll join the ranks of Beyonce and actress Maggie Smith, who also have their own pumpkins. She chooses people she likes.

YOUNGBLOOD: This year, I was actually going to try to only do women, and I made an exception for Travis Kelce, and I’m making an exception for Steve Inskeep because they’re both good dudes.

CALDWELL: Youngblood is a graphic designer and developed a technique based on light and shadow to bring out facial features. It starts with a black and white template she creates on her computer. Using thumbtacks, she punches the design into a pumpkin, then starts carving. The result…

YOUNGBLOOD: They look horrendous, and I mean they look, like, clownish – a Picasso painting.

CALDWELL: That is until they’re lit up from the inside. Videos of what she calls the reveal have gone viral. First, in daylight, the pumpkins look randomly scratched on the surface, but when it’s lit in the dark, a face appears. In the case of today’s pumpkin, it does look like Steve Inskeep.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUMPKIN BEING CARVED)

CALDWELL: Youngblood struggles to find a good angle to take a photo.

YOUNGBLOOD: (Laughter) I think it’s the shape of the pumpkin ’cause, like, the pumpkin is kind of going in. You see how it’s going….

CALDWELL: Yeah, it is.

Youngblood’s videos have racked up more than 20 million views. She says the best feeling is being taken seriously by other creative people, like when she got a bunch of compliments after finishing Taylor Swift.

YOUNGBLOOD: I was standing in my kitchen. I just started bawling. It was just overwhelming, the nice things that were being said. And I’m like, they’re not being said about my face. They’re not being said about, you know, my car. They’re being said about something I created.

CALDWELL: For this Halloween, Youngblood is sharing her Taylor Swift template for free on her website for anyone who wants to try celebrity pumpkin carving.

For NPR News, I’m Elizabeth Caldwell in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Why do you get a pumpkin, Steve?

INSKEEP: I don’t know. When is the A Martínez pumpkin on the way?

MARTÍNEZ: Twenty more years in this business – maybe then.

INSKEEP: Anyway, happy Halloween season.

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