Carved Watermelon Party Centerpiece
This past Tablescape Thursday, I shared a table setting with a carved watermelon centerpiece.
(View that tablescape here: Summer Tablescape with Carved Watermelon Centerpiece)
For a party many years ago, I cut the top off a watermelon and hollowed it out to hold fruit. That was cute, but I’ve always wanted to try my hand at carving one into a fun shape.
The cookbook below provided the inspiration I needed for this centerpiece. I’ve had this cookbook for many, many years and I’ve always admired the carved watermelon on the front. I’ve carved designs in pumpkins as shown in THIS post where I managed a reenactment of the burglars sliding on the ice-covered stairs in the movie, Home Alone.
Pumpkins can be a bit hard to carve unless you have special carving tools (also shared in that post.) I’m happy to report, carving a watermelon is nothing at all like carving a pumpkin. A watermelon is much softer and easier to carve out than a pumpkin.
The cookbook above provided this template for tracing out Mr. Whale’s tail. You should be able to save it to your computer by right-clicking on the pic and choosing save. Then just enlarge or decrease it to the size that’s appropriate for your watermelon.
Here’s how my template looked once I printed and cut it out.
I purchased a small watermelon for my first carving attempt. If you’re having a really large gathering, you may wish to buy a larger melon. This small one held a LOT of fruit, though…I was really surprised.
Place your melon on a flat surface. The stem is going to be the nose of your whale when you’re done, so position your tail template on the opposite end of the whale, but with the tail pointing back toward the stem end. When you’re done, it’s going to look like Mr. Whale has flipped his tail up into the air and pointed it back toward his head/face.
I didn’t use pins to hold the template in place…just held it with my hand as I traced around it. Trace the tail shape/design using a pen, crayon or whatever you have handy.
Once I had the tail traced on the top of the melon, I continued the line out, down and around the side of the melon, then upward on the front to create the rise for the face/head. (Refer back to the pictures above of the completed whale to get the general idea of where to draw your lines on the sides and for the face.)
I used a crayon to draw this design and I made adjustments along the way, just wiping off the crayon marks where I didn’t want them. If you like, go ahead and free-hand on the eyes and smile at this point. There wasn’t a template for the eyes or for the mouth in the book, but they are easy to draw on your melon.
The directions recommend you cut an X like this into the top section of the melon between the tail and the head to relieve the pressure inside the melon.
Once you have your design on your melon, take a pumpkin cutting tool or just a small paring knife and began cutting around one side of the tail. Don’t rush, just take your time. You can see the pumpkin cutting tool/knife I used below to get started. A small, sharp knife would work great too because melons are just so much easier to cut than pumpkins. In this view below, you can see the shape of the head as it rises upward on the front of the melon. I hadn’t yet drawn on the eyes or mouth.
Next, I just began cutting out sections of the middle part that I knew would need to be removed. I was careful to avoid cutting into the tail, head or side.
You can cut the part you’re removing out in small chunks or bigger pieces…whatever you feel comfortable doing.
Making progress…
With most of the middle removed, it was time to start scooping out the inside. I also trimmed down the “meat” side of the tail section until it was about an inch or so thick. I hadn’t done that when this photo was taken. Be super careful when you’re trimming away melon from the underside of the tail. Support the tail with your other hand and take it slowly so you don’t slice too deep or take off too much.
Of course, you’ll want to save the melon you scoop/cut out to make melon balls or to cut up into small pieces to put back into your melon once it’s ready to be filled. Once I got Mr. Whale all scooped out, I traced on some eyes and a smiling mouth on to the front, then cut those out.
An Idea: The mouth was the hardest section to cut because I couldn’t tilt the melon back…too afraid I’d break off the tail. Once you have your outline drawn on your whale…along with the face, it might be better to cut the mouth out then, before cutting the rest of the melon. That way, you could tilt it to cut. It’s a bit tricky to cut the mouth once the rest of the melon is cut out.
Here’s how Mr. Whale looked once carved. You can see the underside of the tail looks thinner in this pic. I had cut away more of the melon by this point. Notice how the stem is now his nose.
TIP: It’s okay to cut all the way through when you cut out the eyes of your whale, but when cutting the mouth, only cut a little way into the melon, not all the way through. I know it’s hard to see in this pic, but I didn’t cut all the way through like I did with the eyes. The reason for this is…it keeps the juice of the fruit from leaking out onto your table once you fill Mr. Whale.
A view from above…
The directions in the cookbook suggest poking a hole into the top of your whale’s head and poking in some dried white flowers so it will look like Mr. Whale is spraying water up into the air. I love that idea. I didn’t have any whitish flowers to use or I definitely would have done that. You can see how it would look on the cover of the book below.
Fill Mr. Whale with your favorite fruits…
And enjoy the ooohs and ahhhs of your party guests.
I Googled watermelon and found the National Watermelon Promotion Board. They have directions for carving so many awesome designs. Here are just few from their site:
Ha! A porcupine! This melon has the same basic face shape of our whale. Love the ragged edge around the face…those small details add so much. This design actually looks pretty easy to replicate.
Licorice makes a cute mouth and whiskers for Ms. Kitty. Notice how they only cut as deep as the white part of the melon to outline the kitties face. The white of the melon makes a great outlining for features. Love the melon ball eyes. They even included a ball of yarn and a collar for kitty. 🙂 Cute!
Wouldn’t this be a fun centerpiece for a beach house party? All the directions for these designs are available at the site linked above in this post. I’ll definitely be trying my hand at some of these fun designs next summer.
Those are cool! James Bond did the shark for Indy's pirate birthday party last year. You can see it here:
http://myheelsarehigherthanyours.blogspot.com/2010/08/yarrrrr-it-be-pirate-party.html
He made watermelon brains for Indy's Indiana Jones party:
http://myheelsarehigherthanyours.blogspot.com/2009/08/birthday-party-by-which-all-future.html
And a watermelon Death Star for Indy's BFF's Star Wars party last year.
I think watermelon is really his medium. 🙂
What a sweet idea! Another gorgeous tablescape also!
I love blogging and all the new friends I have made. I wish I could visit with them all in real life, but this is the second best. Thanks for your blog, I for one have surely enjoyed it. Richard from My Old Historic House.
This is so neat! Loved the step by step photos! Pictures are always so helpful.
Awesome tutorial – Mr. Whale looks fantastic, and yes guests would just love that design – thanks for sharing! See you Monday!
GREAT tutorial, Susan! Thanks!!! Love all the other designs too. The white flowers really did look like the whale was spouting water!!! CUTE!!! XO, Pinky
Hi Susan, what a great tutorial!I love all the other ways to carve a watermelon! Fun stuff girlfriend.
hugs ~lynne~
Is there a reason why the face couldn't be done before the tail so the fragile tail wouldn't be compromised while cutting the face? I think the entire concept is adorable and look forward to all the compliments I'll be receiving thanks to you.
Anonymous, I definitely think the face could be carved prior to the rest of the body. That's how I would most likely do it next time. 🙂
Great tutorial! Love that porcupine one! How adorable! Thanks for sharing.
Susan too too cute, I have also done the baskets, nothing like this though!!
Love the watermelon napkin holders and the red and green accessories look great together!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
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Hi Susan… it so interesting and what a lovely idea… So much thanks for the pattern… I am sure this will enhance the beauty of table…
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Farah
I've seen this done, but never have done it. You did a fabulous job, and the whale is just darling. I'm going to give it a try since you gave a great tutorial.
Hi there Susan,
Lovin' this idea and can't wait to try it out for my next outdoor party or even a beach house party. Love the little face, it actually has personality!
Thanks for sharing this great tutorial!
Terry
Those are just great! I may have overlooked this, but how long did it take to do your whale?
Labbie, it actually went very quickly…I was amazed. Only took about 45 minutes.
Hi Susan, You did a GREAT job on your whale cut out. Looks great! I too have had this cookbook for years but have never attempted the whale.
While we are on the subject, maybe this could be a post idea….have you used other ideas from this cookbook or favorite recipes? I LOVE this cb…it is one of my favorites. I was lucky to find one at a resale shop for $1 this summer to give my daughter! 🙂
Donna
Awesome post! How fun for guests to see any of these centerpieces:)
Susan, may i borrow your photos from this tutorial for a post in my blog?
Thank you for letting me know.
I so enjoy all your themed table settings. Where did you find the adorable watermelon napkin rings. Love them!
Thanks, Kathy! I was having trouble remembering so just looked back at the first table setting I ever used them in where I mentioned I found them antiquing…so must have been in a local antique store, or perhaps A Classy Flea.
Thank you SO-SO much for your very detailed description & the photos are fab! I’ve had this book since I was a teenager (long, long ago – ha) and have made Mr. Whale many times. He always gets rave reviews. This weekend I’m going to a party at a marina and decided to make him – BUT……I left my book and pattern 2 hrs. at my other place so searched & was fortunate enough to find your post. Thank you – thank you. Why reinvent the wheel (aka pattern)?
Glad you found that post, Tavette! Have fun making it. I need to make one this summer again…love how they look!
What a wonderful post, Susan! I, too, have made the basket before, but your whale and the other ideas (esp. the porcupine!) are WONDERFUL!! I’m amazed at how an actual personality comes through in the carving. Sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Thanks, Rosie! It was really easy to make and definitely a crowd pleaser with my family. 🙂
Thanks you for sharing!!
I love it❤️ I will do it for my daughter party, I wondering about times… we will do birthday out of home, Can I cut the night before? Do you filling in with the fruit for long time before or just before start the party?