Pirate Pumpkin

Well, there isn't a category in "Artisan Crafts" for carvings that aren't wood, so it is here in miscellaneous that I submit to you my Halloween gourd. This rather large pumpkin is about 2' by 2' and weighed in at around 40 lbs before carving. (You can sort of get a size reference from the lit thumbnail in the bottom corner; compare it to the seat of the chair.)
It's maybe not my ideal carving... the parrot looks a bit more like a crow or raven and the blade (sizewise) is either a very large dagger or a really tiny sword. The blade is also a bit crooked in places. But considering the difficulty and relative unforgiveness of the media I'm pretty pleased with the results.
I'll be displaying this on Saturday at the home of *Atmosphotography and ~willowraeven for their halloween party. A lot of this was drawn by hand, some of it is heavily modified from a "Pumpkin Master's" carving kit (4 seperate patterns.) I used a variety of tools to carve the design.
Overall time: 2 hours.

NOTE: Without much reasoning, this was moved to "scraps" though it clearly is not. It was in "carvings/misc" but I have now moved it to the new section "culinary arts." (Category description: Edible art; food and drink presented as art that is purely edible or is enhanced with non-edible objects. Example of what is accepted: cakes or pumpkin carvings.)

NOTE #2: And years later, dA finally gets a clue and adds a "Pumpkin Carving" section. Yay.