These stunning photos show a championship-winning pumpkin carver’s spookily real jack-o’-lanterns – which sell for as much as £500.
Simon McMinnis, 40, has spent over a decade chiselling his incredible Halloween lanterns, which feature famous faces such as Boris Johnson and Piers Mogan.
The self-employed tiler began carving pumpkins in 2009 as an outlet for his creativity – after growing a squash weighing 158kg in his back garden.
And he went on to clinch both a British national award and an international title for his amazing vegetable-based crafting skills.
He now sells around 75 of the extremely lifelike sculptures each spooky season, with his work even being showcased on the BBC’s The One Show.
Simon said: “I’m a tiler by trade, but I needed an outlet for the art side, and this seasonal period seemed to work well with me.
“I used to enter competitions if I could, and then I started my [social media] page. And people started seeing the pictures that I was posting.
“The most pleasing one was being asked to do the pregnancy reveal pumpkin.
“That’s an unusual one, usually people ask for faces and things, but to be part of a reveal is quite a thing to be asked.”
Simon, from Poulton-le-Fylde, in Lancs., said he’d considered pursuing a career in art before going to university – and later became an independent tradesman.
His interest in pumpkins had come from his grandfather, Peter Smith, who had used his allotment to grow the root vegetable along with mammoth onions.
But 14 years ago, after growing two huge squashes in his back garden, Simon gave carving a try and managed to bag a national award for his design.
He said: “I was left with a giant 600 pound (272kg) pumpkin and another 350 pound (158kg) pumpkin, it’s like ‘what do you do with it?’
“The big one went off to the local garden centre for display, but with the smaller one I thought I’d try and enter a competition for carving.
“I did a witch and a cauldron, and that won first prize in the Witchwood Brewery online annual competition in 2009.”
Simon has now carved thousands of pumpkins, which have featured the faces of ‘Lord Voldemort’ from Harry Potter books, ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage and even James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
And in 2013, he clinched a first place prize at the Villafane Studios Online 3d pumpkin carving competition, where he competed against worldwide entrants.
His lifelike portraits can take up to eight hours to complete and sell for between £50 and £500 depending on the length of time they take to make them.
Simon said his favourite pumpkin so far was a stunning 3D sculpture of an eye, adding he doesn’t mind that his masterpieces eventually rot away.
He said: “A lot of people when they see that can’t get their head around how it’s done. But that’s where I get some nice comments from.
“But at the end of the day, the pumpkins can be composted down and recycled effectively.
“From my point of view, as long as I’ve got my photo finished, it will last forever. It’s nice working with something that is only temporary – that makes it quite special.”
Simon said families looking for pumpkins this Halloween should find one with a green stem and a thinner frame.
He said: “The best are ones with good green stem, a big stem, and thick flesh, which are taller rather than squat and wide – not your typical Cinderella-type pumpkins.
“And don’t get any that are damaged or they might rot. If you find there is a hole under the bottom, they might not last very long!”
