How to make beautiful and original products from various vegetables, step-by-step photos and instructions for creating flowers from onions, mokovi, red cabbage and Peking cabbage, handmade pumpkin in carving technique
If you ask needlewomen when exactly theyfirst time they tried to create something with their own hands, many will probably answer that this happened in childhood. Many kids enjoy making crafts from plasticine, painting with gouache, making beautiful coloring books, and cutting out snowflakes from paper. Older children embroider, knit, and make a variety of funny things from felt and other fabrics. But all these activities require special materials or tools. Of course, they can be found in various craft stores, but there is one direction in creativity that does not require additional costs. The ingredients for creating crafts can be vegetables. They are in every home. Bright eggplants, pumpkins, zucchini, onions, potatoes and carrots can be not only healthy. They make funny and charming products not only in the form of funny animals; for example, you can cut out crafts with abstract and bright patterns from pumpkins. Carving in cooking is a very popular and in-demand skill in many famous kitchens around the world. This word can be translated as “carved ornament”. There are even special tools for creating amazingly beautiful carvings on vegetables and fruits.The art of cutting openwork from vegetables and fruitscrafts originated several centuries ago in the southeastern part of Asia. In this simple and accessible way, the poor tried to diversify their table. Over time, each country developed its own characteristics in carving. China or Japan are characterized by dragons, hieroglyphs or carvings of battle scenes. By the way, you can translate carving from English – "cutting". Thai chefs do not use stencils for their work, unlike Chinese or Japanese masters. Only sharp, narrow and thin knives help them create amazingly openwork flower arrangements. From the restaurants of the East, this art spread to Europe. Now carved ornaments on vegetables appear on the tables of many famous establishments.In addition to its main function – dish decoron the table, crafts using the carving technique can help mothers feed their babies. Any child will eat disgusting and unloved porridge if it is decorated with beautiful or funny crafts made from bright vegetables or fruits. In this article we offer you several master classes with step-by-step photos for creating crafts from vegetables using the carving technique. These simple and accessible tutorials will help you create stunning decorative items that will make any table look festive. Onion flowers using carving technique Onion lotusThere is an onion in every home. For the first flower – lotus you will need:
- White salad onions;
- A small fork of cabbage (you can take Peking);
- 1 medium-sized carrot;
- A small knife;
- A large flat dish with sides.
Important!All ingredients for crafts must be dry and clean, and knives must always be sharp. We divide the cabbage into leaves. You need one that is level and flat. He will play the role of a lotus leaf lying on the surface of the water. It is better to leave the leaf unchanged, but if there are any too prominent irregularities, you can carefully trim them.For one – you will need two flowershalf an onion, cut crosswise. Now you need to cut out the triangular segments in a circle without touching the bottom. Cut wider so that the rest has narrow triangles at the edges (see photo).Now you can divide the workpiece into layers andpositioned offset relative to each other. We got a white lotus flower, but without a core. For one flower, 2 will be enough – 4 layers. For this we need carrots. Cut it into rings approximately 3.5 mm thick. We choose the most beautiful mugs. Cut out octagons from them. Now, using small longitudinal and transverse cuts on the flat side, we draw a “lattice”. Angle of intersection of lines – straight.The flower cores should be slightly larger in diameter than the hole in the onion lotuses.Now pour some water into a flat container, place the leaves and flowers on top. 2 pieces will be enough.This craft will definitely decorate the table, but it is not intended for food. Onion chrysanthemumYou will need:
- Bulb small in size;
- Water;
- Beets or carrots for painting;
- Knife.
These chrysanthemums are perfect for decorating meat dishes. The smaller the bulb, the more beautiful the flower will be.The color of the bulb does not matter.It’s just that if you choose a red onion, then it will not need further painting. The best option would be thin-walled vegetables. We clean the onion and cut off the top and bottom by about 5 mm.We turn up the side from whichfeather grows. And we begin to make cuts, not reaching the end by about 5 mm. First, cut in half, then into 4 parts, etc. The more parts there are, the more magnificent the chrysanthemum will turn out. The cuts should be deep enough, but not damage the lower part, in which case the flower will simply fall apart. We put our workpiece in water at room temperature. It will take from 40 minutes to 2 hours for the flower to “bloom”, everything will depend on the type of bulb.If you make chrysanthemums from white bulbs, thenYou can paint them later. Carrot or beet juice squeezed from fresh vegetables is suitable for this. Just dip the ends of the petals into it. Any bright food coloring can be used as a dye: red wine, saffron or turmeric solution, etc.For the next flower you will need not an ordinary onion, but a leek.Materials:
- Leek;
- Sharp knife;
- Toothpicks.
We fold one wide sheet in half lengthwise and cut one hundred sides of the fold line. We make frequent cuts.Now you need to roll it into a tube, arrange the turns slightly in a spiral (see photo).Fold the remaining wide sheets in half crosswise. These will be the petals of the future flower.All that remains is to chop off the petals and the core with toothpicks. Crafts using the carrot carving technique You can make not only beautiful flowers from vegetables. Fir cones made from carrotsYou will need:
- Fruits of carrots with a diameter not less than 3 cm;
- Sharp knife;
- Ice water.
We clean the carrots.The length of the workpiece should be approximately 10 – 12 cm. Cut off the excess from the wider base, without touching the sharp tip. Cut the wide end into a rectangle or square. Its length will be approximately 3 – 4 cm. Shape the rest of the carrot into an elongated cone, like a real cone.The wide and thick end of the future cone must be rounded by cutting off the sharp edge.We visually divide the same thick end into sixidentical parts. Carefully cut out 6 scales along the dividing lines. We cut to a depth of 2 – 3 mm. We cut off that part of the carrot that is located between the scales. The result is cone-shaped triangles. We deepen the knife along the scales by 2 – 3 mm. They will turn out slightly cut from a sharp edge. We cut out the next circle in a checkerboard pattern relative to the first. We cut the scales again so that they can open easily in the future. So until the end.When all the cones are ready, you need to place them in ice water for about 15 minutes.The cones will harden and the scales will open slightly. Carrot fishing netYou will need:
- Large carrots;
- Water;
- Wooden skewers;
- Sharp knife;
- Common salt;
- A few sprigs of dill;
- A piece of pumpkin or zucchini.
We clean the carrots.Now you need to give it a cylindrical shape and pierce it along the center with a wooden skewer. Now you need to soak the carrots in saline solution for two hours. For 1 tbsp. l. salt will be needed in 1 glass of water. This will make the vegetable soft and not brittle, because in the future it will need to be thinly sliced.We remove the workpiece from the water and visually divide it into4 pieces lengthwise. Each of their parts has a top and a bottom. Using a knife in 5 mm increments, we make cuts from the top, then from the bottom across all 3 parts. We do not cut the inside of the carrot until it reaches the skewer.Now use a sharp knife to cut the carrots thinin a continuous layer, creating a ribbon. Start with the uncut side. The result is a tape similar to a network with oblique cells. Cut off the core with a skewer. We straighten the tape.We cut fish from other vegetables of our choice. All that remains is to artistically arrange the fish, dill seaweed and the net thrown into the sea. Carrot lily flowersYou will need:
- Carrot;
- Sharp knife;
- Scissors.
We give the vegetable the shape of a pentagon in section. One end should be thicker. He will be the top, we will start work from him.Cut one thin layer from each side.This is the first outer circle of petals. We give them shape with scissors.We cut off a thin layer of the pentagon, making it thinner, and make five more petals in a checkerboard pattern.We do the third row in the same way. We make the middle short and use a knife to give it a cone shape with the tip up.Using a knife, cut this cone into stamens, and the lily is ready.Charming chrysanthemums can be made not only from onions. Chinese cabbage is perfect for these purposes. Chrysanthemums and roses from cabbage.You will need:
- Peking cabbage (one chrysanthemum will require 1 fork);
- Red cabbage for roses;
- The lid from the can (suitable from olives);
- Several thick cucumbers for sepals are roses;
- A sharp knife.
First we make chrysanthemums. From a head of Chinese cabbage, cut off the top part to the dense white leaves.For carving, specialtools. To create such chrysanthemums, you need carving knives that have the shape of a groove. Such tools are not always available. Therefore, the imagination of needlewomen suggests using improvised means, for example, a lid from a can of olives or pineapples. We bend it in half and get a convenient groove. You need to work with such a tool carefully so as not to cut your fingers with sharp edges. Take a makeshift tool as shown in the photo. And start cutting grooves, starting from the cut edge to the base. Near the base, guide the tool deeper than at first. Do not cut about 2 cm to the base. We take out the groove and similarly cut out the next petal on the same leaf. On average, one cabbage leaf contains from 3 to 5 petals. This will depend on the size of the fork and the diameter of the groove. Cut out in a circle.We carefully cut off the remaining parts of the leaves with scissors, if they did not fall off on their own during the process of creating the petals.Let's move on to the next layer of fork leaves.We continue to work until we reach the core. The first circle of petals should be the longest, the remaining petals should become shorter and shorter towards the core.Place the finished flower in cold water for 30minutes. The flower should open. To speed up the process, you can add ice. Chrysanthemums can be made the day before serving or even a couple of days in advance. They keep well in water. Red cabbage roses. We divide the head of cabbage into separate sheets. We cut off the edges of the thickness that you planned for the rose petals. Use scissors to cut as shown in the photo. A large leaf can produce 3-4 petals. If the cabbage forks are small, you can connect 2 leaves.We make sepals for roses from cucumbers. To do this, cut off the ends and remove the pulp. Using a sharp knife, cut out the cloves along the edge of the workpiece.Now we just roll the petals into a roll andinsert into the sepal. Unfold the petals a little. There is no need to put roses in water. The cabbage leaves will absorb the cucumber juice and unwind beautifully. If you want to make stems for roses, then take a wooden skewer, put an onion feather on it, and then stick it into the sepals. To create leaves, leeks or green apple peels are suitable. Vegetables for crafts are usually chosen bright, and what would be more colorful than a sunny orange pumpkin. Pumpkin using carving techniqueYou will need:
- Pumpkin with a hard skin;
- Drill;
- Cutter;
- Knife with a sharp tip;
- Hammer and carnations;
- Spoon with a sharp edge (can be specially sharpened);
- Paper;
- Thin marker;
- Scotch.
It is necessary to remove the pulp using a spoon and knife.pumpkins, leaving the walls approximately 2 cm thick. The template can be drawn on paper with a thin marker or printed out ready-made. Carefully attach it to the pumpkin.Now we take a thin nail and a hammer andWe poke out the outline of the drawing on the pumpkin using the template, as in the photo. We remove the paper template and see the dotted drawing on the pumpkin. Using these marks, remove a thin layer of peel using a cutter. The remaining layer should not be thick. Otherwise, the light from the candle that we will place inside will not be visible.Now you need to cut a thin layer of the pumpkin from the inside on the largest patterns of the ornament.You need to drill several through holes with a drill. They will not only play an additional decorative role, but also provide access to oxygen, which is necessary for the candle to burn.Now all that's left is to wait for the dark timedays, insert a candle into the craft, light it and enjoy the incredible spectacle. If you are going to do this indoors, take care of fire safety in advance.