Pumpkin carving can be serious business.

Cory Steffke and Ashlynne Potts have been carving pumpkins for as long as they can remember.

Steffke uses various carving tools for to add variation on his designs for pumpkin carving.

“Freehand” carving is his favorite as opposed to following patterns taped on the pumpkin.

“I like doing surrealist, abstract and subconscious art,” the Fowlerville senior said. “I’ve done pumpkins with bones, grim reapers, scary faces and intrigue designs.”

Fowlerville senior Cory Steffke carves a clown design in a pumpkin Tuesday night at Halloween U.S.A., 1203 S. Mission St. Steffke, an employee of Halloween U.S.A., plans to display the finished pumpkin within the store. (Paige Calamari/Staff Photographer)

Steffke and his co-worker Potts carved their first pumpkins of the year Tuesday night at Halloween USA, 1203 S. Mission St., where they both work.

Just for fun, he dressed like Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force while he carved an evil clown and Potts dressed like Master Shake while she did a Medusa-style design.

Potts won a pumpkin carving contest in Kalamazoo two years ago for her design of an abstract eye.

“We all grew up carving pumpkins, it’s just fun,” Potts said. “It beats bobbing for apples, that’s for sure.”

Future endeavors

Pumpkin carving is also a way for Steffke to practice his future job as a tattoo artist — he has tattooed pumpkins.

Currently an art student, Steffke plans on interning at Heritage Tattoo, 1222 S. Mission St., after graduation.

“I got my first tattoo when I was 16,” he said. “It’s two tribal dragons on my back representing my two grandfathers that passed away. Ever since then I fell in love with tattoos.”

Steffke’s body is covered in 11 tattoos expressing himself including characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the cover to Tool’s “AEnima” album and a Buddhist footprint symbolizing life and death.

He is currently in his third year of working at Halloween USA, where he works 13 hours a day.

Steffke works with three of his roommates, one of which is his manager.

For Steffke, working at a Halloween store has many advantages, including trying on the costumes and meeting new people.

“We get a lot of religious people that come in,” he said. “We get a lot of Wiccans and goths, Halloween means different things to different people.”

This year for Halloween, he plans on dressing up like the Boondocks Saints with his friends.

Potts said she plans on being “Wayne” from “Wayne’s World.”

She said the store’s most popular costumes are humorous things for guys and revealing and sexy costumes for girls.

Steffke and Potts are also avid painters and helped paint an abstract colorful beer-pong table together.

Potts is currently taking a semester off from school and is pursuing a graphic design art degree.

Many of her classroom notes turn into sketches, which turn into designs carved into pumpkins, she said.
Halloween will always be Steffke’s favorite holiday.

“Everyone has a fear and it’s a lot of fun to exploit that sometimes,” he said.

E-mail the author: Joe Borlik