West Yorkshire artist carves Britain's largest ever pumpkin for York Maze Halloween spooktacular

These incredible pictures show Britain's largest ever pumpkin turned into one of the world's biggest jack o' lanterns - weighing a whopping 2,000lbs.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Oct 2018, 11:11 BST
Updated 17th Oct 2018, 12:13 BST
It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.
It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.

Expert carver Christian Russell, from Skelmanthorpe near Huddersfield, transformed the UK record pumpkin into a massive Halloween treat.

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The pumpkin was the largest ever grown in Britain - tipping the scale at 2,431lbs - produced by farming twins Ian and Stuart Paton.

It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.
It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.

It was then bought by York Maze in North Yorkshire, which hired Christian to work on it.

Video game artist Christian, 45, decided to carve a traditional skull design for visitors to the maze to enjoy.

Workers had to use a chain saw to remove the top and Christian used kitchen knives and pottery equipment to carve the design.

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Workers had to use a chain saw to remove the top and Christian used kitchen knives and pottery equipment to carve the design.Workers had to use a chain saw to remove the top and Christian used kitchen knives and pottery equipment to carve the design.
Workers had to use a chain saw to remove the top and Christian used kitchen knives and pottery equipment to carve the design.

He said: "The Paton brothers are renowned for growing giant pumpkins, every year they try and break records.

"I hope York Maze are able to get hold of this latest record breaker, it'd be brilliant to work on.

"The theme there this year is dinosaurs so I'll carve a dinosaur into whatever they give me.

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"I'm an artist so it's a lot of fun to get to work on pumpkins as it's a bit different.

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"I have special tools that I use to work on something this big and the process takes about a day and half."

Related topics:West YorkshireBritainLeedsNorth YorkshireWorkers