Simple home carving with step by step photos.

Chrysanthemum from Chinese cabbage

1. Remove loose leaves from a head of Beijing cabbage weighing from 300 to 700 g and cut off the upper part of the head, leaving about 12-15 cm.

2. We work with an oval or triangular carbovochny groove knife.

3. Let's make cuts of different lengths along the thick veins of the leaves, directing the knife from the top cut of the leaf to the base of the cabbage. We make the beginning of the cut thinner. As we approach the stump, we deepen the knife into the cabbage.

4. Without cutting 1.5-2 cm to the stalk, remove the cut out large leaves. If the sheet is held tight, make a few notches with a small knife.

5. We cut the subsequent rows of leaves in the same way, shortening the length of the chrysanthemum petals to the middle. If the edges of the petals are thin enough, then in cold water they will curl up into rings or curve beautifully.

6. Put the "chrysanthemum" in ice water for half an hour. The product will take on an elegant shape. Let's cut a couple of green "leaves" from a cucumber and make a composition on a dish with salad or various cuts.

Cucumber LILY

1. Cut off a piece of cucumber 7-8 cm in size, cutting off the tail. Let's make a cut in the form of a leaflet, without cutting to the bottom edge of the workpiece.

2. Make other leaves, with a small distance between them, bypassing the workpiece in a circle.

3. Using a knife, make a cut in a circle 1-2 mm thick, creating a platform for cutting the next row. petals.

4. With an oval knife, we make the next row of petals in a checkerboard pattern relative to the previous row. Again we cut the platform for the next level of petals. Make as many rows as the size of the workpiece allows.

5. With a noisette or a knife, scrape the core of the cucumber, creating enough space to place the core in the center of the flower.

6. Cut the leaves with scissors, create a triangular shape at the ends. Dip the flower for a few minutes in ice water - and it will open beautifully.

7. From carrots, pumpkins or radishes, we will make a core of a suitable size. Decorate it with cuts.

8. Insert the core into the flower. Can be fixed with a toothpick.
Let's put a lily on a twig with leaves or on a painted wooden barbecue stick. Leaves for it can also be cut from a cucumber.

CONE from carrots

1. Peel a dense carrot with a diameter of at least 3 cm, cut off a straight piece 8-12 cm in size. Use a knife to make a square “tail” for the future cone. Next, give it an oval shape.

2. Having processed the workpiece in a circle with a knife, we will give the thick end of the cone a rounded shape and prepare a platform for cutting the first row of scales.

3. Visually divide the thick end of the workpiece into 6 parts, cut out 6 petal scales in a circle. The depth of the cut is 2-3 mm.

4. With a knife, make a cut along the cone (deepening the end of the knife by 2-3 mm) under the scales, making out the three-dimensional pattern of the first row, thus creating a platform for the next row of scales.

5. In a checkerboard pattern with respect to the previous row, cut out the next row. Again we cut the platform for the next row of scales. We make as many rows as the size of the workpiece allows.

6. We lower the cone for 10-15 minutes in ice water - it will open a little and harden.

hot pepper callas

ADVICE. If the pepper burns your hands after work, wash them thoroughly and wipe them with vegetable oil.

1. Take red or green hot chili peppers.

2. Cut along the length from the stem to the tip.

3. Carefully cut the pulp around the stalk. Seeds should remain on the stem.

4. Expand the pepper, rinse in cold water and give the workpiece the shape of a calla flower.

5. We make a hole on the spread of the future flower and carefully insert the stalk with seeds into it.

6. Cut out the leaves from any green product (cucumber or others) and create a curly composition.

1. We give the carrots the shape of a cylinder. We pierce along the center line with a thin wooden skewer.

2. Soak the vegetable in a salt solution for 2 hours (1 tablespoon of salt per glass of water). The product must be sufficiently soft and not break when thinly cut.

3. Visually divide the vegetable into four sides. We make the same cuts on the upper and lower sides, cutting through to the skewer. The distance between the cuts is 0.5 cm. Let's make cuts on both sides - between the cuts on the upper and lower sides.

4. Carefully cut the fruit in a circle with a long thin ribbon to the skewer. We cut off the skewer with the "stump" and straighten the net.

5. 6. Cut out several different colorful fish from a wide variety of products.

LILY from carrots

1. We give the vegetable the shape of a cone and a pentagon, cutting with a long knife in a circle from five sides.

2. On each of the 5 cut sides, cut through the petal.

3. Shape the petal with scissors.

4. Remove part of the pulp from under the petals of the first row (make the cone thinner). We cut out five more petals, placing them in a checkerboard pattern relative to the petals of the first row. Do the same for the third row.

5. With a knife, shorten the remaining core and cut it into a cone

6. We split the core into stamens with a knife.

DAHLIA

1. Let's make a slightly flattened rounded blank with a diameter of 5-6 cm from a homogeneous product.

2. Cut out 7-9 petals with a medium oval knife, deepening the knife towards the core.

3. We cut off the excess pulp under the petals of the first row, forming a platform for the next row.

4. Cut out the petals of the next row with knives of different sizes, similarly to the first row. We place them between the petals of the previous row. Making it possible large quantity rows.

5. We cut to the end and make out the middle.

Chrysanthemum from onions
for decorating salads, meat, fish and vegetable dishes

1. To prepare chrysanthemum, take a small round onion.
You can take both white and red onions. The smaller the bulb, the more beautiful the flower turns out.
Try to choose a thin-walled bulb, then the petals turn out to be thinner and open more beautifully.

2. Peel the bulb and cut off the top and bottom by about 0.5 cm.

3. With a thin sharp knife, carefully cut almost in half, without cutting to the end about 0.5 cm.
The incision is made from the upper side - where the feather grows.

4. Then cut in half again in the same way.

5. Next, cut into as many pieces as you can. It is desirable to make as many incisions as possible.
If the cuts are not deep enough, the flower will not bloom well, and if it is too deep, the flower will fall apart.

6. Put the bulb in water at room temperature - the water should completely cover the bulb.
After an hour and a half, the chrysanthemum should "bloom". The time of "blooming" of the chrysanthemum depends on the variety of the onion. Some varieties are enough and 40 minutes, and some need a couple of hours.

7. To give the flower brightness, dip the tips of the blossoming chrysanthemum into beetroot juice (rub raw beets and squeeze through a cloth). Coloring time - until the desired color is obtained. You can use any other food coloring - brightly colored juice (for example, cherry, blackcurrant), yellow saffron solution, Cahors or other red wine, pickled beetroot brine, etc.
You can paint the whole flower.

Orange colored "chrysanthemum" on lettuce.

onion flower

1. We clean the bulb without cutting off the root seal, but only after cleaning it well from the roots.

2. We make 4-5 cuts (in this example we make 4 cuts) to a depth of 2-3 layers (in this example - 2 layers).

3. We bend the extreme layers (petals), and remove the inner incised layers with a knife. We do all this with caution, because. petals are very brittle.

4. Again we cut the layers of the bulb, shifting the cuts in a checkerboard pattern relative to the first petals. The first incised layer is left, and the inner layers are removed again.

5. Repeat these steps until we reach the middle of the bulb.

7. Then put in a vinegar marinade of water, vinegar and sugar (vinegar and sugar to taste) for 10 minutes or more to obtain the desired taste.
If you want to get a colored flower, add food coloring to the marinade (see previous recipe).

We take out the "flower" from the marinade, slightly shake off the liquid, beautifully straighten the petals and place on a dish.

leek flower

1. Fold a wide leaf of leek in half lengthwise and make frequent cuts from the side of the fold, as shown in the photo.

2. Roll up into a roll - this will be the core of the flower.

3. Make petals from the wide parts of the onion.

4. Fasten the flower with toothpicks and put on a dish.

Leek bow

1. Peel young fresh leeks, cut off the white dense part of about 20 cm. At the same distance from each other, cut the onion lengthwise with several cuts to the full depth (to the center).

2. Bend the “petals” of the first row and cut them approximately in the middle, giving them a triangular shape.

3. Fold the petals of the next row inward with a “bow”.

4. Continue row after row to fold the petals. If the bow does not hold well, you can strengthen it with pieces of wooden toothpicks.

Festive "bouquet" of Beijing cabbage

1. Take an average head of Chinese (Beijing) cabbage.

2. Cut off the top loose part.

3. Traditionally, vegetable carving (carving) is performed using special knives of various shapes. For example, such chrysanthemums are cut with a carving knife in the form of a groove. But you can adapt a simple tool at hand - an olive can lid, which you need to bend in half to make an oval groove. The edges of the resulting groove are not too sharp, but you still need to be careful. We must adapt to hold it as comfortably as possible, without touching the edges.

4. Take the groove as indicated and cut long grooves along the hard part of the head. At first, the groove should not go very deep. Closer to the base, you need to direct it deeper inward.

5. Before reaching about 2 cm to the end of the sheet, you must stop. Remove the groove and cut out the petal next to it. First, 3-5 petals are placed on one sheet.

Carving is an artistic cutting of vegetables and fruits. Today, it has become one of the fashionable trends in the decoration of banquets, holidays, original cuisine dishes. In addition, many are addicted to this kind of creativity in their kitchen, bringing beauty to the daily menu for their family.

In order to do carving, it is not enough to purchase the necessary fruits and vegetables, you must have special carving knives, as well as devices that allow you to quickly and beautifully decorate any table.

Variety of carving knives

In order to perform fine and elegant carving of fruits and vegetables, various types of knives are produced. All of them differ in the shape and size of the blades:

• Carb knives. This kind of knives is specially designed to make it easy and simple to make cuts of various shapes on the surface of vegetables and fruits. They have blades of various shapes: round, square, figured, oval, etc. The variety of their shapes is amazing. The higher the skill of a carving specialist, the more diverse his carving knives.
• Engraving knives. They allow you to cut grooves of various shapes and depths, forming linear patterns on the surfaces of vegetables and fruits.
• Thai carving knives, sickle-shaped knives. They have flat or curved blades that allow you to cut small details. High-class carving masters can work real miracles with the help of these knives.
• Recess or noisette knives carving knives. This type of knife is used to extract the pulp from fruits, as well as to obtain hemispheres and spheres on their surface.
• Knives for fluting. They serve to apply even grooves, called flutes. They can also be cut into thin strips or in the form of straws.
• Calibration knives. They allow you to cut wavy shapes.
• Knives for cutting serpentine, spirals, peeling cucumbers in the form of spirals, etc.

The most popular and widely used in Everyday life, are knives with engraving, carving, sickle-shaped or Thai blades. A wide variety of blades in shape and size allow you to create real masterpieces from vegetables and fruits.

The best blades for carving knives

Each of carving knives has its purpose. The tasks with which they must cope require special materials for the manufacture of blades. Some of them are stabbing knives, others require sharp sharpening at an unusual angle. Fruits and vegetables are quite juicy and firm, so carving knives should easily penetrate the flesh and cut them into thin slices or shapes. Steel is used to make high quality carving knives hard marks. Hard steel tools are quite fragile, so they should be protected from falling from a height.

Sometimes it is necessary that the blade of the knife be bent somewhat during operation. Such special knives, such as long sickle-shaped knives, are made from flexible steel.

What should be the handle of the best carving knives?

Carving is a very delicate and meticulous work, therefore it requires a very long ownership of the tool. If the knives are not comfortable to hold in your hand long time, then the brush becomes numb and fatigue will come unexpectedly quickly. In order for the tool to lie comfortably in the hand, not rub the palm or fingers, and not slip in wet hands, it is necessary that the handle knife carving was made from a special material. The most popular and ideal, in this case, is polyamide. Handles made of this material have a slightly rough surface, do not slip in the hand, are hygienic, lightweight and highly durable.

Importance for a carving knife, it also has a shift in the center of gravity towards the handle, due to the fact that their blades are relatively short and thin. The weight of carving knives also matters. It should be as small as possible in order to be able to work with it for a long time. Usually, knives weigh from 50 to 70 grams.

Proper sharpening of carving knives

Sharpening for carving knives is the most important feature of this creative tool. Improper sharpening will not allow you to solve the tasks for which the knife is purchased. The blades of knives of various purposes are sharpened at a certain angle, with a uniform thickness. Curly carving knives are generally difficult to sharpen. The sharpening angle is adjusted using laser instruments. Uniform and even sharpening of the knife will allow it to retain its functions for a long time.

In order to sharpen the tool, it is worth contacting specialized services where there is special equipment. Today, buying a set of carving knives is not a problem. On the Internet you can find a lot of worthy offers.

If you do not know what to give your friends for a housewarming, then you can give carving knives. Video tutorials on mastering the art of carving fruits and vegetables can be downloaded on the Internet.

The set of basic tools for working in the carving technique is small: 5 carving knives, a Thai knife, a noisette knife “ball” with a diameter of 2 cm and a sharpener for sharpening. They are aimed at both professionals and those who want to master the art of carving.

These are grooved knives for decorative cutting. With triangular section karbovy knives - acute and U-shaped - it is easy and simple to cut spiky flower petals and patterns. Oval knives of different sizes are indispensable for cutting petals and rounded patterns.

Musat
Whetstone for delicate dressing cutting edge tool.

Thai knife
Special knife for cutting and applying complex patterns. With the help of this one knife, Thai craftsmen create real works of art from vegetables and fruits.

Noisette knife (knife-notch)
The noisette knife "ball" is used to cut balls or hemispheres, which is especially important when making flower stamens. Convenient to use double-sided noisette knife with grooves of 2.2 and 3 cm in diameter.

Additional tools
In addition to the main ones, there are a number of additional tools that will become your faithful assistants when doing any work with vegetables and fruits, save time and greatly expand your creative possibilities. Try to purchase additional tools of the same quality as the main ones.
Thus, you can be sure that they will not let you down in the process of work and will not spoil the product.

Knife-piler (vegetable peeler)
Tool for peeling vegetables and fruits. The floating blade removes a thin layer of peel. Also, the tool is equipped with a point for removing the "eyes" from potatoes.

Knife small curved (sickle-shaped)
Used to make round shapes. When cutting, the knife slides along the contour of vegetables, cutting off a layer of pulp of the desired thickness and width. Ideal for cutting arcs, curves, petals and intricate patterns on large fruits like melon, watermelon, pumpkin.

Calibration knife
It is intended for curly cutting of crude and boiled vegetables. It is used for cutting decorations - corrugated plates, spirals.

Noisette knife "oval" and "cloud"
Used for the manufacture of three-dimensional figurines.

Cannelling knife
Designed for removing thin strips from fruits and vegetables and applying decorative grooves-flutes on them.

Engraving knife (triangular)
It is widely used in carving for cutting ornaments and patterns of varying complexity. Allows you to set different widths and depths for decorative grooves.

Serpentine cutter
The tool works on the principle of a sharpener: it removes continuous thin shavings from a vegetable, from which you can make a decoration in the form of a serpentine or a flower bud.

straw knife
With this tool, you can quickly cut any hard vegetable - carrots, zucchini, cucumber, daikon - into thin straws.

curlers
Device for cutting garlands of vegetables cylindrical shape- cucumber, zucchini, daikon, carrots.

Spiral
A tool for cutting a spiral of hard vegetables - daikon, carrots, beets, as well as for preparing potatoes for stuffing.

Chrysanthemum from Chinese cabbage

1. Remove loose leaves from a head of Beijing cabbage weighing from 300 to 700 g and cut off the upper part of the head, leaving about 12-15 cm.		2. We work with an oval or triangular carbovochny groove knife.
3. Let's make cuts of different lengths along the thick veins of the leaves, directing the knife from the top cut of the leaf to the base of the cabbage. We make the beginning of the cut thinner. As we approach the stump, we deepen the knife into the cabbage.		4. Without cutting 1.5-2 cm to the stalk, remove the cut out large leaves. If the sheet is held tight, make a few notches with a small knife.
5. We cut the subsequent rows of leaves in the same way, shortening the length of the chrysanthemum petals to the middle. If the edges of the petals are thin enough, then in cold water they will curl up into rings or curve beautifully.
6. Put the "chrysanthemum" in ice water for half an hour. The product will take on an elegant shape. Let's cut a couple of green "leaves" from a cucumber and make a composition on a dish with salad or various cuts.

Ready dahlias		1. Let's make a slightly flattened rounded blank with a diameter of 5-6 cm from a homogeneous product.
2. Cut out 7-9 petals with a medium oval knife, deepening the knife towards the core.		3. We cut off the excess pulp under the petals of the first row, forming a platform for the next row.
4. Cut out the petals of the next row with knives of different sizes, similarly to the first row. We place them between the petals of the previous row. We make as many rows as possible.		5. We cut to the end and make out the middle.

Faces can be made better: Tomato flower

Make 8 deep cuts on the tomato, as shown in the photo. Carefully separate the skin so that a little pulp remains on it.
Cut cucumber slices of a suitable size into halves and insert into the cuts.
Decorate the top of the "flower" with an olive or herbs. Santa Claus from vegetables You will need: red bell pepper (larger), Chinese cabbage (head lettuce), a piece of cucumber, toothpicks for fastening.

1. Remove the leg from the pepper and give it a stable position with the hole down. 2. Fasten a piece of cucumber on top with a toothpick. 3. Choose small lettuce leaves, preferably internal ones. Try on their size on the figure of Santa Claus: one sheet is longer - for the beard, three sheets are shorter - for the hair. Cut off the excess parts of the cutting. Pick up a cup-shaped sheet for the top layer of hair. 4. During the fitting, mark with a toothpick those places on a large sheet where the eyes, nose and mouth should be. 5. Make details of the face from pieces of olives and peppers by inserting them into small slots. Strengthen your mustache. 6. Attach with toothpicks (you can use their halves), first a long sheet with a face and a beard, then three short ones around the entire head. Put a top sheet on top. 7. Make a cap from the top of a pepper or a small tomato. Take a large leaf of head lettuce (outer) and cut a long strip 1.5-2 cm wide from the top of the petiole with a knife. Try to cut along the direction of the fibers. This will be the edge of the hat. Fasten the hat on the head and wrap it with a cut-out strip.

		Capricorn (22.12 - 20.01) Required: 1 red and 1 green apple Take a whole red apple. Cut off a slice and two slices from it. Lay the slices on top of each other. This is the "torso." Cut the remaining slice into two halves. Cut out two triangles from them - "horns". Attach the cut off sector to the horns. Cut off two pieces from it. These are the "ears". The remaining part is the "head". Lay "ears". Lay the "head", "horns" and "ears" on the body. Cut circles from the peel of a green apple - "eyes". "Pupils" of green bones. Cut another slice from the remaining apple. Cut out four stripes from it - "legs". Add "legs". Cut a beard from a piece of green apple peel.
		Aquarius (21.01 - 20.02) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 salami slice Take one pitted olive. Cut it lengthwise into two halves. Cut off a sector from one half. Expand and attach this sector to the slice. This is a "jug". Cut off a small sector from the second half. Attach it to the bottom of the "jug". Cut a small slice from the remaining olive. Cut it into two halves. These are the "handles" of the "jug". Attach the "handles" to the "jug". Place half a grain of corn at the "neck" of the "jug" in the form of pouring water.
		Pisces (21.02 - 20.03) You will need: 1 green olive, 4 corn kernels, 1 black olive, 1 slice of salami. Take one pitted green olive. Cut it lengthwise into two halves. One of them cut across into 2 parts. One part is the "head". From the second part, cut the "tail". Lay out the "scales" from the corn kernels. Attach a "head" to it. Make an "eye" from a piece of black olive. Cut the other half of the olive in half lengthwise. One of them cut across into two halves. These are "fins". Attach "fins". Add another grain of corn. Attach "tail".
		Aries (03/21 - 04/20) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 black olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 salami slice. Cut the olive into two halves. Cut two thin slices from the second half. Make cutouts out of them. These are "horns". Insert the "horns" into the half of the olive. This is the "head". Place the remaining piece of olive cut side down. Cut it in half. Attach this piece to the "head". Cut the corn kernel lengthwise. Unfold the grain halves. These are the "eyes". Lay the "eyes" on the "head". "Pupils" are made from pieces of black olives. Lay on a slice of salami or canapé sandwich.
		Taurus (21.04 - 21.05) You will need: 2 pitted green olives, 1 black olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 salami slice. Take two pitted green olives. Cut one of them lengthwise into two halves. One half is the "head". Cut the second olive in half crosswise. Cut off a slice from the second. Make a cutout on it. These are "horns". Place the other half cut side down. Cut out two pieces from it. These are the "ears". Lay out the "muzzle" from the remaining pieces. Cut the corn kernel lengthwise. Unfold the grain halves. These are the "eyes". "Pupils" are made from pieces of black olives. Lay the "eyes" on the "head".
		Gemini (22.05-21.06) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 black olive, 2 corn kernels, a piece of red sweet pepper, 1 slice of salami. Cut the olive into two halves. Cut out “handles” and “legs” from half an olive. From the second half of the olive, cut the same "torso". "Head" to make from a grain of corn. "Mouth" - from a piece of red sweet pepper. "Eyes" - from tiny pieces of black olive. Attach the "head" to the "torso". Make another "twin". Lay them on a slice of salami or on a sandwich - canape.
		Cancer (22.06 - 22.07) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 black olive, 1 salami slice. Cut a pitted green olive into two halves. Cut off two sectors from one of them. Make incisions in these sectors. These are "claws". Cut the remaining middle part into two halves. One half is the "torso". Cut the other half into pieces. This is the "neck". Lay on the "torso" "eyes" - tiny pieces of black olives. Attach "claws".
		Leo (23.07 - 23.08) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 black olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 pea, 1 salami slice. Cut a small slice from a green olive. Cut a sector out of it. Cut a thin slice from the remaining olive. Lay the first slice on it. This is a "muzzle". Attach the cut sector. This is the mouth. Cut two more thin slices from the remaining olive. Cut one of them into two pieces. Cut out of them "mane". From another slice, cut out two more details of the "mane". Attach "mane". Cut the corn kernel lengthwise. Unfold the grain halves. These are the "eyes". "Pupils" - from pieces of black olive. Lay the "eyes" on the "head". Make a nose out of canned green peas.
		Virgo (24.08 - 23.09) Take a whole red apple, cut a slice from it. Cut it into two halves and cut off 2 small sectors from each. These are "hands". The remaining parts are the "body". On the other side of the apple, cut another slice. Cut a circle out of it. This is the "head". From a thin slice of apple, cut out the "nose" and "mouth". Cut out "eyes" from pieces of green apple peel. "Pupils" cut from the peel of a red apple. Cut a thin slice from the remaining apple. Cut a circle out of it. Using the same notch, cut this circle into thin slices. It's "hair". Attach two parts of the "torso" to the head. Attach "hands" to the "torso".
		Libra (24.09 - 23.10) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 pea, 1 salami slice Take a whole green olive without a stone. Cut it crosswise into two halves. Cut one of the halves into two more pieces. Lay them cut side up. These are the "bowls" of the scales. Cut a thin slice from the other half of the olive. Cut it into two pieces. Attach these parts to the "bowls". Lay a pea between them. Decorate with a grain of corn. Lay on a slice of salami or on a canapé sandwich.
		Scorpio (24.10 - 22.11) You will need: 1 pitted green olive, 1 black olive, 1 corn kernel, 1 salami slice Take a whole green olive without a stone. Cut off a slice from it. Cut it into slices. This is the "body". Put the rest of the olive cut side down and also cut into slices. Three medium slices will be needed to make the "tail" and "claws". Cut one slice into pieces. Lay out of these pieces "tail". From the remaining two slices lay out two "claws". Attach them to the scorpion. Make a "head" out of a grain of corn. "Eyes" cut out of black olives.
		Sagittarius (23.11 - 21.12) Required: 1 whole green apple Take a whole green apple. Cut off a slice from it. Cut off a small section from this slice, then cut off another section of the same size. Cut a thin slice from the rest of the apple. Cut out the middle from this piece. This is "bow". Cut a thin slice from the apple. Cut an arrow out of it. Lay the "bow" and "arrow" on the apple slice. "Bow" to make from the cut off sections.

Required Tools

To create the simplest works, it is absolutely not necessary to use special tools. A sharp knife with a thin and flexible blade and a little patience is enough. If you are planning to seriously engage in carving, you should stock up on a set special tools:

• Thai knife: the main tool that is indispensable when carving small parts; has a narrow and short sharpened blade;
• sickle-shaped knife: similar to Thai, but its blade is wider, it is used to cut out larger patterns;
• long knife: looks like an ordinary kitchen knife, but has a narrowed blade; is a universal tool and can be used for any type of carving;

• carving knives for cutting leaves, petals and other floral ornaments: they can be oval, V-shaped, round or square, wide or narrow;
• knives for cannelling (creating grooves);
• small scissors with thin blades to give the edges a decorative shape;
• spoon-noisetto for taking out the pulp;
• carving for removing the core of apples or pears and creating recesses in patterns: it looks like a knife with a circle-shaped tip;
• mini molds;
• girole: a tool for removing the thinnest layer from cheese and other soft products;
• toothpicks and gelatin for fastening parts.

Advice! Finished works can be boiled or fried. For example, making flowers from soft boiled carrots and beets is more difficult. Therefore, figurines are first made, and then they are steamed. Raw potato blanks can be deep-fried.

Preparing vegetables and fruits

Almost any vegetables are used for carving: Bulgarian and hot peppers, radishes, cucumbers, pumpkins, cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. Of the fruits, apples, oranges, lemons, melons and watermelons are the most suitable for work.

The main thing is that vegetables and fruits are even and smooth, with a minimum amount of pulp and seeds. Overripe fruits will not keep their shape, so you should not use them. Their colors are also important.

All vegetables and fruits are thoroughly washed and dried. Dense vegetables (potatoes, radishes, celery or ginger) are best taken out of the refrigerator first - in the heat they will wilt a little and become more plastic.

Apples and quince, prone to browning, are pre-sprinkled with a solution of vinegar, lemon juice. So that carrots do not break during work, they are soaked in salt water for a couple of hours. Cucumbers and tomatoes should be chosen the most dense, with a minimum amount of juice.

Advice! Fruits and vegetables can be stored in cold water for several days. So that they do not darken, they are sprinkled with lemon juice and diluted gelatin from a spray bottle. Watery fruits are not soaked - during storage they are only periodically sprayed with water.

The simplest examples of carving

With the help of virtuoso carving, you can create unusually beautiful edible pictures and ornaments from vegetables and fruits. However, the simplest works can be quite spectacular - the most important thing is to apply diligence and ingenuity.

We present to your attention the simplest carving of vegetables and fruits with a step-by-step photo:

• you can make an original flower using an ordinary potato peeler - for its petals it is enough to cut the thinnest layer in a circle, for example, from a radish, roll it into a tight spiral with the pulp inside, and then straighten it;
• from a pumpkin, watermelon or melon, you can make a spectacular basket or stroller for fruit, ice cream or pastries; for this, it is better to pre-prepare a paper pattern and cut the edges and handle along it with a sharp knife; such a product can be decorated with carvings in the form of a floral ornament;

• from a small pumpkin, funny cups are obtained in the form of a head of a tiger cub, a cat, a bear cub or a monkey; ears and other parts are glued with gelatin; instead of eyes, halves of olives or pieces of eggplant are used;
• you can get bright callas from hot pepper in a couple of minutes, if you cut it lengthwise from the stalk to the very tip, carefully remove the seeds along with the stalk, and then round the edges of the pepper with a knife; now, closer to the edge of the pepper, we make a small hole and insert the seeds into it along with the stalk; bright flower is ready.

Advice!To obtain through holes in a thick-walled pumpkin or zucchini, you can use a drill or drill.

Watermelon crafts

Pirate ship

Turtle

More ideas

Spectacular dark burgundy roses

From the thin edges of the foliage of red cabbage and cucumber "cups" you can make unusual flowers. For this:

• the upper coarse leaves are removed from the cabbage;
• thin scissors cut off the edges of sheets 2-3 cm wide;
• petals are formed from the received stripes: on one strip, depending on its length, there can be 2–3 or more;
• the round tip is cut off from the cucumber and the pulp is removed; the edges of the resulting cup are shaped with cloves using scissors;
• ready-made cabbage petals are carefully inserted into each cucumber cup;
• in this way, several roses are prepared: buds are made from tightly twisted petals, and fully bloomed flowers from straightened ones;
• the stem is made from the pulp of any dense vegetable - for example, a radish or a vein of cabbage; to make it green, an onion feather is put on it;
• each flower is attached to the stem with a toothpick;
• foliage can be cut from a leek or green apple.

Advice!In the carving technique, the most important place is given to the sharpness of the tool. Poorly sharpened knives or knives made of poor quality steel will crush the workpiece.

Photo master class on creating roses from strawberries

Dahlia

More complex work is more convenient to perform with the help of special tools. For this work, you will need an oval billet of potatoes or large carrots, slightly flattened from the sides. It is better to take carrots without a pronounced core - otherwise the flower will exfoliate:

• to begin with, we retreat a couple of millimeters from the edge and cut out 7-9 petals in a circle with a medium-sized oval knife; the knife should enter the pulp deep enough, but not to the very edge of the workpiece;
• preparing the second row of petals; for this, we cut off part of the pulp under the petals of the first row; you don’t need to delete too much - the number of rows should be as large as possible;
• flower tongues have different sizes, therefore, they should be cut with different knives;
• the last we make out the core with the thinnest knife.

Advice! The resulting masterpiece can be preserved for a long time if it is first dried in the attic or near the battery, and then varnished. Of course, it will no longer be possible to eat it after varnishing.

Salads, meat or fish dishes can be decorated with elegant snow-white chrysanthemum. To make the petals thin and lie naturally, it is better to take a small thin-walled bulb:

• after cleaning, it should be slightly cut off the top and bottom (no more than half a centimeter);
• with a thin knife, cut the onion crosswise, not cutting to the bottom of 0.5 cm;
• the incision should begin from the upper part from which the feather grows;
• if the cut is shallow, then the flower will not open well, but if the head is “opened” almost to the end, then it may simply fall apart;
• again cut the onion crosswise so that the cut line falls on the center of the previous cuts;
• we continue to make cruciform cuts to get the maximum number of slices;
• no need to try to separate the slices with your hands, otherwise the flower will break; you just need to put the bulb in cold water for an hour - the chrysanthemum will bloom by itself; if the onion walls are denser (depending on its variety), it may take more than an hour for the flower to bloom;
• to color chrysanthemum, you can dip it in food coloring, beetroot, cherry juice, blackcurrant juice, red wine or saffron infusion; You can shade not the whole flower, but only its tips.

Advice! Bulb flower may have larger segments. To make it, it is necessary to cut only the top two layers into four parts, carefully straighten the first layer of petals, and remove the second with a knife. Do the same with the next layers. In the finished flower, the petals are staggered relative to each other.

Rosette of tomato, orange or lemon

To make this bright flower, you will not need special tools - only a sharpened knife:

• cut the tomato in half;
• cut the resulting half into small equal semicircular slices;
• “stretch” the chopped tomato on the board, trying not to displace any of its parts;
• gently twist one of the edges of our figure;
• to move the finished flower to the dish, you should clasp it on both sides with your hands and squeeze it tightly;
• With a small sharp knife, cut out a couple of green leaves from the skin of a cucumber for a rose; you can make them from thin strips of cucumber, folded in half;
• we will make the same flower from an orange or lemon; they should be cut into very thin slices along with the skin.

Advice! Decorations must be combined with the dish to taste. It is better to decorate hot fish or meat with tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers. Sea delicacies are in perfect harmony with lemon. Fruit is the perfect decoration for dessert.

To work, you will need an oval or triangular carb knife with a special groove and a small tight head of Chinese cabbage:

• the upper leaves and the rough lower part of the stalk are removed from the head of cabbage so that the leaves do not fall apart;
• its upper part is cut off almost in half so that 12-15 cm remain from the place where the leaves are attached in the area of ​​​​the former stalk;
• we will work only with large veins of cabbage, its green parts are completely removed;
• thin sections of different lengths are made along the veins with a carb knife from the top to the center of the head; closer to the stalk, the knife goes deeper - we should get petals that are thin at the edges and denser towards the center;
• cut off the next rows as well; closer to the center we make the petals shorter;
  the finished flower is placed in cold water; after half an hour, the thin petals should bend, and the chrysanthemum will take on an elegant shape.

Advice! To master the carving of vegetables and fruits for beginners (see photo), it is absolutely not necessary to purchase a whole set of tools. Some of them can be made independently. For example, you can make a carving knife using a thin olive lid. It is bent at an angle so that a groove is obtained. For carving, you can use any wood carving tools.

multi-petalled radish flower

You can quickly make such a flower with a regular sharp knife. To do this, the upper and lower parts are slightly cut off from the radish and several parallel cuts are made on the sides of the root crop. The more often they are located, the more elegant the flower will turn out.

The second radish is cut into thin circles-petals. The resulting petals are carefully inserted into the slots of the first radish.

It is better to master the carving of vegetables and fruits from a photo or video.