A few weeks ago I made a shark out of a watermelon for my son's First Communion Party and featured it last week as my Wordless Wednesday post. It was carved on a whim and mostly because I over heard my husband bragging that I could do it to my boss, no less. The problem was - I have never done it before, ever! Talked about it, but never did it. I felt on the hook.
There was a moment, while I was taking a shower, that my husband had informed that his mom was going to cut it. My reply was something like, "shucks, I so wanted to try my hand at the shark!"
He stopped her so I could do it.
Thanks to pinterest, I quickly found the directions but none where perfect and I had to go to a few posts to get a better view or more detailed direction. By the time I got to the fin, I was done with the whole thing and improvised (badly) with it just so I could wash my hands and get a beer.
I do wish I would have thought to take pictures through the process but it is probably better that I didn't since I had guests waiting. Besides, I was way to busy trying to recreate from a picture a carved shark from a watermelon.
This is not the place to get detailed instructions but what I will do is give you the nitty gritty.
What you will need: Besides an oblong watermelon and other various fruits for your shark you will also need a dry erase marker, a knife, probably a pairing knife and veggie peeler.
What you have to do: Cut the bottom of your shark off and at an angle. How big you want your shark to be will determine how much you cut off the bottom so use your own discretion. By cutting it at an angle, it makes it look like your shark is popping out of the "water."
Using the dry erase marker draw the mouth and cut it out. I imagined Pac-man when I was making my cut but feel free to imagine what you need to in order to make a mouth for your shark. I did not use a marker (dry or otherwise) and I made a pretty good mouth.
Carve out the fruit and set aside. You can use a melon baller or ice cream scope but I'm not all that fancy so I just cut it in chunks
What you should do: The next step I did not do because I was in a hurry and did not catch on how to do it but it will make your shark look even cooler.
Rachel Ray has a great video on this step if you need to watch it, I will wait (I'd embed it, but they don't allow it).
If you did not watch it, carve a line, following the mouth, about a half inch away from the opening and scrape or peel the green off with a veggie peeler to expose the white. Once you do that, cut triangles into the white on the top and bottom for the teeth.
What you can do: To make the fin, cut a triangle out of the rind you cut off the bottom to make the fin. I cut a slit in the top to fit it into but I guess tooth picks work. Finally, add the eyes, mine are blueberries held in place with toothpicks.
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