'Trumpkins' and Clinton pumpkins keep carvers busy this Halloween

Brittney Dapice shared her efforts on Instagram declaring it "the winning pumpkin (according to me) of Thanksgiving 2016."

With Halloween approaching, the pursuit of pumpkin carving is receiving a topical twist in the US.

Orange likenesses of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are being lovingly produced and shared with glee on social media.

The small but growing craft community has invented the term "Trumpkin" to describe their vegetable homages to the Republican nominee. No such snappy term has yet been coined for pumpkins depicting his rival.

Kelsey Kruzel, from Chicago, made a carving of Mrs Clinton, and her friend produced a Trumpkin to go alongside it.

"When my friends and I carve pumpkins, we try and make them fun and relevant," she told the BBC. "With all the madness surrounding the election, we wanted to add a little humour to the mix. And Trumpkin just has a certain ring to it."

Brenda Stemwell, a Trump supporter, tweeted a Trumpkin painted by her brother Charles Adams. "Every year is different TRUMP 2016," she wrote.

Mazel Tuff shared her Trumpkin on Instagram. When asked why she decided to make one she replied it was the "scariest thing I could think of."

Hugh McMahon has been carving pumpkins for 40 years. He always carves a pumpkin of each presidential candidate come election time:

"I did McCain and Obama eight years ago and the images of those were shown all over the world." Mr McMahon told the BBC.

"I did Trump many years ago for Madison Square Gardens and Hillary when she was First Lady. In fact my pumpkin carving of Bill Clinton was brought to the White House."

Mr McMahon says he has carved "five or six" of Mr Trump since he first stood for nomination, and when asked which candidate he preferred to carve, he admitted: "I think Trump as he is already orange, making him the better subject to carve".

By Patrick Evans, BBC social news and user-generated content hub