well hey MT I use a electric pumpkin knife and do it just like the real deal. Good Luck with yours.

 

Hooch I have used a number of different carving techniques.

Xacto knife - Works well but slow and can cause breakage in smaller areas due to pressure.

Dremel Tool - Works great and quick.. Need small bits for details and creates alot of "dust" but this is what I use mostly

Hot Knife - Its just like a wood burning tool with a flat blade on the end. This works very well as well but it creates fumes so you have to do it in a well ventilated area.

 

Thanks, guys!

 

I have only bought foam pumpkins for the last 3 years. I got tired of seeing something I worked so hard on rot!

I use the little saw blades that come in the pumpkin carving kits and last year they came out with a kit just for the foam pumpkins. I bought it but couldn't tell any difference.

When transferring your pattern, the more holes you poke into the "skin" the better off you are when it comes to actually cutting.

I use the blade with the smallest teeth and I saw up and down with it, moving as fast or slow as need be.

When you start getting to where a lot of the stuff has been cut away the walls get kind of flimsy. At that point, I use one hand to saw and the other to brace the wall so it doesn't break from the movement.

Something I did differently last year was to cut a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. It was supposed to be for sitting it over a light but it came in very handy for bracing the walls. Always before I would just have to find a cut out big enough to get my fingers or hand in.

It does make a bit of a mess - just have a vaccuum handy when you get finished! Good luck!

 

I used the saws for the foam pumpkins until last year.

I now use only a hot blade to melt the foam and I can't see doing it any other way. I have carved some very complicated things (the last supper took me about 7 hours over a 3 day period) and I would not have been able to do it with any other tool.

I also cut the bottom out but only large enough to put the low wattage flicker light in since a live fire is out of the question.

If you have not tried the hot knife, I recommend it! You will be VERY happy you switched.

My avitar was one I carved with the hot knife on a medium sized foam pumpkin (fun-kin).

This one is with a bright white light so the detail is more pronounced.

This is the flicker light which makes it a little dimmer, but the detail looks better in person.

 

Hmmm...I never thought of using a hot blade. Could you break down the steps for me (us)?

 

TerraGenesis: Hot Wire Foam Factory 3-in-1 kit

Take a look here it kinda shows one variety of the a hot blade/knife.

Micheals sells them as well

 

Where can it be found at Michaels? What section?

 

At my Micheals store they are with the wood burning stuff

I did this one with a dremel tool

 

Creative Versa-Tool

I use this one I found in the scrapbooking section:
Creative Versa-Tool™ Points

I waited until they had a coupon and picked it up then. They also have one that is very similar but not the same brand name, still works just as well.

I also made a little dimmer switch/plug so I can vary the heat so it doesn't get as hot and is a little better for control. As for the fumes, it doesn't give off as much as you would think but I do recommend you have a ventilated area (I open a window in the room).

When I refer to it as a hot knife, it is the blade that I use for the tip. It is the same as an x-acto blade except it has a threaded end that you can change out for another tip and is heated.

 

That looks very nice and handy. I was thinking about getting a wood burning tool (to use on foam) so I could just get this instead. I DO have a 40% off coupon.