Power tools + pumpkins = very happy me.

[oddharmonic]

My dad picked up a Dremel-style tool marketed for pumpkin carving because it made him think of me.

This is a huge breakthrough in the world of strange things I do to squash.

I didn't do any pumpkins last year with my new-to-me Xacto carving set, so everything I have online was done with a couple paring knives and a darning needle. No, I'm not

Comments

[rosedoe]

I think you are crazy and amazing for getting that all done with just a couple of paring knives and a darning needle. I've got those kits that you buy and it comes with a couple of knives and some patterns plus a hole puncher thingie http://www.spirithalloween.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.detail/categoryID/0F026317-6363-4A9A-8E40-A52AF2B392B6/productID/B5303A5A-BF9E-42ED-8E9B-24A4C4845DFA/?osadcampaign=froogle&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=Froogle it's a pain in the butt

[oddharmonic]

Pumpkin Masters kits are fun, though I switched to a darning needle because it made more precise holes for me than their pattern piercing tool.

I really like that wolf pumpkin you did!

I'm looking at doing the Pirate Skull from Pumpkin Masters' freebie patterns for my next Cub Scout pack meeting. The October program theme is Shipbuilders so I think it's fitting.

[rosedoe]

Oh he's cool! I started using tooth picks when I needed to do something more detailed. I think I'm going to do something easy this year like triangles for eyes! lol It'll never happen. I like the compliments too much.

[ronimaymac]

WOW - I'm excited to see what comes this Halloween!!!

[oddharmonic]

I usually try to stick to a theme for each year. This year I'll be doing my pumpkin carving on a campout, so I'm considering easy-to-carve anime characters like Totoro and Calcifer, the fire spirit from Howl's Moving Castle, which Laurel wants.

I owe her another request because the last one I did for her was Little Mikey (Mike's stuffed monster in Monsters Inc.) in 2002 and I don't think I have a photo of that online.

[blimey85]

I so wish I was an artist. My pumpkins always look like crap. I'm very impressed with what you did. Maybe I'll try something more creative this year. I never considered trying a carving without going all the way through... that looks really slick. You are so crafty!

[oddharmonic]

I'm not an artist when it comes to pumpkins. All the patterns I carved were transferred to the pumpkin from a coloring page or similar graphic, like a photocopied image with the major outlines traced over in marker, with a piercing tool.

The idea of not carving all the way through I picked up from a 1970s book on food carving I found at a yard sale. I should scan some of the photos out of it sometime because it went way beyond the radish roses and carrot shapes I knew how to carve before reading the book.

[blimey85]

Speaking of food carving, this is unrelated to pumpkins but still pretty damn cool: http://www.instructables.com/id/EL3L03V8OGEP286PNI/?ALLSTEPS

I bet you could rig something like this to do precision carving in pumpkins.

[may_lyn]

i know you didn't need me to tell you this, but damn, woman, you are talented!

btw, that container filled with apple sauce in my picture post? a pressie from you, makes me smile widely every time i see it! *hugs*

[oddharmonic]

This is stress relief for me. Carving doesn't have the hypnotic hum of the sewing machine, but getting to stick a flashlight in the pumpkin regularly to check on my progress is lots of fun.

I have the container's bigger sibling! It holds Laurel's Zoo Pals Funtensils so I get two reasons to smile while plating her breakfast in the morning. (:

[may_lyn]

those are so cute!!!

once in a while i'll run across one of the little things the kids used to eat out of, and it's so sweet...the tiny big bird bowl, etc.

i have a secret, killi keeps trying to steal that smiley face container. yeah! anytime i tell her to grab a bowl with a lid and take some food, she always goes for that one. no, darling girl, mommie deserves some good stuff too. then i usually remind her she's a married woman and can afford her own stuff! hehe.

[digitalusrex]

ah, god bless pumpkin-carving technology! i saw a REALLY nice set of tools yesterday. i also saw a small electric pumpkin saw. wow.

[oddharmonic]

I'm a fan of the Pumpkin Masters tools because their pumpkin scoop makes cleaning out the pumpkin SO much easier.

Last year I acquired an Xacto carving set (about $15 in craft and hobby stores) but didn't carve a pumpkin. This year I'm armed to the teeth and ready to go!