[cuvers]

hi everyone,

I have been carving for years and with trial and error over the years i finally came up with what works best for me. we usually do a large display which means doing 15-20 pumpkins, needless to say you cannot do live ones to far ahead as they start to go bad, I always hated poking the patterns on, very time consuming, hands start cramping after a while, and with more intricate patterns it is hard to follow anyways.

So I staple my pattern onto a piece of carbon paper, tape it to my kin, and go over it with a ballpoint pen, works great! and you can see your pattern perfectly, and can also put your patterns on well in advance, i get my pumpkins early Oct and put a few patterns on each night while watching TV or whatever, then 2 days b4 Halloween scoop em' n' carve em', and you can do several patterns with 1 sheet of carbon paper.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Good tip, cuvers. Certainly doing that sort of transfer method is the way to go if you have to prepare a large number of pumpkins in advance for a mass carving.

Have you tried "transfer paper"? Works like carbon paper, used for all sorts of crafts from metal, glass, fabric, etc. I mention this on the transferring section of my newly revamped Terrifying Tips page.

[GUS]

transfer paper, for the shop?

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Hmm... GUS, you're always the business minded chap, aren't ya?

[Kittie]

I have to ask, does it stand up when it gets wet? Does it not wipe right off the pumpkin when it starts to get wet on the face? This would be a wonderful idea and tool for me if this works as good as you say. I might have to try it this year.

Where can I buy this stuff?

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

You should be able to find transfer paper at just about any arts and crafts store. I'm not even going to mention Michaels though, because I know you don't have near you, Kittie. Oops, I just mentioned it.

You can always order online too. Doing so will let you have your pick of brand. And they also come in many colors.

I do believe the transferred lines can smudge off, especially if juice from the pumpkin gets on the surface. Whether I'm using the poke method or the transfer paper, I usually outline all my lines with a fine point Sharpie marker before I start carving.

These dark lines are especially helpful for vampires like myself that are often carving in low light. Although, understandably not so practical for mass production, as it requires you to trace every pattern... twice.

[GUS]

Hmm... GUS, you're always the business minded chap, aren't ya?

Me? Naah, just your average scottish Jewish boy (doubly blessed in the art of thrift)

Also if it's small it doesn't take up too much room to store, pack or post, alllowing more stock variety & less obscure packaging jiffy bags...

(quite chuffed actually our new 4 month old account with a large international firm, wer'e 3rd largest account already for the older sales rep in our 1/4 country region hope that makes sense)
...In the words of the "great" WHAM ..."young guns...go for it"
..going head to head with the big boys (& our website cost us $4 from a garage sale! ..not even up yet!
Watch out Gates!

[cuvers]

I have heard alot of folks talk about transfer paper, and wherever I have gone to look for it they have no idea what I am talking about, also i have no clue how much it costs, as for carbon paper you get several sheets in a package, and get it from any office supply place ie. staples, office max etc. also I have never had any trouble of it "washing" off as it gets wet, if on some occasions when i have a pattern that did not come out as clear as I would have liked I go over it with a sharpie, when you are through carving if I have any black lines visable I wipe them off with a cotton ball and some nail polish remover

[Patti]

We use transfer paper and always go over the design again with sharpie marker. It really doesn't take that long and the sharpie won't come off during the washing/mucking process.

Since we generally carve around 100 pumpkins we need all the lead time we can get.

[Kittie]

What type of transfer paper do you use, and where do you get it from? I think I am going to try that this year. This way I can do my patterns a bit ahead of time.

[sodajazz]

Saral transfer paper works best visit here for a free sample. Try before you buy