Reviews of specific carving products by those who've used them.
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By Kerianne19
#29789
Excellent. I will wait and order my stash in the next few days then. Thanks for the update Ryan!
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By Hottie McNaughty
#29800
Oooh, I'm glad I ordered my two rolls early....I *love* this stuff! The older I get the more I seem to suffer from 'cramped hand syndrome" from hole poking. :lol:
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By SuperSonic
#29888
Hottie McNaughty wrote:Oooh, I'm glad I ordered my two rolls early....I *love* this stuff! The older I get the more I seem to suffer from 'cramped hand syndrome" from hole poking. :lol:
To be perfectly honest here, I've never suffered cramping in my hands from poking (maybe a few lines missed here and there :P) but no cramped hands guess once again im lucky
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By Zombie Pumpkins!
#29889
Well you're also pretty young, SuperSonic. Stick around here enough years and I'm sure we'll hear about your aching back and creaking knees. ;)
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By Hottie McNaughty
#29890
I'm sure I tense up a bit while I'm working. I also have some nerve damage in my left hand from my dog attack last year so I'm sure that doesn't help.

I'm glad you don't have any cramping though....that's awesome!
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By SuperSonic
#29891
zombiepumpkins wrote:Well you're also pretty young, SuperSonic. Stick around here enough years and I'm sure we'll hear about your aching back and creaking knees. ;)
Well i already have a bad back now that you mention it.......

only from bending over due to picking up skids from my last job
#30954
I received my 2-roll shipment of Saral paper last week from Ryan's shop. (Thanks as always for the great shopping experience and speedy delivery Ryan!)

I tried it out last night on about 5 pumpkins and found it to be much easier than the old hole-poking excercise - so much so that I think I'll be adding a few more pumpkins this year (was going to do 12, maybe another 4 as a result of the time savings from the Saral paper!)

The lines were sharp, clear and didn't rub off with normal handling. Still a little uncertain about what to expect during the gutting phase next week - hoping that it doesn't wash off with guts flying all over the place thanks to my trusty pumpkin gutter.

Overall, the Saral paper is WELL worth it. The only issue I had (and I don't know if this is just the result of a poor pumpkin crop here in Ontario this year - much smaller than normal - you have to pay premium for the big-uns) was in affixing the pattern and saral paper to the pumpkin prior to tracing. In the hole poking days, I would normally score the edges of the pattern and then tape it to the pumpkin. I'm finding with the Saral paper, it's more difficult to avoid overlapping lines or folds - so it takes more trial and error than I would have expected. Thankfully, you can wipe the blue marks off, dry and start over.

But again, I don't know if the problem is that I'm using medium-sized pumpkins this year as compared to the giant ones I've used in the past that always had a larger, flatter surface to work on.

Anyway, the Saral paper is highly recommend - won't be poking EVER AGAIN. Thanks Ryan.
#30957
Steerboy wrote: Thankfully, you can wipe the blue marks off, dry and start over.
how do you wipe them off in case of mistakes? also is it advisable that I tranfer the patterns AFTER giving the 'kins a bath (you know, to 'wake' them up) as I thought someone said the tranfers were waterproof... thanks :)
By Steerboy
#30961
Paddy,

It's pretty easy to wipe it off if you make a mistake - just wipe it with a damp paper towel and the pattern will come off nice and clean! Make sure you throughly dry it before retracing the pattern though.

I gave my pumpkins a shower prior to applying the pattern to get the dirt off of them. Again, if you're going to wash them, make sure that your pumpkins are throughly dry before you apply the pattern. I'd recommend letting them air dry for a few hours first rather than drying them with a towel as the skin always tends to be moist following a towel-dry.

Water or dampness does not make for a good Saral paper experience. If you're keeping your pumpkins in a dark, cool place, I reccommend bringing them inside for a couple of hours to avoid condensation before you apply the pattern with the saral paper.

All the best!
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By paddy_babe
#30967
thanks steerboy! cant wait to try it out on my kins and will take your advice about the shower/bath and air drying (wouldnt have thought of that!) :D
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By Carving Queen
#32198
11 pumpkin patterns transfered! I still had a bit of hand cramping but not near as much as with the hole poking. I also had a couple issues with the overlapping when adjusting a pattern to fit but figured out how to get aound that. The lines are nice and bright, easy to follow the only thing I had problems with was the weird jiggly effect of the bright blue lines on the orange pumpkin..

I LOVE that the lines can be washed off as I made a serious placement error and had I done the poke method would have hated the carved result of a crooked pattern! Washed it all away and started again ... also to avoid waste, i pieced a bunch of the trimmings together to make a new pattern sized piece!
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By nosferatu
#32228
This stuff has been an absolute godsend. It works great and saves absolutely hours. I hope they give you a decent discount Ryan with all this promotion that the stuff is getting.

It works like a dream and I think saves hours
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By suzika
#32300
I am in love with the saral paper and I will never ever poke patterns again. Why did I not have this the last couple years when I developed the carpal tunnel?
By Ajax
#32335
Used some last night and it was awesome. Everyone was excited not to poke and everything went alot quicker. It was alot easier to see the lines of the patterns then using the dot method. I will never go back to poking :D .

One thing though be careful that you don't rub your arm against it or anything because you may rub off some of the blue lines. It's usually pretty easy to fix with a pen afterwards.

Now I can finally do the micheals pumpkin that has been sitting in my basement for three years. :twisted:
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By SaneInsideInsanity
#32583
Bought One Roll Managed to get all 25 Pumpkins stenciled out of it...with enough left over for another 2 I absolutatly Loved it And will never go Back keep this one Stocked Ryan :D
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