[Bug Bite]

Hey guys. New user. I got into carving last year and only just found ZP the week before Halloween. Better late than never though. Here are my efforts for this year. I need to get better at photography but I’m pretty pleased with most of them.
















These next coupleare my first attempts at foam pumpkins. Hand carved until I get my 1/32 bits delivered. I’ve no experience with a Dremel so I’m a little nervous but anxious to try.



Thanks to Ryan for the best cut-out patterns ever and to all the minions. I’ve consulted this board quite a bit the last ten days and there’s a wealth of knowledge here.

[shaft28]

Great job on those carves!

[Bug Bite]

Great job on those carves!

Thanks very much!

[monstermash]

That's an impressive amount of carves Bug Bite. Welcome to ZP, it's good to have you around.

[mesmark]

Welcome to the forums. New to the boards, but not new to carving I see.

Excellent job and quite a group. Did you do all of those in one shot? Do you put them out for trick-or-treaters?

[Bug Bite]

Thanks guys. These were carved over several weeks and I did have quite a few displayed on Halloween but we didn’t see hardly any trick or treaters. A lot of these were passed out to friends and coworkers too.

I’ve been working on foamies a lot the last week and I just cannot get the hang of the Dremel. I carved these by hand with my trusty carving knife and filed down the rough edges. I liked Pennywise so much i carved him again onto a foamie.

[Pumpken]

Excellent job on the reals and the foams. Do you have a flex shaft for your dremel? That is much easier to use than the dremel itself.

[Bug Bite]

Excellent job on the reals and the foams. Do you have a flex shaft for your dremel? That is much easier to use than the dremel itself.

Thanks. I do have a flex shaft. I think my issue is just general inexperience with the tool. I’m not sure what speed I should be working on for example. If I had more foamies to experiment with I absolutely would. My supplies are limited so I’m doing the old fashioned way just to guarantee results I’m (mostly) happy with.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

You sure know how to make an entrance, Bug Bite! I always like to hear about people who carve over several weeks. Jack o' lanterns don't need to be displayed only on Halloween. Keep them rolling all season long, I say.

You only got into carving last year? Could have fooled me. You've been bitten by the bug, that much is clear. You have a passion for the pumpkins. You're certainly welcome here!

Quite a variety of designs (even Christmas ones). How do you decide which ones you want to carve? Personal favorite characters? Designs that just look cool? Designs that you know friends and coworkers will like, so you can gift to them?

Your collection of foamies is quickly exploding too. I don't carve too many of them, and I don't use a Dremel (for me its just an issue of not having a good workplace that I can generate a lot of foam dust). I carve the Michaels pumpkins with an electric heat knife and I carve Funkins with my Pro Carving Tool saw. With Funkins especially, I find that a simple nail file can work wonders to smooth all the edges. That's a big benefit of that type of harder foam, it sands/files nicely.

[Bug Bite]

Thanks, Ryan! You guessed correctly. Many of those are personal favorites and several others were by request of family and coworkers.

I also carve my foamies exactly as you do. Michaels and the sort you find at Target, Lowes, Walmart etc. I’ve started working on with my new Versatool. The Fun-Kins I use my carving knife which is very similar to the ZP pro and a good old Revlon nail file.

I have actually added a few since my last post and have a few more to go. I’m so glad to have discovered your work. It seems like you have all my favorites covered and as much as I admire shaded pumpkins, I just can’t help but love a cutout design more.

[amandap80]

Wow, great carves! I have a special pumpkin dremel, have never taken it out of the box. It is a marvel to me how people use them. Your foam carving method looks great!