Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:47 am
#22317
I've also sanded down the line inside Michael's pumpkins with a paint stripper wheel (with a shaft extension) on a drill. I'll second what Doh just said. On a table, I hold the pumpkin on it's side with one hand, and operate the drill with the other.
If you were to drill with two hands, you might put too much pressure. I sand down the line little by little, and periodically light it up inside with a flashlight to check my work. As my barber likes to say, you can always take off more, but you can't put it back if you cut too much.
I try to focus mainly on the (inside of the) front carving face of the foam-kin. Since the back isn't usually the side that is viewed, it doesn't matter as much if you can see the dark line there. Although, if this is your first time using the paint stripper disc for this task, you might want to practice first on the (inside of the) back.
Also, be careful to not sand too much in the areas where the pumpkin skin has those vertical indented lines. If there's anywhere you're likely to go through, that would be it. You want a nice even glow in your pumpkin, not lit up crevices.
If you were to drill with two hands, you might put too much pressure. I sand down the line little by little, and periodically light it up inside with a flashlight to check my work. As my barber likes to say, you can always take off more, but you can't put it back if you cut too much.
I try to focus mainly on the (inside of the) front carving face of the foam-kin. Since the back isn't usually the side that is viewed, it doesn't matter as much if you can see the dark line there. Although, if this is your first time using the paint stripper disc for this task, you might want to practice first on the (inside of the) back.
Also, be careful to not sand too much in the areas where the pumpkin skin has those vertical indented lines. If there's anywhere you're likely to go through, that would be it. You want a nice even glow in your pumpkin, not lit up crevices.
I still have about 5 foamies so I'm going to try this out. Thanks for all the advice and thoughts. When it comes down to it, a lit crevice is probably preferable to a dark black line right in the middle of your carving. Still I'll exercise some finesse.