[Ajax]

Last years kins

Gutted and carved( not lit would dry them up. No other intervention except may Saran Wrap. They looked as good as my new kins. I do leave them a little thick though.

Friday Oct 29th 9pm 2010



Sunday Oct 31st 2010

[Ajax]

Just a heads up my transferring in advance went awesome. First I used saral paper then went inside the lines with a marker. (click pictures)







I transferred this over a week in advance took me 30-45 min. Also I gutted most of my kins friday and they all lasted until monday no problem. Just don't light them with a candle in advance it dries them out. I did spray them with water in a spray can just to keep them damp. By the way those patterns are printed size it's a big pumpkin 44lbs.



Over 20 patterns transferred in advance saved many many hours of time on the precious weekend before halloween where every second counts.

[CorpseBride]

I transferred my patterns in advance this year too (for the first time). I must say this is definitely my new method! It was nice to just grab a kin and sit on the couch and watch a flick while I put the pattern on. No setup no mess. Then when carving day came I could just churn them out like a machine. No messing with stencils (and getting the darn paper wet). It really made this year much smoother.

Plus I only had to bathe my kins once this year to freshen them up! Last year I had to do it way more often as I started carving earlier due to having to transfer each one before I carved it. Love this method.

P.S - Love Rick and Bicycle Girl on the same kin. Terrific!!

[ghostface]

Great job transfering Ajax!

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

As we all strive to make our Halloween displays bigger and better, I think we're all learning the value of planning ahead. Looks like transferring in advance is the smart way to get a lot of pumpkin done by Halloween.

I didn't get a chance to transfer ahead of time, but at least I had the Saral transfer paper, so things were still pretty speedy. The idea of doing 10 or 20 pumpkins, all right before Halloween, with only the hole-poke method? Makes me hand cramp up, just to think about it.

[Ajax]

Without Saral paper i'd still probably be a one or two pumpkin a year carver. It just isn't as much fun or as practical. You couldn't transfer in advance really because your breaking the pumpkins skin so it would probably wrought and it's harder to see. I also find myself going over the saral paper with marker even after the pumpkin is gutted it saves you from accidentally rubbing it off with your elbow or hand. Granted it's an extra step it has worked out very well for me. I already ordered my Saral paper for next year from Blick and even ordered some white paper to try with Green Pumpkins because It's sometimes hard to see the pattern. I actually made a mistake on my Frankie Stein because I couldn't see the blue transfer paper on green pumpkin and i missed a piece of her hair .

[St0ney]

Without Saral paper i'd still probably be a one or two pumpkin a year carver. It just isn't as much fun or as practical.

For Cut-Out Patterns, if you try the sticker paper Technique, you wont have to transfer in advance at all.

Just Print the pattern out on full sheet sticker paper, Slap it (ok Place it gently) on the Pumpkin, and carve right through the paper.

You will want to use a Carving Saw with small teeth.

You can get 100 sheets for $10.95 + Shipping - Link in Below thread.

There's a thread here : http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/forum/vie ... f=2&t=3588

TIP: Like ALL Printed Patterns, if you put a few drops of water on the pattern, it will form to the pumpkin much better.
Let dry before carving, it's only a few drops to make it damp, so it will dry in just a few minutes.

I do that with the sticker paper also.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

For Cut-Out Patterns, if you try the sticker paper Technique, you wont have to transfer in advance at all.

But you will have the added resistance of cutting through paper, and then having to remove all the sticker paper afterwards, possibly with water... right? Haha, not trying to argue with you on this point again. Obviously there are pros and cons to every method. And that's the beauty of a forum like this, we can all offer tips on the various methods we recommend. While Saral transfer paper is still my preference, I'd like to point out that I no longer sell it from my shop, so I have no financial motives here. Transfer however works best for you.

[Nightwatchman]

I have tried both the glue method and sticker paper and I still prefer to use Saral transfer paper. Some of the patterns that I carve have a lot of small cuts that are close to each other, when the paper gets wet when carving the integrity of the paper can degrade making it hard to see the lines. I have also reduced the number of pumpkins that I carve to 8 - 10 so transfering the patterns doesn't consume a great amount of time. I just picked up two rolls of blue paper from Blick so I am ready to carve.

[Raven]

This reminds me, I need to buy more Saral paper. Saral paper has probably been the greatest thing I have learned about on this forum. I was a hole poker before that.

[S.A.M]

Right I'm gonna try Saral paper as I'm thinking of shaking up the way I carve my pumpkins this year. I usually start gutting and carving on the 28th and aim to get at least three done each day; gut three, stick on the patterns wait for it to dry and carve.

I'm used to sticking the pattern straight to the pumpkin with PVA (white glue) and carving straight through, that's how I've carved all my pumpkins since abandoning the hole poke method. Last year I got a bit fed up with the patterns lifting and turning to mush, there were a few close calls almost ruining the carving and I must have taken longer to carve whilst trying to keep the pattern held down.

So what do you trace around the pattern with, just a regular ballpoint pen? What do you stick the pattern down with, sellotape (scotch tape)?

Thinking of a new plan; 27-28th gutting and transferring, 29-30th carving but I don't know about the time frames I've thrown an extra day in there but I'm concerned about transferring taking longer and not carving as I go along. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I can see me taking forever to trace around the patterns Trying a new plan is scary

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

So what do you trace around the pattern with, just a regular ballpoint pen?

I like ballpoint pen. Or a pencil. Something in a color other than black can help, so you can clearly see where you've traced and where you haven't.

What do you stick the pattern down with, sellotape (scotch tape)?

In my above photo, you see I am just using scotch/sello tape. Or you could use masking tape. Or any tape really. Maybe not duct tape, too strong and gummy.



I go a bit crazy with the tape at times. Whatever you feel will hold the pattern in place. And it's helpful to not tape over the lines of the pattern, so you can trace over it easier.

[nosferatu]

I love that orange tape. I've got to get some of that.

[zombombie]

I want that orange tape! I use masking tape to keep the pattern in place and a red pen to go over the lines - like ZP! said, it's then easier to see where you've already drawn.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

That orange tape is actually a "painters tape" (peels off easily when done) which is typically colored blue, but I ordered some special rolls in orange. And the company was nice enough to send me a few extra rolls for free. I think because they know how much the color orange means to me.