A pocket knife works good too since you can really get a feel for how much your scraping off. But I bought some clay carving tools from Michaels and they work great too.
Punk'n'Queen wrote:Has anyone done shading on a fake pumpkin? There are only two small areas I would need to use the shading technique with the pattern I want to use ….do you think it would work? I have the Michaels type.
Yes you can shade on a fake pumpkin. Heres a few I did on Michales brand pumpkins...
and my ferret, Charmin....
Jack-o-Lantern- Speedballs are excellent for shading!!!!
here are some funkins using shading. I used a dremel with a 104, 105, and 106 bits for the shading and 1/32 bit for the cut outs. the down side to shading is the time it takes compared to a full cut out pattern. the average time for the two i have carved this year is about 4 hours a pumpkin.
I like to do both "old school" carve-through only patterns, AND shaded patterns. I typically photoshop a photo of my daughter every year and do a shaded pattern of her. The pics will make a nice keepsake for her as she gets older.
I've used the Pumpkin Masters kit and while it gets the job done, if you decide you want to use this technique with any regularity, I recommend getting some clay sculpting tools and possibly some wood carving tools. The steel tools allow much easier and more precise carving IMO.