[cyberdman]

I swear by the Michael's brand 'kins. The difference between Funkins and Michael's brand is huge.

Funkins are a type of puffed foam that is blow molded into the mold and then they put a fake plastic bottom on and paint the whole thing. What this means is the interior wall thicknesses are uneven, some areas are thin and others in the same pumpkin are extremely thick. The paint tends to want to peel off of them sometimes.

Michael's brand 'kins are die molded. Each half of the 'kins has an outer and inner die cavity so they can control exactly how much material is used and the result is that the walls are always uniformly thick and are quite thin to start out with. Then they glue the two halves together and tape the seam. Then they are painted. I am not sure how they paint them, they must paint them while they are still hot because it is fused to the kin very well and doesn't flake off. The end result is that the 'kin is made of a compressed very dense foam with a uniform wall thickness that is easy to carve.

Also if you are into shaded-type carvings, because of the uniform wall thicknesses and that the walls are fairly thin to begin with you will also want to use Michael's 'kins for those too.

Hope that helps everyone.

[Nightwatchman]

With the Michaels pumpkins you need to remove the "black line". There is a support rib of thicker foam that runs around the circumference of the pumpkin. This needs to be thinned down to the thickness of the pumpkin, if not it will appear as a dark line across the pumpkin.

[cyberdman]

The black line really only comes into play when shading. I have several cut-throughs where the black line is insignificant to non-present due to the nature of the patterns. As a rule of thumb I ony remove the black-line on something I am going to shade. Unless the black-line is going to be present in your carving area I say leave it be. Also the only ribs that matter are the ones on the 2 largest type of Michael's pumpkins. The smaller sizes either have no ribs or very small ones that do not even show.

[Nightwatchman]

I agree Cyber, I should have stated that I only remove the black line in shaded pumpkins.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Hey guys, what is your method for removing that black line on the Michael's pumpkins. And what tool do you recommend for carving through foam? I've seen someone carve a Michael's pumpkin with a PM saw, and it seem to create a rough, "crumbly" edge. Maybe a sharp blade like an Xacto is the way to go.

So far I've only done Funkins myself. The first Funkin I did a couple years ago, and they must have used a different type of paint or production method on that one. There was no paint chipping. But the next one I did last year, and that did have some paint chipping.

Seems like there's some variation in the Funkin quality depending on where you get them. Has anyone else noticed this? I bought a couple Funkins from a JoAnn store (I think it was) and while they had the Funkin logo on the tag, the seemed to be different from the ones I had ordered online.

If you want an easy carve with consistent wall thickness, I agree that Michael's pumpkins give you that. But just to play devils advocate a bit, I think one of the selling points of Funkins (for some people) is that the wall is thicker and not entirely even, which makes it look more like a real pumpkin would.

[cyberdman]

X-Acto blades are a must for carve-through patterns with the Michael's pumpkin. I know exactly what you are talking about with the saws and those pumpkins. They leave crumbly foam edge pieces hanging. Use sharp knives like x-actos.

[Nightwatchman]

The saws that are sold for carving foam pupkins leave a much neater edge than the standard PM saws, but X-Acto blades leave a crisp edge on carve thru patterns.

I use a 3M paint stripper wheel and a drill extension rod in my drill to sand down the black line in Michaels pumpkins. You need to be careful not to sand the line to deeply or you could end up with a light line.

[gregh3196]

I bought my first foam pumpkin today from michaels. Im going to carve it tomorrow. Ive got my saw, x-acto knife and a few others to try. Got a lot of good advice from this thread but i am a strong real pumpkin fan so hope it goes well.

[pumpkinhead232]

i deal with funkins alot some of the funkins are thick to thin and the paint flakes off they are getting better there having problems with the product in china. when the were made here they were thick but more expensive . michels pumpkins are nice but there also thinner to carve with just did a carving yesterday for someonw birthday unles the made them more thicker . they are cheeper then funkins . i use funkins carving tools to carve the pumpkins

[Nightwatchman]

I carved 15 Funkins last year and the paint tended to flake off on some pumpkin sizes more than others.

[Tkaraoke]

I never had problems with flaking paint but my problem was that the foam "dust" caused by carving made me sick to my stomach. After I figured out that was the cause I carved my next Funkin outdoors and I didn't have any problems.

[Steve-o]

I bought one of each pumpking this year and I'm anxious to see the results. The clerk at Michael's said they use a wood burning tool with the Xacto blade attachment for their carvings. I found the kit she was talking about and it was $30 so I didn't buy it

I found my Funkin at Goodwill of all places.

[Nightwatchman]

Cyberdman, do you use any thing other than X-Acto blades to carve your Michaels pumpkins? I have used Foam pumpkin saws and then cleaned up the edges with X-Acto blades. Your carvings are always so crisp and clean, I was wondering what your technique is.

Nightwatchman

[cyberdman]

Just very sharp X-Acto blades in varying shapes and sizes and that is it. The sharper the better.

[Nightwatchman]

Great, thanks for the info.