[mandiebaby]

I'm new to this site and forum, and need a little help. Preferably before my kids attack the pumpkins later today

My husband does fruit carving, and I've been doing some myself, so I figured that this site should give some fun and challenging patterns to try out on our pumpkins this year. Unfortunately, the standards for us have been set quite high because of the hubby's carving, so I know that I turned to the right place for wow factor carvings .

I know that there are those that shade, and those that don't....am I right in assuming that all of these patterns are the traditional cut and poke out? I have plenty of knives and tools here to do the carvings, but just wanted to know the best way to go about doing them. So really....to shave or not to shave? lol

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

[monstermash]

Hi mandiebaby. Its good to hear of some healthy competitoin in your household. I think i'm right in saying that ZP patterns are meant to be cut through but is suppose you might be able to shade them. There are lots of different threads on the forum about the bset way to apply patterns, cutting, preserving etc. Just have a look around, i'm sure you'll find it all useful. What patterns were you thinking of doing?

[mandiebaby]

My family went nuts on searching the patterns! lol

We have Dawn of the Dead, Gelatin Skeleton, Ghostface, Howl-O-Ween, Sandy Gauze, and Elmo (I have a three year old lol). If those all work, we're going to get adventurous and do the Phoenix Rebirth (I have a son named Phoenix...told me I HAD to do that one). I've carved some pretty tricky pumpkins in the past, but that one just seems beyond me right now.

We've got six pumpkins waiting, and will probably end up picking up more later this week. Normally we'd just do three or so, but we're having a party this year. Woot for cheap decorations!

But I certainly will read through the site. Thanks

[sloaner]

Hi mandiebaby and welcome to the fourm, I too live in the KW area but am fairly new around here, do you know of any pumpkin patches or should I just buy my pumpkins from the store?

[monstermash]

Gelatin skeleton, Howl-o-ween and Sandy Gauze are three of my favourite patterns. You have good taste. Ive yet to carve Pheonix, just go for it. What's the worst that could happen?...
I would say that the ZP pro carving tool does make carving a billion times easier ang the results are great. Its well worth getting one if you like carving lots of kins.

[mandiebaby]

Hi mandiebaby and welcome to the fourm, I too live in the KW area but am fairly new around here, do you know of any pumpkin patches or should I just buy my pumpkins from the store?

We bought the ones we carved tonight at the Great Canadian Super Store on Highland Road for $1.99..the selection isn't the greatest if you're looking for "the perfect pumpkin", but the kids had fun and we needed to practice. Usually we head out to Shantzholm Pumpkin Patch (http://www.shantzholmpumpkins.ca/Directions.php) which is just outside of town. The prices are decent, and you can get different coloured ones out there too (like white ones, green ones...) Great for the whole family too, which is the main reason why we head out there. But with the weather the way it has been, we opted for store bought.

There are a few more in the area, but that one is free to get in

[mandiebaby]

Gelatin skeleton, Howl-o-ween and Sandy Gauze are three of my favourite patterns. You have good taste. Ive yet to carve Pheonix, just go for it. What's the worst that could happen?...
I would say that the ZP pro carving tool does make carving a billion times easier ang the results are great. Its well worth getting one if you like carving lots of kins.

So far we've just done the skeleton, and actually, surprisingly, my seven year old did it....turned out pretty decent for his first time ever. I had to fix a few spots though lol

Hubby has to go get me a bigger pumpkin for the Phoenix. I told him it has to have a large flat area...so hopefully there is a nice big pumpkin waiting for me tomorrow when I get home from work lol

Hubby wants to get more tools, especially ones that will help with fruit carving. He does 3D fruit carvings, so he's hoping to do the same with pumpkins. I looked at the ZP tools online, and since my birthday just happens to be this month....

[sloaner]

Thanks for the help. I also just got a ZP pro tool and hope to use it in within the week. I have to carve all my foam pumpkins first.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Welcome mandiebaby! You sound passionate about your carving. Maybe it's the household competition that is driving you.

By the way, all the patterns on this site were designed with traditional cut-through and poke-out carving methods in mind. And although some of them might look challenging, I aim to make each pattern carvable for even beginners. Sure, some of the detailed designs DO take a little time and patience, but they're kinda hard to mess up.

And while I do not have any mutli-tone patterns for "shading," you can still do these patterns with a scrape-away technique, if you want. The glow from the candle inside won't show as bright, but the benefit of not cutting all the way through is that the pumpkin will last longer before shriveling and caving in.

[cuvers]

I do some thai fruit carving as well, and although I am still learning that technique, I have been doing pumpkins for more than 20 years, and the 2 techniques are completely different. the only "pumpkin carvings" similar to fruit/melon carving is when they sculpt them