Reviews of specific carving products by those who've used them.
User avatar
By St0ney
#48125
Agree GUS !!

This year is a Lost cause, all those kins are either being placed on the shelves now, or still in the Micheal's warehouses to go out to be placed on said shelves (or Bins) .

The Good point that was posted above, is they changed the paint this year, do to customer complaints, So at least we know they have open ears.
and will make changes based on customer un-satisfaction - LOL

If we want them to make any changes, we have to show the amount of carvers, that have Issue with this product.

All the extra foam they are adding inside the kin, can go in the box, for safer shipping. :lol:
By GUS
#48126
I'll have a little look around & perhaps ryan would be so kind to stick it up in a better, more concise manner..

So Alibaba "Halloween lights "

within 10 seconds...

Howler strobe..

http://uk.alibaba.com/product/467884899 ... Stock.html

Howler colour change.. 14 seconds into search

http://uk.alibaba.com/product/467884899 ... Stock.html


30 seconds into search...

Artificial foam pumpkin... get my drift!?
http://uk.alibaba.com/product/467884899 ... Stock.html

:wink:

Have a mooch around those "providers e-showroom & see whats what, I guess thats merely scratching the surface, within atre all the foam fruits one could ever wish to carve! :lol: ..thats a divorce just beckoning stoney, wonder what the wife would cite?
User avatar
By St0ney
#48127
I've actually been to that site in the past
Looking for an alternative to the Gemmy or Micheal's pumpkin.

I never seen anything that would work.
as far as Style or Size.

This site normally requires each order to be 1000 to 5000 pieces

I remember seeing one that looked cool, but was no where near 12" to 13"

Think it was this One. and I used Foam Craft Pumpkin in the search.



http://uk.alibaba.com/product/471838930 ... mpkin.html
By GUS
#48128
Did you look at the "howler lights"?? ..notice the HB brand logo on the rear as you scroll down the pictures? ..of course that doesn't mean theyre Howler production line, just an example, what you see isn't necessarily what you get.

but it's interesting to note.
Yes 1000 kins is alot. probably a 40 foot container.
User avatar
By snow2alike
#48182
Ok here is a pic of the NEW Michaels kin lit up with a battery
operated Ott light (very bright). You can see all the black lines
you would have to deal with if you were shading but if doing a
cut out pattern I'm wondering if all those lines would be very
distracting from the pattern ??? This view is the flat side that
you would usually carve on. The back is worse!

Image
By GUS
#48183
So all's well if you are doing carves of famous criminals (behind bars) ??

other than that, bit of a massive fail I guess.
top marks for getting the pic up so quickly.
User avatar
By Hottie McNaughty
#48184
Or if you're looking for a window pane effect....
User avatar
By St0ney
#48196
Man that's gonna be such a pain - worst yet !

I have a bunch of older foamies the ones with the one thick line.

I removed the lines from (5) of them today.
And my Arm was killing me after.

Using the drill and paint stripper wheel.

I can't Imagine how much trouble these are going to be.
Looking at this, I think it will cause Issue for both Shaded and Cut-Out.

Here's where I'm at:
I will try One - if it's way to much trouble to get it cleaned up.

I'll have to switch to funkins,
and raise the cost of my Custom Jobs to reflect the higher cost of the pumpkin.
By GUS
#48197
Stoney, Ryan, get onto the respective head offices of these outlets & also onto buyers departments (secondly) then let them know, they're dumb, alot of these are bought to light after all, ..dumb overpaid people.
User avatar
By St0ney
#48228
We really do need to get together on this.
And get them to fix it.

We need to fix the whole thing.
Not just the lines (even though that is the biggest Prob (this year).

More Carving Space - make em a little wider.
A more realistic Stem.
We can talk about the paint. (not sure if the new ones have the same tear or rip problem as last year.

Paint color, etc........

Lets "try" to get them to make the Ultimate foam carvable pumpkin.

As stated above, I'm sure this year is dead in the water.

So what I suggest is we hit this right after Halloween.

I consider Aug through Oct my crunch time,
With creating patterns and site tweaks.
And I'm sure Ryan's schedule is pretty much the same.

Come Nov let's all get together and get er done.
User avatar
By CorpseBride
#48362
I will definitely throw my 2 cents in when it comes to my opinion on the foam pumpkins and improvements I would like to see. Count me in!
User avatar
By Zombie Pumpkins!
#48389
I can see why companies would work this way... either repackaging their own product for more wholesale distribution opportunities... or quickly creating a nearly identical knockoff of a product by someone else. Inexpensive items for seasonal use must be big business. For them, it's about cheap mass production, wide distribution, and then... those products just disappear until the next year.

But personally, I don't relate to that business model. Even if Zombie Pumpkins got huge, I couldn't fathom being a faceless corporation that doesn't interact with it's customers, and just pushes out assembly line plastic junk. Interestingly enough, the products I sell that carry the ZP logo are all manufactured in America (even the blank shirts) and the majority of the assembly and packaging is done by me. Granted, my products have a much smaller scope, but I like offering a personal touch and quality product.

Anyway... the ribs in the Michael's kins seem to be there so they can ship them and avoid them getting crushed in transit. Does it really help that much though? I'd be curious to see what sort of engineering tests they do. Same idea with the stems. Not so realistic or pretty, but the round stumpy stems must make for tighter packing and safer shipping.

I don't care much about how or where the pumpkins are made, I just hope to find a source to speak to. The pumpkin community is large, and we only want the best. Let us be heard.
User avatar
By matspud
#48428
Maybe we could set up an online petition and get all the members from all the carving sites to sign it and then present it to Michaels. It could include suggestions for whet WE need from the product in an ideal world.
User avatar
By CorpseBride
#48452
matspud wrote:Maybe we could set up an online petition and get all the members from all the carving sites to sign it and then present it to Michaels. It could include suggestions for whet WE need from the product in an ideal world.
I like this idea!

Ryan: After your explanation regarding packing and shipping the pumpkins the structure of the kins makes more sense. And I am so glad to hear that mass production and a faceless company are not in the future for ZP. I would not have thought so beforehand, but its still good to hear. Cheers Ryan!
By GUS
#48480
Stoney needs to do a presentation witha comic book man graphic clearly expressing his sentiments as an e-petition!

"worst Pumpkin EV-ER"

....no i'm not joking, stoney, job for you to badger managers at the main selling outlets establish buyers names, or simply get to the reception of the ccompanies, then we can ring & complain objectively, for starters.