Sharing knowledge for the art of artificial craft pumpkins.
By reignman40
#7865
I just bought my first few Michael's pumpkins this year. I've never done a foam pumpkin before but have wanted to for years. I did read in another post that using an Xacto knife was the best option as far as carving. Now I'm just unsure how to handle cutting the top?

How do you guys handle that? I'm worried because of the thin walls that the top will just fall through completely after I carve it. Or do you carve out the bottom to put the light in?

Any help/tips for these is appreciated. I just don't want to ruin them. As I haven't gotten them in the past due to expense. =)

Curtis
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By Tkaraoke
#7867
I'd personally cut the bottom out for light placement. Funkins already have a hole cut into it for that but I've never seen the Michael's foam pumpkin.
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By 2manyferrets
#7875
Cut out the bottom to put the light in. I use a dremal to carve the pumpkin and to cut the bottom out. Works really well. I also cut out the bottom on real ones so the tops do not sink in.
By reignman40
#7876
OK so cut out the bottom. That seems like the thing to do.

Also how do you guys attach the patterns to these. I normally just use thumb tacks on the regular pumpkins and then poke holes for my cutting lines. Any advice?

Thanks,
Curtis
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By CorpseBride
#7877
I just use a simple steak knife. Works great, but just be careful! ha ha

As for carving I use an exacto knife...make sure you get extra blades so you can keep those pretty lines. Here are the ones I carved so far for this year...:D

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By 2manyferrets
#7878
Glue the pattern right on with elmers glue! :lol: Heres one I did awhile back...

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By CorpseBride
#7883
awww.....poor little guy....good job though!
By reignman40
#7885
How does it come off if you glue it on?
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By 2manyferrets
#7888
Soak it in hot water and it will peel right off. :lol:
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By gregh3196
#7892
There is also a tool you can get called a "versa tool" that heats up. Its got a bunch of different attachments and one is an x-acto knife. Cuts through the michaels pumpkins great and leaves very clean lines.
By filmczy
#7915
Hi,

I use the pumpkins from Michael's also and was wondering if anyone had a quick way of removing ball-point pen marks used for drawing the pattern. I've tried "Goo Gone" but it doesn't help. I'm giving a pumpkin as a gift and would like to clean it up a bit by removing the black outlines of the pen.

Thanks
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By CorpseBride
#7946
eek....ball point pen? Why did you use that? Hmmmm.....the only thing I can think of to remove it would be something like WD40....but then you might actually stain the foam of your pumpkin. I am going to keep thinking about this and get back to you....
By Calypsa304
#7953
filmczy wrote:I use the pumpkins from Michael's also and was wondering if anyone had a quick way of removing ball-point pen marks used for drawing the pattern. I've tried "Goo Gone" but it doesn't help.
You might want to try the Mr. Clean magic sponges. They pretty much work on anything, I wouldn't be surprised if it worked on the michael's pumpkin.
I hope it works!
By filmczy
#8137
Calypsa304 wrote:
filmczy wrote:I use the pumpkins from Michael's also and was wondering if anyone had a quick way of removing ball-point pen marks used for drawing the pattern. I've tried "Goo Gone" but it doesn't help.
You might want to try the Mr. Clean magic sponges. They pretty much work on anything, I wouldn't be surprised if it worked on the michael's pumpkin.
I hope it works!
Thanks for the tips so far about removing the ball-point pen marks on my pumpkin. The Mr. Clean sponge did not work. I have not tried the WD-40 yet. I should clarify the pen markings are not very predominate--just a few stray marks around the borders of some lettering I have carved. I would almost need something to put on a Q-tip since the area around the lettering is fragile. I can't really "scrub" around these delicate parts.