My Halloween Pumpkins from 2008 and previous years (Dial-Up warning) . . .

[HughBeaumont]

Joker


Hand with Reflecting Sphere


Clockwork Orange old (done in 2005) vs new (2008)


Two-Face


Display detail, 10/30 (Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth, Two Face, Clockwork Orange; Top: Hand with Reflecting Sphere, Joker)


Display detail, 10/30. First one is the Disco Volante album cover.


Display 2, 10/31 (Chuck and his dog, Calvin & Hobbes, Yoda, Dick Cheney, Peter Parker)


Display 2, 10/31 (Dick Cheney, Peter Parker, Robert Englund, Michael Myers, Linda Blair, Edward Scissorhands, Henry Paulson)


Display 2, 10/31 (Guy in a ball, Mary Kate Olsen, Jesse Helms, Mr Bungle art, Jean Schmidt)


Display 2, 10/31 (Caligula, Black Sabbath, Faye Dunaway, Bruce Campbell)


Display 2, 10/31 (Ash, Burning River Rollergirls logo, some chick who just got pig's blood dumped on her and is about to lay waste to her senior class)

[Orrex]

1. This year I outdid myself, pumpkin-wise

I managed to carve three triangles and a jagged crescent. Spooky!

How in the world did you carve those things? And why do I suddenly hate you so much?

[HughBeaumont]

4. They're all Michaels craft pumpkins,

. .. which I can carve and save year after year.

The patterns can come from either internet photos, video captures, T-shirts or movie boxes. I merely greyscale, posterize and reverse the image and print the resulting pattern on a full clear sheet label. Then I take the label, cut it in sections to avoid distortion (remember that it's not a flat surface I'm working with), cut where the shadows and different layers of greyscale show up and leave the skin on where there's white.

I mostly use the Dremel hand tool with 1/32, 3/64 and 1/16 bits. I also use an Xacto knife, sandpaper, scrapers of various elements and a hand-held scoring tool from a carving kit I bought at the drugstore.

[Orrex]

6. Your use of artificial pumpkins offends my sense of tradition, but...

I can't deny that the results are very impressive. I particularly liked the ones for Carrie and A Clockwork Orange.

[HughBeaumont]

7. Oh, I was the same way at one point . . .

. . . I used to hate fake pumpkins, because I thought that the detail you get with a real pumpkin couldn't be done on one.

But after I carved Yoda on a real one, and then had to throw it out once it rotted, I'm thinking "What a waste." So I started on the Michael's.

It sucked at first, but once you get better control, you can do some amazing stuff with them . . .

[Duncan Grant]

2. Great results -- they're very impressive.

I hope you're a member of an elite pumpkin carving club, that's a lot of work for one person! I'd love to hear how you did it (without giving away any hard earned secrets) and how long it took for an average pumpkin -- start to finish.

If I had to replicate your results, I think I'd choose a dremel and a few surgical instruments. :thumbsup:

[HughBeaumont]

5. You're right about the Dremel . ..

Dremels are great for Michaels craft pumpkins such as these. Not so good for real pumpkins, as you'll be left with a gooey mess. The smaller the bit, the more detail it gives.

These pumpkins can take anywhere from 4 to 50 total hours to carve, so I do it over a number of days starting in late September. Some of these are from 2005 on.

The method is explained above, but there are other things I do to give them a warm effect, so they're not so eye-smacking bright.

[6000eliot]

3. The Escher one is way cool.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. Dude!! woah...

:wow::yourock::wow: