Chelsey's 2011 season

[Nevermore]

Higgy's right
Shoulda mentioned it...I use it and basically keep it permanently attached...teeheeheehee

[The Pumpkin Wizard]

On the Flex Shaft! It makes a HUGE difference when you're carving without the weight and the heat of the Dremmel in your hands.

If Santa REALLY loves you, he should bring you one...

[CraSYDiamond]

Well, now I want one with a flex shaft too. Please Santa, I've been really good this year.

[Noel]

Really looking forward to seeing the final carve of the whale

[Chelsey]

Nothing has gone right with this pumpkin. I got a ton of it carved, lit it up, and then found out that I didn't shave deep enough, so I've started deepening and recarving sections Here's the bottom corner, which has been recarved:

[fewsbox2]

WOW, i applaud you for tackling this carve. My wife is a professional manicurist. I have the pleasure of getting her old nail drills as she is constantly upgrading. I am currently using a KUPA KP-2500. This is a fairly pricey drill, but would highly recommend this for carving the fake kins. Quiet as could be, multi directional, This has been a God send! There are several models under $100. Quite a few on ebay. Have a look. Oh, & they never get hot!!!

[Nevermore]

I think it's great!...
I always work with light in the pumpkin to ensure the carves are
deep enough or not too deep...sometimes nothing I do can seem
to make it right.

I think your kin is coming along..sometimes masterpieces take a
bit more time than others. Your end result will be as fabulous as
your other carves

[Jamie]

I agree with Nevermore! Keep at it and in the end you will have a masterpiece! I've never attempted to carve anything that hard!

[Higgy]

I do too, I actually have my light on a small base with a long piece of velcro on each side and then run them up the sides and connect real tight so I can flip my kin in whatever direction and the light stays in place, its actually an old lamp with the stand removed so I can use regular light bulbs, I also have a dimmer switch connected so I can adjust the light along with translucent paper (just because Nev was right about translucent paper) and get pretty much perfect pictures every time

Now that I typed that out and re-read it, it seems kinda confusing, i'll take a picture of my entire contraption so you get a better idea of what I use.

[Kamose]

Nothing has gone right with this pumpkin. I got a ton of it carved, lit it up, and then found out that I didn't shave deep enough, so I've started deepening and recarving sections

What are you using for lighting? Maybe a brighter light source would do the trick.

[Chelsey]

What I usually do is just carve the whole pumpkin and then light it up temporarily using a flashlight. I haven't tried it, but it seems like carving with a light could become a big mess, especially with all the dust + lightbulb and the fact that I'd probably end up touching the lightbulb somehow and burn myself. With this pumpkin I carved a bunch of it, then tried the flashlight trick, and you couldn't even see where I carved. So, I tried a 40 watt bulb on a dimmer...the bulb had to be completely on (brightest) for me to see anything, but even then I couldn't see much detail. I deepened my carving and tried again, and it seems to work better. This giant funkin has to be twice the thickness of a normal funkin...in places I'm sure it's >1" thick...

[Jamie]

I carve with a light inside too, there is just no way of knowing if enough light is coming through if you don't do that. Did you shave some of the inside of the pumpkin down? (also use a light for that part! yes it can get in the way on occasion, but better than getting too thin in some parts) Shaving the inside saves you from having to go so deep from the outside. If you haven't done this and try, be very very careful of your design now that you have gotten started, you don't want to knock anything off.

[Nevermore]

If you scroll down this page, you will see that for Michael's kins
I set up the light even before doing anything else.
Lights

However, for real kins, I also use a very strong flashlight or a trilight on highest setting
to ensure shade. Of course, the tri-light does not stay on all the time..I do have to keep
turning it on and checking it out.

[annette]

I use a work light with a chandelier bulb in it. I leave it in and lit all the time I'm carving so I can see exactly what I'm doing. Even then I usually still have to thin it out a bit more from the inside once it's finished and I've got a candle in it.

[Scubee]

The large pattern is coming along nicely. Can't wait to see the finished product.