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Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:33 pm
by NeverMore

Anyone ever try sculpting a pumpkin? I say I'm gonna try it every year but I'm always short on time and never do.

Pumpkin Masters has a new product this year that may help. While technically it's not sculpting, it does give the appearance. Looks like it's going to be available this year at Spirit. I gather from reading the description that the etched pumpkins will last longer than carved ones. I'll definitely give it a try seeing as how I should have plenty of pumpkins in case I mess up.


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http://www.spirithalloween.com/product/sb-etching-kit/

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:28 pm
by Pumpkin56
I gave it a try last year on a few artificial pumpkins. It's a little tricky to get right. I think clay sculpting tools would work better than what Pumpkin Masters is offering here. I would also recommend a Dremel, but seeing as you're going to be up to your neck in real pumpkins, you may want to just stick with the clay sculpting stuff--far less messy 8)

I think Jade has done the sculpting bit before. Seems like I recall seeing some pics that she posted a year or two back...

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:19 pm
by NeverMore

Actually, this looks more like a peeling kit, but that should be a decent introduction to sculpting.

As far as having a lot of pumpkins go, looks like I'm gonna end up with 12 or 13. I bought twice as many last year. I'm gonna have to give a couple to the neighbor kids because they did so much oohing and awwing over watching them grow. This all assumes the pumpkins won't rot before the end of October. If I grow some again next year I'm gonna start two months later.

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:14 pm
by jadewik
That kit actually looks like a good, budget starter kit. Pumpkin Masters actually had a "sculpting kit" out a couple years ago. The problem was the tools were plastic. It was a great kit for carving, but the plastic broke.... you can kinda see the pattern in the back left of this photo of my Pumpkin Masters carving books (Below):

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I use wood gouges to sculpt, but clay tools would work just as well (maybe better). I don't recommend a Dremel-- I have one. It's really great for detail work, but it's messy as hell. If you go that route, I'd wrap your dremel in plastic (leaving just the tip exposed) so you can clean it faster when you're done. Then, when you're carving, make sure you wear an apron and go outside to carve.

Here are the tools I use to sculpt:
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Here are the tips to those tools:
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My Dremel and some saw I've never used:
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My other carving tools-- the black tools (bottom) are the old Pumpkin Masters sculpting tools that I still have:
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I think I'm limited to 5 pics per post, so I'll get to some sculpting in a follow-up post.

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:24 pm
by jadewik
When I say wrap your dremel... here's an example of what I mean. =)

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This is, to date, the only pumpkin I've ever used the dremel on-- and it was just used for the detail work. I think if I'd had a larger variety of tips it might be more useful, but it's still pretty darned messy... which is normally why I don't use it. I used my old Pumpkin Masters sculpting kit for the majority of the sculpting.

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Since I was a noob and didn't have the right tools, this took me quite a long time-- just used Pumpkin Masters sculpting kit:

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This is the first pumpkin I ever sculpted-- took me FOREVER. Again, because I didn't have very good tools. You really want a tool that will take a lot of "meat" off the pumpkin:
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Another one-- this took less time because I had the wood gouges:
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My advice if you sculpt-- have a photograph or some sort of reference to look at as you carve. 3D carving/sculpting isn't like setting a pattern on the pumpkin and marking where everything goes. You really have to "wing it"... so that's where a reference photo comes in handy... because once your initial lines get carved off, you're on your own. =)

... and just because you're sculpting doesn't mean you can't throw in some traditional carving as well. =)

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:08 pm
by NeverMore

Nice tutorial. That will come in handy.

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:47 am
by Murfreesboro
Such impressive work, Jadewik!

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 11:28 am
by Blanchard
I went through 3 pumpkings this year trying to sculpt, ended up just carving out some eyes and a mouth in the end lol.

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 8:14 pm
by jadewik
... I found out Ray Villafane lives a short ways away from me a couple years ago. He puts on this 3D carve festival in Carefree, AZ every October.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo share service anymore, so I can't drop in photos of his work-- but you can google him to see some sweet stuff. He also does a 3D Carving training course.

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:10 am
by Murfreesboro
Wow! You live near a Halloween celebrity!

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:05 pm
by Andybev01
jadewik wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 8:14 pm ... I found out Ray Villafane lives a short ways away from me a couple years ago. He puts on this 3D carve festival in Carefree, AZ every October.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo share service anymore, so I can't drop in photos of his work-- but you can google him to see some sweet stuff. He also does a 3D Carving training course.
Well, look who the cat dragged in!

Re: Pumpkin Sculpting

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 4:47 pm
by Pumpkin_Head
I'm afraid my artistry skills are pretty much limited to what I can do with a camera.

Mike