Foam Pumpkin Carving

Hey folks,

Last year I got into a new hobby of carving pumpkins for Halloween. Well, this year I've decided to continue the tradition with Foam Pumpkins. Practically the same, except there's no rotting so I can keep the great designs year after year.

I've carved 3 so far. Staypuft Marshmellow Man for my mom,



and for my niece and nephew, Cinderella and Batman,



Here they are lit with artificial candle lights.

(click images for larger view)



Plenty more to come, stay tuned!

Very cool!

I must admit, I couldn't see Stay Puft until the lighted pic but then it was awesome!!

Were these done by kits or did you design them yourself? I must admit styrofoam pumpkins never occured to me, and seem semi non halloweenish (the carving tradition is part of the fun!) but I can see huge advantages here...

All in all, if I had kids, I'd prolly compromise - have several super cool last forever styro's but also do at least one real one each year just for the messy fun of it.

Excellent work!

Bah! The use of stencils does NOT take away the wow factor at all for me... I only ask because I know I'd have NO chance to do such without a stencil, but with I figure I'd have a slim chance.

Very slim, but I'll take what I can get

Those are really really neat!

I have to say that the Batman was really underwhelming... until I saw it lit. WOW! That looks nice! Well done.

I also got a foam pumpkin this year, although I only got a small pumpkin and I'm having a hard time trying to create a design myself that will work well for the size. I'm hoping to enter it in this month's art jam if it turns out well.

Real nice work Mystic.

I checked out the site... I think Batman looks better the way you have it (without the eyes).
They do have a werewolf on there but no I didn't see the Wolfman either. Probably wouldn't be that hard for you to create one though.

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i hear they have real stay puft marshmellows now. I hear they are caffinated too. stay puft stays up, always!

Those are totally kool, Mystic!! Are you going to be selling them via the internet?

I gotta get me some of those... pumpkin carving is one of my favorite things too! I've made a Ghost Widow design that I want to carve this year... need some proper tools though, it's hella complicated.

The foam pumpkins I've been carving were purchased from Michael's Arts & Crafts, currently they are running a 50% off sale on them, and I've heard come November 1st, they might just be 75% off!

The tool I use to carve is called the Versa-tool with exacto-blade bit. It cuts through the foam like butter. Even though I purchased it through my local Michael's store, ironically I could not find it on their website.

I wouldn't feel right profiting off the carved pumpkins even if all I charged for was the labor. If the stencils were my own designs, maybe, but as it stands it would feel too much like stealing. Sorry VexXxa.

Wow!!

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and now I may have found a new hobby.

Thanks for putting this on my radar.

That's awesome!

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

After carving the Gillman I think anything is possible at this point.. I might have to give this a try (with your permission of course) if Michael's has any pumpkins left.

A few years back, I found a website that either let you upload a pic and turn it into a stencil, or it told you how to turn any pic into a stencil. Sadly, the link broke, and I have no idea where it is now, if anywhere.

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Aha, I figured out what I want to do with my little pumpkin: The 10 basic AT symbols. Just finished out the hero side, just need to do villainside (which are quite a bit harder).

My newest addition to the Universal Monsters set,

Bela Lugosi as Dracula



also, I went back and took more well lit pictures of the pumpkins. Here's Dracula lit.

(Click image below for larger view)

That Bella Lugosi looks great Mystic!

Yeah so you got me wondering how hard it would be to create a Wolfman carving stencil.
Yeah it was more difficult than I thought but not outrageous.
How about Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman...

Click to see larger




and here's what it might
look like all lit up...

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I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

OMG! That's outstanding! The facial detail is incredible, so much so.. that it gives me nightmares thinking about the structural integrity for the pattern when attempting to remove the debris.. some of those lines are awfully thin (the teeth dangerously so).. and part of the ear is detached completely from the rest of the stencil itself.. but dang, that's awesome!

I have one foam-kin left for The Wolfman..

He would make a great addition to my universal monsters set. Finished Frankenstein's Monster earlier after watching Sons of Anarchy.

Boris Karloff as The Monster



I continue to play around with the lighting in my room to get a more appropriate display when lit.

(Click image for larger view)