Carving tips...
Thought I'd add some carving tips. I tend to put quite a bit of detail into some designs, but with some planning and patience, all of these should be doable.
1. Carve slowly, and always allow yourself enough time to finish. Don't start on Halloween night a half hour before it gets dark and expect a complex design to get done both quickly and accurately. I think the Bates Motel one took me nearly 3 hours from start to finish. When using the saw, you'll want to keep the saw moving up and down quickly, while actually progressing foreward slowly. Also, try not to twist the blade much, they can and will break. I noticed Pumpkin Masters has a battery powered saw this year. I'll probably pick one up and report how well (or poorly) it actually works.
2. Start small. A general rule of thumb would be to start with the smallest/ highest detail cutouts first, then work around those and do the largest ones last. When I first started doing my own designs, I did exactly the opposite, with tragic results. You want to get those detail sections done while the pumpkin still has a lot of structural integrity. Once the big chunks are gone, it's much more difficult to do the details.
3. Start in the center. Much like starting with the high detail, starting from the center of the design and working your way out will keep the structural ingegrity of the pumpkin as you work on it. An extreme exaple of this was my Vertigo design from last year. The entire carved figure and swirls are only held aloft by his right hand and left foot, VERY fragile, but by starting in the center, I managed to get it done.
4. Scrape it, scrape it good. Scrape the thickness of the pumpkin down to less than an inch thick. For the most detailed sections, you may want to take it down to a half inch or less. Although the carving kits usually come with a scraper, nothing works better than a large ceramic trimming tool, the one pictured here on top.
If you have ever taken a ceramics class, you probably have one of these laying around somewhere. To get a specific thickness, I will push toothpicks in to the desired depth from the front and trim the insides until I hit the toothpick.
5. Oooops!! If you accidently trimmed through something that was supposed to stay or if something else broke while carving another section, don't throw it away just yet. Toothpicks & glue can usually save it. Don't forget, once the candle is inside and it's dark outside, the actual face of the pumpkin is not very visible. As long as the shapes of the cutouts are relatively correct, the design will read. Who cares if there is a minor repair job? You'll still have the best pumpkin on the block. Even if you totally desroyed it, don't trash it, start over on the other side of the pumpkin, few people will ever notice.
So that's all I can think of for now. I'll keep posting designs and tips. Also, stores now have pumpkins, and although I doubt I'll be able to keep them alive until the end of the month, I think I'm going to start carving soon. I'll post pictures in a new topic when I get to them.