Pumpkin Carving with POWER (tools, chainsaw, you know)

This post has two purposes ~ 1st ~ YEAH!!! ~ it's been one year!! I can't believe I hit my one-year mark already! oh, I'm a happy bloggerrrr, oh II'MMM a happy BLOGGERRR~ hei-ho- the DAIRY-o, Oh I'm a happy bloggerrrrr!!!

Ok, that all done with, 2nd ~ I thought I might show off the pumpkins Tony carved at this year's Harvest Fest. Well, the pumpkins he carved that I got pictures of before they got carted off by happy pumpkin purchasers. (Yes, people really DO pay other people to carve them a funky, off-beat original pumpkin which I think they sometimes enter into contests as their own, but hey, I guess they DID pay for them :-D)

All right, first off, I have to say, Tony is a great fan of ExtremePumpkins.com
& regularly checks out the site for new & fascinatingly disgusting pumpkins to carve. ( He swears he's gonna enter one of his contests some time...) Since this Fest was a family affair, he stuck to the least offensive examples & still maintained high shock value. (It's amazing how routinely people are disgusted by even the remote SUGGESTION of pukery & cannibalism.)
I would like to make this suggestion; Do the Puker Pumpkin, put him on a tray, then put the candy for the kids INSIDE the pumpkin, and don't forget to mix some of it up in the *puke* as well. Shock value-added ~ :-D.


These two pumpkins were all-time favorites, it's a good thing he was using a router, jigsaw, & a drywall knife, or he would have been at it forever.



We teased him about not using a chainsaw to carve, and he was actually bummed he couldn't; apparently it would have been too loud for the crowd. But it is interesting, every single time he turned on a tool to carve with, he immediately got 50 - 60 onlookers, literally within just minutes. (So guess how he started every carving :-D)

Funny thing about that Brother Bear one, little kids kept coming up all day long to stick their hands in it.



This one was my favorite use of melons.... I mean uhh.. you know, those itty bitty pumpkin/gourd/miniature-what-the-heck-am-I-gonna-do-with-THIS thingy's. He was supposed to look like he was getting his eyes squeeged out.


I think it would have been more effective to have flayed him as well, but you know, when carving a bazillion pumpkins in a day, time is of the essence ~

Tony's biggest piece of advice? Draw it on with a dry-erase marker, then cut OUTSIDE the lines. Far less clean-up afterward. Also, that jigsaw ( or a sawz-all would be equally effective) is ESSENTIAL! Use it to make all of your major design element cuts. Taking off the skin to add depth can really liven up a carving as well, and either the router or a chisel can be used ( with stop gaps) to acheive the effect well. And finally, no matter how good or bad, easy or difficult the final carving is, it's really the IDEA that counts. As long as you get your IDEA across ( and its an idea worth GETTING across) you have acheived pumpkin carving SUCCESS!
Happy Harvest!!!

Marching Forces of Wooden Animals

SafeTinspector said...
The massed forces of the wooden bears made terrifying progress as they cut through the hapless civilian population of Boulder on their way to Mile High Stadium. It was only then that they realized the weakness of their race when the butane lighter struck....

Mr T, I want you to know that this is my husband's favorite line, every time we get a load of those bears going! In fact, he quotes this "It was only then that they realized the weakness of their race when the butane lighter struck.... " on a regular basis, especially when we are torching the bears.

I have been a litte bit busy of late ( ok, so when am I NOT busy? It seems to be a recurring theme on my lack of posting issues, eh?) but I DO have progress to share!
check it out, this is the new website I put up.
http://www.carvingman.com

Yes, I know it's only a piddly little microsoft publisher affair, but that is the most this 106 IQ-er can do. :-D

If any of you have higher webdesign skills or know how to make listings come up on google, etc (SEO stuff) we would trade a bear for it. Or two. :-D
Even suggestions would be nice.
I've noticed that html code strings don't work well with microsoft publisher, on the other hand, I can see what I am creating with it, instead of a string of code. (This is what happens when you have limited brain capacities, it tends to make your mind want to EXPLODE with frustration and annoyance!)

Ode to the Bears

O wooden bears
of wooden hairs
& torched black little buns

Your website's bad
it makes me mad
& I haven't had much fun.

I must admit
I've cussed at it
& screamed "What have I done?"

Adding meta tags
& site feed lags
are among the things I shun.

I see now
EXACTLY how
those SEO's make funds.

Who wants to sit
and work at it
When they could be having fun?

Did you see
how BADLY
my last rhyme was just done?

My brain is scrambled
I'm afraid I gambled,
And lost out on the pun.

ughh ~ time to stop odeing ~
I'm done.

For anyone that made it this far on the ode, I am truly impressed, you must be one TIRED BORED person, and I thank you for your rapt attention, it's harder and harder to come by of late. :-D

Just for that exercise in patience, I will post a pic or two of the rapidly increasing bear populace gaining momentum in our garage, eh?

Or maybe not ~ dang thing won't load up ~ oh well, click the link, and be AMAZED at my website building PROWESS! ;-D

Marching forces of wooden animals