As promised, Meet the Carver entry #2 for today: Cristal Rose Stevens.

BB: Tell us something non-pumpkin related about yourself.

CRS: I am a diverse artist - Renaissance face painting, music, stiltwalking, and custom sewing, to name a few other trades.

BB: What kind of carvings are you working on for Blaze 2008?
CRS: My favorite are the fairies, gnomes, and mushrooms. I worked on everything - the monster/character sculptures were my brain child.

BB: Excellent! Can you sum up Blaze in three words?
CRS: So...Much...Work!

BB: I hear that. Can you offer a little more advice for the casual carver?
CRS: Scoop from the bottom, it will hold the structure better.

BB: What's the best music to listen to while carving?
CRS: I put my iPod on shuffle and gather inspiration from the diverse music collection. that I have - celtic, world, techno, hip hop, tribal, rock, Ani DiFranco...I love music!

BB: Me too. Got a pumpkin haiku to share?
CRS: Look further inside
Tricky artists will surprise
wise carvings layered

BB: Brilliant! So what's your favorite thing about Halloween?
CRS: Costume chaos, kids commotion, magic potions...I've been nicknamed the Queen of Halloween. It's my favorite holiday, I like it all.

BB: Awesome. How about pumpkin pie...a la mode, no a la mode, or no way?
CRS: I prefer pumpkin soup, spicy and warm.

BB: Yum. If pumpkins could talk, what would they say?
CRS: Plant my seeds? Ouch? Eat me? This is going downhill quickly...

BB: Ha ha. If you weren't spending October carving pumpkins, what would you be doing?
CRS: Hiking up mountains, playing with clay, making sweet music, candle-lit romance, actually having time to make a sweet costume, lots of freelance art, who knows...

BB: Thank you, Cristal!