Pumpkin Calipers and Stencils

I mentioned in a previous post that my family has a big pumpkin-carving tradition for Halloween. (I’m still cleaning up! Hence, the belated nature of this post.) I’d like to share two significant ways the Glowforge helped with our project this year.

First, we have learned that it is important to scrape the inside of the pumpkin to the correct thickness for the best carving results. (The pumpkin flesh should be between one and 1.5 inches thick.) For years I have declared, “I need calipers!” This year, with the help of my Glowforge, I made a set of pumpkin calipers from proofgrade fluorescent acrylic. It took the guesswork out of the scraping process.

Second, creating stencils using the Glowforge is a breeze, and it saves a ton of time transferring the patterns to the pumpkins. We use a lot of patterns from Zombie Pumpkins, our favorite source for traditional cut-out designs. I love that I can load the pdfs directly into the Glowforge user interface. Here’s one of the Zombie Pumpkin designs, cut into a stencil using the 20 lb. copy paper setting. I used a Seklema mat to avoid flyaways.

And here it is carved, along with a couple of Star Wars buddies.

We carved 62 pumpkins this year.

We also do sculpted designs where you don’t cut through to the center. The calipers came in handy for these as well, since the pumpkin wall needs to be thinned enough to let light through.

Just 351 days until next Halloween!

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That is a LOT of beautifully carved pumpkins! The caliper is brilliant, and I love the simplicity of the “carving zone” :slight_smile:

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I am impressed! Major work and bright idea for the calipers.

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62 pumpkins! You must be the favorite house to visit at Halloween. Thanks for sharing.

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Wow! :star_struck: Nice application of your laser, and a slick new tool in my favorite acrylic.
That photographic one is a real artwork, you put some time into that!

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I can’t imagine carving that me pumpkins. Wow! What an awesome display. All the close-ups were spectacular. Thank you for sharing all the photos.

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Wow just wow!! The kitty looks terrific!!

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That is just amazing!!

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Wow, this is next level Halloween! Very cool calipers and I want to go trick or treating at your house next year!!

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Wow! So we’ll done!!

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Wow! Great calipers and great pumpkins! After that you need 351 days off to recharge!

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Mind blown. Love the calipers!

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Smart AND practical. If you can design measuring ruler, the could be used for other things too

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Now that is decoration to the fine art of pumpkin carving! Incredible.

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The caliper is brilliant! We don’t do the Halloween thing, but your designs are great. Awesome job.

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This year we carved 68 pumpkins. For my contribution to the display, I wanted to honor my dad, who passed away in September. I converted the design I used for the paper cut shadow box I made for him a couple of years ago into a pumpkin-carving pattern, and I changed the corn field to a pumpkin patch.

For many, many years he enabled my obsession by raising beautiful pumpkins for me. I also carved a portrait of him.

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Wow!

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Wow indeed!
68 pumpkins no less, and such detail too

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Just amazing!

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They aren’t all quite so detailed. Here’s a video of the whole display. Warning: sorry for my seasickness-inducing camera work.

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