18-SEPT-2011 Thank you for joining me on Twitter today as I posted the pictures of this carving project. As you can see, the original image was quite detailed and I simplified it considerably. I spent a while doing so in GIMP (freeware Photoshop program) and then I altered it as I went along realizing that some areas were just too finely detailed for the size of the blade I have.

I use the Walnut Hollow electric carving kit and some manual tools from Pumpkin Masters. I added the use of a cordless Dremel a few years ago and it’s really helpful for the shaded areas to give them an even surface.

	Some supplies include pumpkin pattern, foam pumpkin, carving kit (found in wood burning section of craft store usually), box cutter or Xacto blade, scissors, tape, pumpkin carving tool kit, and dremel with cone sanding bit.
	This Wonder Woman pattern took me 2 hours to work up in GIMP using an Ivan Reis image. Tape your pattern to the pumpkin. You will probably need to cut into the pattern for the curved surface of the pumpkin.
	With your hot blade, cut the opening. I put a notch in my lid so that it's easy to line up.
	Poke holes along the white, shaded and black sections with the proper tool from your kit; you can also use a push pin.
	This is what it looks like when your pumpkin is full of holes. Keep your pattern in tact and nearby because you'll need to reference it.
	Work from the center outward.
	Details like faces won't look like anything until the pumpkin is in the dark and lit up with battery-operated tea lights. This is normal. It doesn't mean your pattern sucks.
	The grey areas are where you don't cut all the way through the pumpkin flesh.
	This is about 5.5 hours into the project!
	Total carving time around 6.5 hours.
	Another shot of the finished pumpkin.
	It's really hard to get a good picture when you don't know a thing about photography and low light settings.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.