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A fancy fantail goldfish glides across the pumpkin with billowing fins, a sweeping double tail, and a body covered in overlapping scale rows. This is a continuous-wall shading design: the skin is shaved away at varying depths so fins glow softly and each scale reads in relief, with no pierced holes. Rated hard for its texture work, it goes best if you outline the fish first, clear the background layer, then carve the scales one row at a time. This design is rated Advanced and takes most carvers around 150 minutes from trace to glow. Multi-layer cuts with skin-peel shading. Plan your cuts first.
Pumpkin size guide
- 🎃 Small (5–7") — print at 80%
- 🎃 Medium (7–10") — print at 100% (recommended)
- 🎃 Large (11–13") — print at 130%
- 🎃 Giant (14"+) — print at 150% on tabloid paper
Frequently asked questions
Can I resize this stencil?▾
Yes. The PDF is vector so it scales cleanly. Print at 100% for a 7–10 inch pumpkin, 130% for 11–13 inch, or 150% for a giant. Use your printer's "Fit to page" or "Custom scale" setting.
What kind of paper works best?▾
Standard 20 lb letter or A4 printer paper is fine. Heavier paper is harder to bend around the pumpkin curve. If your printer supports it, set the quality to 'best' so the lines are crisp.
How long will the carved pumpkin last?▾
Usually 5–10 days. Coat all cut surfaces with petroleum jelly and store the pumpkin somewhere cool overnight. Avoid direct sun. Battery LED pumpkin lights produce no heat and double the lifespan.
Can I sell pumpkins carved with this stencil?▾
Yes, the carved pumpkin you make is yours. The license covers personal and small-scale commercial carving (selling carved pumpkins, photographing them, posting on social). You may not resell the PDF file itself.
What if my printer doesn't print the whole stencil?▾
Set 'Page scaling' to 'Fit' in the print dialog and uncheck 'Auto-rotate'. If it still cuts off, the design includes 0.25" of safe-area margin so a small crop won't ruin it.
How to carve this stencil
This is a continuous-wall shading design: you never cut all the way through the pumpkin. On the printable pattern, light gray regions get just the skin shaved off for a faint glow, dark gray regions are scraped deeper so more light comes through, and white areas keep their skin untouched. The numbers give you the safest working order. Plan on about 2-3 hours from print to candle.
Set up first. Print the PDF at 100% scale on letter or A4 paper. Cut the lid at an angle, scoop the pumpkin clean, and thin the wall to about 1 inch behind the design so light can pass through the shaded areas. Tape the pattern on (snip small darts in the paper so it hugs the curve) and transfer the outlines by poking dots along every line. Work with a loop tool, clay ribbon scraper, or the back of a spoon rather than a saw.
Shading order
- Establish the fish silhouette. Shallow-shave all gray shapes. Example 1 sits along the upper body. Keep the white eye rim, mouth inset and background intact. Preserve the high dorsal fin, two low fins and unequal split tail.
- Refine the cheek and gill. Deepen the broad cheek marked 2 and the narrow curved gill highlight. Keep the small eye center shallow and preserve the pale separator between cheek and body.
- Build the scale pattern. Deepen all fifty-six small unnumbered dark-gray scale glints in their staggered rows. Each points rearward; the spaces between scales remain shallow.
- Finish the five fin fields. Deepen the five dark-gray fin faces, with broad examples marked 4. Preserve ten shallow fin veins. Follow the broad upper tail lobe and longer drooping lower lobe without cutting through.
Check your progress often: set a bright LED inside and dim the room lights, and the glow shows exactly where to scrape deeper. Go slowly near thin spots and stop before the wall flexes; a pierced wall cannot be undone.
Tools you'll need
For a advanced carve like this you'll want a linoleum cutter set, x-acto knife, peel tool, and pin transfer wheel. Here's the kit we reach for — start with whatever you already own.
Elmchee Pumpkin Carving Kit
13-piece kit with carrying case
Saws for the larger cutouts, plus a scoop for hollowing. Covers both jobs in one kit.
View on Amazon ↗
HOME MOST LED Pumpkin Lights
4-pack, battery operated, with remote + timer
Orange glow made for jack-o'-lanterns. The remote and timer light the pumpkin every evening without reaching inside.
View on Amazon ↗
Speedball 4131 Lino Cutter Set
Handle + 5 interchangeable cutters
Interchangeable cutters for peeling and shading the face. Useful for the finer details.
View on Amazon ↗
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