Similar to This
View all stencils →About this stencil
A wide-winged bat hangs in the center of a glowing scalloped panel, its scalloped wing edges and small round eyes standing out in dark relief. You shave the skin away around the bat so the shape stays raw pumpkin while the shaved field lights up behind it. Keep your shading depth even across the whole panel so the backlight glows uniformly around those wing scallops. This design is rated Intermediate and takes most carvers around 75 minutes from trace to glow. Comfortable knife handling required. Small details and curves.
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
- 1Print it
Download the PDF and print at 100% scale on letter or A4 paper.
- 2Prep the pumpkin
Cut the lid at an angle, scoop the guts, thin the wall to ~1 inch.
- 3Tape it on
Snip darts in the paper so it lies flat against the curve.
- 4Transfer the design
Poke along every line — about one dot every 1/8 inch.
- 5Carve it
Connect the dots with short straight cuts. Center first, work outward.
- 6Light it up
Drop in a battery LED pumpkin light and you're done.
Tools you'll need
For a intermediate carve like this you'll want a x-acto knife, poker tool, ribbon scoop, and painter's tape. 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 ↗
Community Pumpkin Carving Ideas
Carving ideas that use stencils like this one.
Related stencils
Carvers who liked this one also downloaded these.
Expert / ProNatural Bat with Spread Wings
A lifelike bat spreads its wings across the entire pumpkin, with big upright ears, a furry textured body, and scalloped wing membranes ribbed by long finger bones. Nothing is cut through; the whole animal is sculpted in relief by shaving the background away and layering shallow cuts for fur and wing veins. This expert design is a true sculpting project, so work with gouges and a paring knife, establish the outline first, and build the fur texture with hundreds of short flicking strokes.
AdvancedBat with Scalloped Wings
A bat spreads huge scalloped wings across the whole front of the pumpkin, its furry body, tall ears, and wing finger-bones modeled in carved relief shading. Skin is shaved away inside the wing membranes while the ribs, body, and outline are left raised, and nothing is pierced. Shave the membrane panels evenly and keep the wing bones proud for a dramatic sculpted look.
AdvancedScorpion with Curled Tail
A menacing scorpion with pincers spread wide, eight angled legs, a segmented body, and a tail curling up to a poised stinger. The entire creature is shaded work: each segment and claw is shaved to glowing flesh while the skin between stays dark, giving the body its armored look. Carve the segment gaps as narrow untouched skin lines, working from the body outward so the skinny legs keep clean edges.
Beginner-friendlyBat Pumpkin Stencil
A front-facing bat with outstretched wings fills this jack-o-lantern pumpkin stencil, showing a snarling face at center and jagged wing edges that sweep to pointed tips on each side. The large background panels of each wing are cut away, leaving a solid bat silhouette with interior cut-outs for the eyes and facial features that glow distinctively when lit. Keep the narrow connecting bridge between the bat's body and each wing intact during carving so the whole design holds together.
Beginner-friendlyBat and Moon Pumpkin Stencil
A crescent moon curves across the upper half of the design with a small bat silhouette flying in front of it, both cut through as a single pumpkin stencil. The crescent is a wide sweeping arc and the bat sits slightly below center within the curve, its wings spread and ears pointed. The bat's body stays connected to the moon's surface by a thin shared border; carve the crescent first and leave the bat's outer wing edges touching the moon arc so the bat doesn't shift before you finish the interior.
AdvancedAlmond Eyes and Twenty Tears
Two huge almond eyes stare straight out, each ringed by fanned lash bars above and a spray of teardrop cuts below, with attached pupils floating in the centers. The eye whites, brow strokes, and roughly twenty teardrops are all pierced, leaving the pupils and lash ribs as connected shell. This one earns its hard rating on the thin lash bars, so cut every slot outward from the eye and support the wall with your palm.