I’ve been looking for pumpkin carving ideas, but I don’t want to duplicate what I’ve done in the past. I went through my pictures and pulled out a few of my favorite carvings over the years.

 
Tux: The Linux Mascot

My first geeky carving that I entered in the pumpkin carving contest while working at Microsoft. My coworkers didn’t know whether to laugh or report me to HR. But Tux found a home among all the boring Windows logos. I spent a lot of time getting the feet and nose just right. My favorite carving.

 
Golem

I spent 2 hours carving this guy. He didn’t look very scary until I lit the candle and turned the lights off. I spent a while carving around the eyes and teeth. Most of the kids who saw this on our porch thought it was Frankenstein with bad teeth.

 
Witch and Cat

The witch required ongoing dental work to keep her teeth in place. I used a couple of toothpicks to keep the top two from falling out. I’m probably most proud about the curve along the cat’s back. I wish I had given the witch a nose full of warts though.

Hairy Spider

This smaller pattern was one of the easier ones to carve. Luca liked this one a lot, but it looks like a hairy peach with legs to me.

Evil Pumpkin

I like how the mouth turned out but I wish I had made the eyes smaller. The veins and cuts in the face looked creepy to the kids who ventured onto our porch that Halloween.

The Star Keeper

I love how this one turned out. I spent about three hours working on it and most of that time was spent on the eyes and mustache. I carved this onto a larger pumpkin and the kids loved it although some thought it was Jesus. I like how well the hands turned out.

 

Gordon B Hinckley

Easily the most obscure pumpkin I’ve ever carved. Had we lived in Utah at the time, maybe a few trick or treaters would have guessed this was the prophet of the Mormon church, but we lived in Woodinville WA at the time and none of our neighbors were Mormon. One young boy came to our door and, as he walked down our porch to his father, said, “Dad, who is that guy supposed to be?” The father looked at our pumpkin and replied, “I’m not sure but I think it’s supposed to be Groucho Marx”

I’ve picked up a couple of patterns for our pumpkins this years and will post pictures once I carve them.