Reply #18: Disney is really the only worried about pumpkin carving copywright violations...

[sfam]

A few years back, there was bunches of free patterns posted that people made from Disney characters. Really, this was free marketing for Disney in the sense that there's something magical about transitory art - its only there for that day, and then its gone. Lots of folks carved Disney characters for their neighborhood to see. So I still carve Disney pumpkins, and share the patterns via email to the pumpkin carving community, but I don't post them on my website (which is really just a holding bin for my carvings and patterns I give away).

Disney sent out bunches of Cease and Desist letters to everyone, so nobody puts their Disney patterns online anymore.

Regarding my own patterns, I usually contact the artists whose prints I use to make my pumpkin patterns. For instance, this year I'm doing a cool fairy pattern from Molly Harrison - she's thrilled to see this carved. :)

Regarding the carving itself, yeah - you either cut all the way through, or you scrape off the skin. You need to carve the inside to about 1/2 inch thick. In some cases (like my Obama carving), the pumpkin will have deep green veins which dirty up the carving. There is little you can do about this, but this is a minor problem.