How to
Make a pumpkin stencil from a photo
A photo stencil is a three-tone map, not a photocopy. Black regions are cut all the way through, gray regions are shaved thin so light glows through the flesh, and white regions stay as pumpkin skin. That third tone is what keeps a face recognizable without turning the pumpkin into a pile of loose pieces.
Pick a photo that can be carved
Use one subject, facing the camera, with a plain wall or sheet behind them. Side light and cluttered rooms become noise. Hair, ears, and the outline of the head should be fully in the frame. A phone photo in daylight is enough. You do not need a studio.
Busy patterns on a shirt, a chain-link fence, or a crowd behind the subject will fight the threshold. Crop those out. The tool's zoom and drag are there so the carving face is the subject, not the living room.
Read the three tones before you cut
Start with the Face preset for people and the Pet or Logo preset for everything else. Move Cut threshold until the eyes, nostrils, and mouth are black and the cheeks are not. Detail throws away specks when it is low and keeps eyelashes and fur edges when it is high. High detail looks clever on screen and miserable with a saw.
If a white shape sits inside a black hole, it would fall out of a real pumpkin. The pipeline finds those islands and draws a bridge back to the outer skin. Leave the bridge in the carve, or thin it and accept that the piece is fragile.
- Black: cut through with a saw.
- Gray: scrape the skin and a thin layer of flesh. Stop when a light inside the pumpkin shows through.
- White: do not touch it. This is structure.
Print, transfer, then carve
The free download is a watermarked PNG for a test. The print pack is a higher-resolution PNG and a PDF sized for a small (5 in), medium (7 in), or large (9 in) carving face on US Letter or A4. In the print dialog, set scale to 100% and turn off Fit to page.
Tape the paper to the flattest side of a scooped pumpkin. The wall should be about an inch thick so shaved areas can glow. Poke every black and gray edge with a pin or toothpick, peel the paper, saw the black shapes from the center outward, then shave the gray. An LED is safer than a candle.
Questions
- Does the photo get uploaded?
- No. The stencil is built in your browser with canvas and a web worker. The server only sees a checkout when you buy the print pack.
- Why does my stencil look blotchy?
- The source is probably low contrast or the detail slider is too high. Lower detail, raise contrast by switching to the Logo preset and then easing the threshold, or crop tighter on the face.
- Can I carve from the free PNG?
- Yes. It is watermarked and lower resolution, which is fine for a small test pumpkin. Use the PDF when you care about a specific inch size.
- What if a piece in the middle would fall out?
- Those regions get a connecting bridge of kept skin. You will see the bridge count under the preview. Carve around it.
Keep going
Upload a photo, take one, or try a sample.
- Cut through
- Shave
- Keep skin
Free file is a watermarked low-res PNG. The $4.99 pack is a one-time HD PNG plus a printable PDF with carving steps. Photos are processed on this device.