[paddy_babe]

I just wanted to say, I love the new search options in the patterns bit.... you can search by differculty and by year of release.... very cool.

can I ask if there are old ones back on (eg leather face)? because I didnt see them in the pattern catergories before now.

[Ajax]

Wow that is awesome. That shows you how much the number of patterns created per year has increased it's still a month until halloween and there are more then half the amount of patterns made last year already . You can really tell how Ryans skill has become better through the years. All the patterns are nice but each and everyone of the 2008 and 2009 patterns blow me away.

[SaneInsideInsanity]

here here i love the new search option and as well would like to congratulate Ryan on his improvements

[SuperSonic]

I 3rd that

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Thanks, glad you like the search features. Many people have asked me, "Is there a way to see all the new patterns for this year, all on one page?" Indeed there is. And you can view other patterns by their year too.

And for the "browse by difficulty" feature, I had to go through all 200+ patterns and classify each on the difficulty scale. That sure took a while, heh.

I've always been hesitant to do this, because I believe that ALL my designs are easy. Or at least... anyone is capable. Mainly it's more an issue of "patience required" or "time it will take to carve."

I know it can be helpful though... if you're trying to find a pattern your kid can handle, try a "Simple" one. If you want to impress someone with your detail work, do a "Challenging" one.

To classify the patterns by difficulty, I came up with a system. The biggest factor is the number of cutout pieces. The simple ones have as few as 3 holes. Meanwhile, Pinhead has close to 90 holes. Wow. The middle ground is the "Moderate" patterns, which all have about 20 holes, give or take.

But in addition to the amount of cutouts, there are other factors to consider. Things like... the number of angled cuts that require you to remove your blade (compared to easier smooth/rounded cuts). Also, to be considered... the how thin the lines are. Scooby-Doo or Homer Simpson might be considered easier patterns based on cutouts, but they skew a bit more difficult for their delicate nature.

I suppose it's not surprising to see that the bulk of my patterns are in the middle "Moderate" area. That's the trademark of a Zombie Pumpkin pattern, I guess. They have enough cuts to look impressive, and yet they aren't too complex to carve. The best of both worlds. That's my style, and about half of my patterns fit that level.

Weighted in that middle ground, the distribution gets lower as you get into the other levels. About 30 patterns in the "Easy" and "Advanced" sections. Only about 10 patterns in the most extreme high and low, "Simple" and "Challenging" levels.