I drew the design, then cut away the skin where it wasn't needed and scraped the flesh until it was smooth and fairly thin so the light can shine through it. You could cut it right away, but I think it looks better with a thin layer. So no, none of it is fully carved out.

that's really cool - nice job.. but I'm a bit unclear how you did that exactly..? is any part of it fully carved out, or did you use some other technique?