I am very new to inkscape but am starting my own company so I'm making my own logo. I have watched numerous YouTubes and they have been really helpful but I need to do something that I have not found anywhere talked about.

I have make a circle with four layers to get a dimensional look. (I've attached file showing the original circle and then how I want it to look.) It includes a black circle, then red that is blurred and then I used another copy of the blurred red to clip it so the blurring doesn't come off the edges and finally a white circle in the center that I blurred. I need to cut it so it looks similar to a crescent moon shape. When I add another circle on top (after I grouped the other circles) it will only clip the top layer. I have tried to do each shape individually and tried to make the crescent shape first but when I blur the white, it still comes off the edges, even though I used bezier tool.

The only way to get the look I want is to use a white circle to cover up the shape I created so only the original shows through. Problem with that is I want to use these on tshirts and papers/website which are not white. That means I see the white circles.

Help! I have worked on this for 3 days until the wee morning hours and I'm about to lose my mind (it may be too late....)

Is there a way to do this or not? Maybe I'm trying to do something that isn't possible. Thanks for any help you can give.

Hello
I've attached your file modified with a quick solution. I'm not sure if that it's what you want.
I scaled the white blured circular path, because...:

I tried to clip it with a duplicate of the black circle. But the black circle was also clipped. So i removed that last clipping object to obtain only the black circle. In this way, i tried again to clip the white blured circle woth the black circle. ... still it appeared a white ring!!!. So, i scaled the white circular path...

Anyway, I grouped the 3 paths and later i put a clipped path over that group. If you release that last clipping you will note the shape of the clipping path which was obtained using a emmm .... ummmm ... a path operation?? ... the difference path i believe. ummm ...

Well, i hope to have helped. Sorry for my english.

Good night!

I think the simplest approach would be to use the path difference and - since you are using a perfect circle/ellipse - it seems too good a chance to pass up using a 3 or 4 color radial gradient.
Are these things comfortably within your experience, or would you like more pointers?

I have tried to use the path difference but didn't get any luck with that. The file attached shows you completely, what I am trying to achieve, which is the outline of a cherry.

Would the black circle you used, show through?

FYI - I just starting using Inkscape on Friday. So I am very new but a quick learner so any step by steps you can provide would really be helpful.
Thanks for the help, I think it's getting me closer to what I want.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Try this:
1 -- Ungroup everything.
2 -- Unclip the red part of the cherries. Do not delete the clipping paths. Hint -- I usually make sure my clipping paths have no blur or stroke, and I give them an outrageous color, so they don't get confused with other parts of the drawing. So just to make instructions easy, make these clipping paths hot pink.
3 -- Select all 4 white objects (hold Shift for multiple selection) then do Path menu > Union. Make this path neon green.
4 -- Object menu > Raise to top; then Duplicate.
5 -- Select one green object and one pink object, then do Path menu > Difference
6 -- Do the same with the other green and other pink object
7 -- You should have 2 pink crescent shapes left now. Select them and do Path menu > Union. And that's your new clipping path.
8 -- Select the clipping path and move it to the top of the stack (Object menu > Raise to top)
9 -- Deselect everything, then Ctrl + A to select everything. Hold Shift and click the green stem (this deselects it, because you don't want to clip it). Object menu > Clip > Set

That should do it

PS -- Part of your problem was probably trying to apply clipping to objects that were already clipped. I actually thought it was possible to do that. But I couldn't make it work. So these instructions will clip everything all at once.

Thanks Brynn. Could you please clear up what you mean by 4 white objects? I have two circles which have 4 layers each (one black, 2 blurred red, and a blurred white).

Are you saying to make the two circles of the cherry "union" into one shape? When you want one to be green and one pink, that makes me think that.

I don't understand why I need so many shapes.

Thanks for you help and patience!

I mean to use the white objects that you created and placed precisely to cover up the areas you don't need (2 ellipses and 2 rectangles). By doing that, without realizing it, you've perfectly defined the path that you need to use for clipping....well part of it, anyway!

That did it! Thank you so much!!! And it was really pretty easy once I got the hang of it.

Awesome, you're welcome!