How to Make Your Own Folk Art Halloween Decorations

Primitive folk art crafting and decorating is a very popular style that allows success for even those new to crafting. Make your own folk art Halloween decorations this year by recycling items that no longer have a purpose. Making these folk art Halloween projects requires simple painting methods that are not perfection intensive. If you want to paint a shape bigger or more abstract, that is perfectly acceptable when making your own folk art Halloween decorations.

Things You'll Need

• Wood frame window screen
• Drop cloth
• Gray spray paint
• Black spray paint
• Pencil
• Orange acrylic paint
• Sponge brush
• Black acrylic paint
• Off white acrylic paint
• Artist's paintbrush
• Wide-mouth jar
• Brown acrylic paint
• Crackle medium
• Nickel
• Glass votive holder
• Tea light candle
• Raffia
• Old 4-by-4-inch fencepost
• Measuring tape
• Miter saw
• Wood candle cup
• Craft glue
• Sandpaper
• Black taper candle

Instructions

Painted Pumpkin Screen

1. Lay the window screen on the drop cloth in a garage or open area. Paint the entire screen and frame with gray spray paint. Using a horizontal sweeping motion, spray black paint over the gray. Allow areas of gray to shadow through, creating a misty appearance. Let the paint dry.

2. Draw a large pumpkin shape on the screen, using a pencil. The interpretation of the shape is up to you. It can be round, oval, lopsided or squished. There is no wrong shape, but it should cover a large portion of the screen. Paint the pumpkin with orange acrylic paint, using a sponge brush. Allow the orange paint to dry. Dry-brush lightly over the orange with the black acrylic paint to antique it.

3. Draw a 2-inch triangle in the center of the pumpkin for the nose and two more spaced above the nose for the eyes. Draw a 1-inch by 6-inch rectangle for the mouth. Paint the eyes, nose and mouth using black acrylic paint. Round the ends of the mouth while painting. Place a nickel in the center of an eye and draw around it. Repeat for the other eye. Paint the nickel shape in off-white, using an artist's paintbrush. Trace the inside shape of the mouth a 1/4 inch from the edge. Paint inside the shape off-white. Allow the off-white paint to dry. Dip the eraser end of a pencil into black acrylic paint and dot the center of the off white eye circles.

Pumpkin Jar Candle Holder

1. Paint the outside of a wide-mouth jar with brown acrylic paint and allow it to dry. Paint crackle medium over the brown paint, and allow it to dry until it is tacky. Paint over the crackle medium with orange acrylic paint. The orange paint will crackle quickly. Do not paint over your strokes more than once or the paint will smudge.

2. Draw a triangle on the center of one side of the jar for a pumpkin nose, two circles for eyes and a simple mouth. With folk art decorations, the shapes do not need to be perfect. Paint the features using black acrylic paint.

3. Place a glass votive candle in the bottom of the jar with a tea light candle inside. Tie a 36-inch, three-strand bundle of raffia in a bow around the jar neck.

Fencepost Pumpkin

1. Cut a 6-inch length from an old 4-by-4-inch fencepost, using a miter saw. Stand it on end. Glue a wood candle cup to the top, using craft glue. Allow the glue to dry.

2. Paint the fencepost and the candle cup orange and allow the paint to dry.

3. Draw and paint a pumpkin face, as you did for the candle jar, and allow it to dry. Lightly sand the surface of the fencepost pumpkin. Tie a raffia bow around the candle cup. Place a black taper candle into the cup.

Tips & Warnings

• Folk art painting is primitive and childlike, do not get too caught up in perfection.

References

• Cyndee Kromminga, Craft and Interior Designer; Kro Crafts; Winfield, Kansas