How to: Handmade Pumpkins
Instead of scouring a pumpkin patch looking for your ideal pumpkin shape and size, make the perfect pumpkin for your needs. Fashion handmade pumpkins using inexpensive and elementary crafting techniques such as papier-mache. Using papier-mache produces rock-hard objects that can be painted, carved or embellished using glue. Transform a handmade pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern by carving the pumpkin with a box cutter. Or leave your pumpkin intact and add glitter spray for a glamorous touch.
Things You'll Need
- 20 to 40 plastic grocery bags
- Cardboard paper towel tube
- Masking tape
- Scissors
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Large plastic bowl
- Long-handled spoon
- Black-and-white newspaper
- Box cutter
- Spray paint, assorted colors
Instructions
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1
Fill a plastic grocery bag with 20 to 39 plastic grocery bags until you have the desired fullness for your pumpkin.
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2
Insert a cardboard paper towel tube in the opening of the stuffed plastic bag so 2/3 of the roll is emerging from the bag. Gather the plastic bag around the tube. Wrap a 6-inch-long piece of masking tape around the bag and tube to hold the pumpkin stem in place.
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3
Cut the cardboard tube down to the desired length for the pumpkin stem. Cover the opened end of the cardboard tube with masking tape.
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4
Line strips of masking tape vertically across the pumpkin form starting at the stem and going down to the center of the bottom. Space the strips of masking tape so they are approximately 3 inches apart around the middle section of the pumpkin form. Press the masking tape into the form as you apply it to create definition that will appear as ridges in the completed pumpkin.
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5
Pour 4 cups of water and 2 cups of all-purpose flour in a large plastic bowl. Stir the ingredients using a long-handled spoon until the paste is smooth and free of lumps. Set the papier-mache paste aside.
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6
Tear black-and-white newspaper into 3 by 6-inch strips; you will need enough paper strips to cover the pumpkin form five times.
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7
Dip strips of newspaper into the paste mixture. Squeeze off excess paste using your fingers. Place a layer of strips across the entire plastic bag form of the pumpkin, including over the cardboard tube and the masking tape lines on the pumpkin. Overlap the edges of the strips so you have one complete layer. Allow the papier-mache paste to dry, which will take at least 12 hours.
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8
Place four additional layers of paper mache strips over the pumpkin form. Permit the pumpkin to dry for at least 12 hours between each layer or until each layer is dry to the touch.
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9
Turn the dry pumpkin form over so you are looking at the bottom. Cut a 4-inch circle from the base of the pumpkin using a box cutter. Pull the plastic bags used to stuff the pumpkin out through the hole.
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10
Flip the pumpkin back over so the stem is facing up. Paint the outside of the pumpkin orange, white or green for a naturally hued pumpkin, using spray paint. Apply more than one coat, as needed, until the newsprint is concealed with paint. Spray paint the stem of the pumpkin green or brown, applying additional coats of paint as needed.
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Tips & Warnings
You can paint the pumpkin in a color to match your décor, such as black, gold, silver or purple, instead of using the natural color palette.
Do not use glossy or color-printed newspaper for the papier-mache as the paste will not absorb into the paper as well as it does with the black-and-white newsprint.
Do not add a layer of papier-mache on top of a layer that is not fully dry or mold will develop.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
