Painting Pumpkins and making mouldings

Autumn DIY

This week I went down to Ursula in Nook in Trim to get some paint for a pumpkin DIY that I had been wanting to try for ages. I was on the hunt to get some fake pumpkins from the likes of Dealz and the Halloween sections of the shops. I got two lantern style pumpkins from The range and two plastic ones from the Halloween shop in Liffey Valley. It is still a little early but you will be able to get more fake pumpkins in the next few weeks as it gets closer to Halloween. 

I painted some fake pumpkins, however, when I got down to Nook Ursula was painting some real ones for her Halloween shop window display. She gave me some fab tips for getting longer out of painting real ones and also gave me a demo on making your own clay mouldings. I put together a Youtube video for you to have a look at. 

Making your own mouldings

When I got down to Urusula’s shop, she was making up her pumpkins for her window display and she was making some clay mouldings, she let me have a try and I can safely say I am hooked! It brought me back to when I was in school and you would make things from clay. I took home a block of clay and a mould and I made some flowers for my pumpkins. 

I am definitely going to experiment again with the clay and moulds. It is really simple to do. You get your clay, loosen it up by rolling it between your fingers, push into the mould and remove the excess and peel it out of the mould and then place straight onto your piece and secure with some no more nails glue. The clay dries overnight too. You can have a look at the video to see us making them.  

Painting your pumpkins

I used Authentico vintage paint on my plastic and glass pumpkins. You will see in the video that Ursula showed me a stippling technique which she called smooshing. As my pieces were decorative I didn’t prime them. The vintage paint does say that it can be used without primer. I gave my pumpkins one coat except for the cream one, I gave the cream glass lantern two coats. Once dry I gave them a coat of clear matt varnish. 

If you are painting real pumpkins there is no need to varnish them unless you are putting them outside. 

Have you got any fun Autumn DIY’s planned? I love to see what you guys are getting up to so please share links to your blogs below or tag me over on Instagram. I had so much fun playing around with clay and new paints today! Normally I order my paint online but I will definitely be making a point to pop into my local craft shops more often as I learnt so much today from being down in nook. 

Thanks so much for reading and popping by today. A huge thank you to Ursula for letting me pop into her shop and let me film some demos. I hope you enjoy the video and please subscribe to my channel too. 

Chat soon, 

Catherine.

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5 Comments

  1. Pam Long
    September 29, 2017 / 7:35 pm

    I love when you take us on an adventure…big or small! Also, is that red shoes I spy on a pillow…how fun!

  2. Catherine Carton
    September 29, 2017 / 8:36 pm

    I am so glad you enjoyed the video Pam, Thanks so much for popping by x

  3. Joy W.
    October 7, 2017 / 7:48 pm

    Thank you so much for the inspiration! I love how mine turned out. I wish I could post the photo.Thank you,Joy

  4. Joy W.
    October 7, 2017 / 8:04 pm

    Thank you so much for the inspiration! I love how mine turned out. I wish I could post the photo.Thank you,Joy

  5. Poppy
    October 19, 2017 / 12:54 pm

    I have to admit, I was wondering: What is she going to do with that ugly orange glass pumpkin lantern? �� It turned out as a wonderful shabby chic vase. Still in the Halloween mood, without that orange glow 😉

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