Painted Pumpkins

How to Paint These Versatile Pumpkin Decorations

These polka dotted painted pumpkins are very easy to make - and very quick too if you use black paint as the main color.

That is because one coat of black paint usually is sufficient, whereas lighter colors almost certainly will require at least two coats and perhaps more.

The painted pumpkins in the photo are artificial. You can use real pumpkins if you prefer. (Of course, they eventually will rot.)

These pumpkins can be adapted as crafts for any holiday. At the bottom of the page are photos of a black and orange Halloween pumpkin with polka dots and green and white St. Patrick's Day pumpkins with shamrocks.

The possibilities are endless!

They came with wires coming out of the bottom (as shown in photo) because they are meant to be attached to autumn centerpieces. I pulled the wires out, using pliers.

• Crafts supply stores also carry artificial pumpkins that do not have the wire.

Some artificial pumpkins are smooth. Others have a fuzzy peach-like surface. (The white pumpkin in the top photo was fuzzy.) I prefer the smooth ones because they don't need as much paint.

Materials

Small pumpkin (real or artificial)

Acrylic craft paint in two contrasting colors of your choice

Paint brush or brushes (I used a brush with one inch width to paint the pumpkin and a small brush to paint the stem.)

Pencil with unused eraser tip (to apply the polka dots)

Ribbon

• Use this applicator if you want to make "doughnut" style dots.
• The sponge applicator makes a larger circle than the pencil eraser does. I used it to make black dots on the small white pumpkin shown in the photo at the top of the page.
• After I had added the black dots, I thought they looked too big, so after the black paint dried I added white dots inside the black circles, using the pencil eraser.

Instructions

Wash and dry the pumpkin.

• This is necessary whether the pumpkin is real or artificial. One time I painted an artificial pumpkin that looked clean without washing it. I used white paint. The first coat had brownish-yellow streaks from some unseen dust or coating on the pumpkin. (After the first coat dried, I painted it again. Fortunately this second coat covered the yellow.)

Paint the pumpkin one color.

• I squeeze paint onto a paper plate which serves as a palette, as shown in the photo above on the left.
• Paint the bottom of the pumpkin and set it on a container to dry, as shown in the middle photo above.
• Paint the top of the pumpkin and set it on the container to dry, as shown in the photo above on the right.

Alternative: Or you can paint the entire pumpkin in one step and prop it up to dry as I did with the green pumpkin shown in the photo to the right.

I stuck the end of a broken craft paint brush into the small hole at the very bottom of the pumpkin (where the wire had been).

Then I inserted the other end of the brush into a small glass ball ornament inside a small container. Depending upon the size and weight of the pumpkin, you may need to use a heavier container than I did to prevent it from tipping over.

Using the same color you used for the stem, dip the pencil eraser into paint and make dots on the pumpkin. Place the dots in whatever pattern you want to and make as many dots as you like. Let dry.

Optional: For "doughnut" style dots on your painted pumpkins, use the sponge-on-a-stick paint applicator first and let the paint dry. Then use the pencil eraser to add the doughnut "holes".

Tie a bow around the stem.

Halloween Polka Dot Pumpkin

Shamrock Pumpkins

You easily can adapt the instructions and make shamrock pumpkins like these.

Just use green and white paint and ribbons. And for the shamrocks, use your pencil eraser to paint clover shapes consisting of three touching dots. Then paint a small stem using a thin paint brush.