We are pumpkin carvers. Painting pumpkins is a new adventure for the Joyous Family. Elijah, age 9, wanted to enter the elementary school’s storybook pumpkin contest this year. The pumpkins were displayed from Oct 15-31 too long for a carved pumpkin to serve–more on this in Painted Pumpkins Your Favorite Book.
Plus the boys hate putting their hands in pumpkin guts.
Painted pumpkins last longer with no mess and less stress right? Well we learned a few things along the way we thought we would share.
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Wash your pumpkin first. Let it dry completely otherwise the paint will run.
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Paint is forgiving. If you
mess up, just paint over it and try again. We painted over this messy batman symbol. -
With acrylic paint it is best to start early enough to let the layers dry in between coats or different decorations.
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While spray paint drys faster, it will run if you are not slow and steady with your strokes. A little at a time is helpful.
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After the spray paint cures for about 12 hours, you can dampen the stencil so it will stick to the round surface of the pumpkin better. (not too wet)
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When adhering items to the pumpkin (shark fins in our case),use super glue!! Anything else
will live residue and does not stick well.
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Clear coat spray paint did not make the shark pumpkin glossy. The clear coat spray paint just made it gummy.
As with all family projects, plan a time when this will be fun not a rush. We took about 4 days (an hour or so at a time) to experiment with the these two pumpkins.
Mistakes That Turned into Useful Learning
- like the runny yellow spray paint on the batman symbol,
- gluing fins on with Elmer’s glue (super glue is what surgeons use to glue wounds closed, so it is perfect for the skin of the pumpkin),
- drawing the face on the pumpkin before we did the base coat.
While mistakes are part of it and will happen. The pumpkin project got everyone in the family involved–each contributing their special talents. Watch video below for how we over came these issues.
More…
Ten Inspiring Pumpkin Painting Video Tutorials
Children’s Book Painted Pumpkins
Batboy and the Painted Pumpkin (funny video)
Walkways one of my favorite fall traditions. My kids are “too old” to carve pumpkins anymore, but I still appreciate the many I see as we walk the dog around the neighborhood.
Helene
Walkways are a favorite of mine too. We start looking for decorations in mid-October and then don’t quit driving out to see the lights until after Christmas! I will be sad when there is no more pumpkin carving in our house!