Make a Grungy Primitive Pumpkin for Halloween

 I make almost all the accessories for my Halloween witch dolls and their pumpkins are no exception. I cannot find exactly the right primitive looking Jack o' Lanterns for my projects so I make them. 

Say what?

Yup, this grungy little guy is handmade. All it takes is a styrofoam ball, tissue paper, mod podge or white glue, craft paint and a stick for the stem. Here is how!

Start with a round styro ball. Smoosh it down with slow, even pressure to make slight flat spots on top and bottom. Then use the tip of a skewer or skinny paint brush to score in some seams.

Use the tip of a craft knife, x acto blade or even a steak knife to cut the eyes, nose and mouth holes.

Coat the whole ball with mod podge or white glue. Stick it on a skewer or the handle of a paint brush for the next part.

Tear your tissue paper in small pieces, less than 1" square. While the pumpkin is still wet lay the paper pieces carefully over the whole ball, using a soft skinny paint brush to gently coax it into all the crevices. This smooths out the surface so your pumpkins looks pumpkiny and not styrofoamy. 

;o)

After the tissue layer is dry paint your pumpkin with bright orange craft paint.

 Once the first layer of paint is dry, go over all your crevices and holes with a q tip dipped in brown paint. Get it in there and don't worry about being neat about it because the next thing you are going to do is use a clean q tip to remove the excess brown paint. The brown paint in all the crevices will make your carving details POP.

Poke a hole in the top and hot glue a short stick in for a stem.

Next, use another q tip with black paint and get it deep into your carved face crevices. See how delightfully prim and creepy this makes your pumpkin look? 

I hot glued a tiny silk leaf to the stem and put him in a miniature basket. I LOVE it!

You can make this prim pumpkin out of bigger styrofoam balls, too. Next I will try to make some primitive grungy skulls out of egg shaped styrofoam. That should be fun!

 This would be a fun craft for kids with proper supervision. The  neat thing about primitive pumpkins is that they never have to look perfect. Have fun with it!