Using only three shades of metallic paint, you can create this faux diy mercury glass pumpkin! So pretty! Read more to see how I created this project.
By layering colors of metallic paint, you create a rich depth of color that has a sheen very similar to the look of mercury glass.
Supplies:
- Medium size craft pumpkin
- Modern Masters Metallic Paints (sage, hunter green, oyster)
- Paint brush (average size plus a tiny detail brush)
- Paper towels
- Wax paper
- Burlap scraps
- Scissors
- Furniture nails
- Optional for display: spanish moss, vintage urn
DIY Mercury Glass Pumpkin
Here’s your typical faux pumpkin you can find at most craft stores or dollar stores!
Step One: Apply a coat of sage-colored metallic paint to the pumpkin.
This paint goes on very smooth and thin coats are all that is needed. Let dry.
Step Two: Paint a coat of metallic paint in hunter green over the sage lightly.
As you paint, use your brush to fan out the paint from the stem down to the bottom and don’t cover the sage color completely.
Step Three: Add more sage metallic paint here and there, again keeping your brush moving the paint in a vertical direction.
At this step, to get the thinnest coats possible, I imitate a dry brush technique, wiping most of the paint off of my paint brush (onto a paper towel) before applying the paint to the pumpkin.
This makes achieving the variations in color much easier. (Use the paint from the paper towel first before dipping into the paint jar again.)
Helpful tip: To get the hang of this technique, practice painting on some scrap paper or paper towels first before applying the paint to your pumpkin.
Step Four: Apply a very light coat of metallic paint in an oyster (pale cream) color.
Again, wipe most of the paint off of the brush like in Step Three. The oyster shade provides that mirror look and adds depth to the colors you are layering onto the pumpkin.
Step Five: Without waiting for the paint layers to dry, apply more sage and hunter green paint to the pumpkin here and there, again layering the colors starting at the top and working your way down.
At this point, you are making the pumpkin look exactly how you want it to look. There’s no right or wrong way, just do what is pleasing to your own eyes!
Step Six: Using a small detail brush, touch up and enhance the faux pumpkin stem.
This is helpful also to cover up any paint you may have gotten onto the stem, like I did in the picture below left! I used brown paint to cover the stem. Once dry, I added some black paint here and there, which you can see below right where I was halfway done.
Let the pumpkin dry for a few hours or overnight.
Step Seven: Cut out two leaf shapes from burlap scraps. Attach them to the top of the pumpkin with brass-colored furniture nails.
By the way, furniture nails are a great craft supply! I love using them as accents on craft projects.
I used three nails as a nice accent on this pumpkin.
To display, I used a vintage urn I’ve had for quite some time that I never knew what to do with. It became the perfect display stand! I stuffed the bottom with plastic bags then added a bed of spanish moss.
And now I have a pretty faux mercury glass pumpkin! I love the different textures (metallic and burlap) together.
The easy tutorial for the trio of little glittered pumpkins – which also have finishing nails as decoration – can be found here on my Pet Scribbles blog. (And the glitter doesn’t fall off at all!)
Have you painted any pumpkins yet this year?
Happy crafting!
~Laura
