Papier Mache Pumpkin Tutorial

There are lots of tutorials online for making paper mache pumpkins, this is just the most half-arsed version. If you want to make a umm whole-arsed version instead check out the amazing work of Stolloween or the incredibly talented Ultimate Paper Mache

You will need:

Plastic bag

Newspaper

Aluminium foil

String

Masking tape

Scalpel

Ready mixed wall filler (optional)

PVA glue

Acrylic paint

Foam clown nose

Fill a carrier bag with crumpled newspaper and tie the handles together

Wrap the bag with string – you want to create the pumpkin ribs by tying the string tight enough to cause uniform bulges

Cover the bag in foil and twist the foil around the bag handles to create the stem. You dont strictly need to use foil, I just love using it to model with.

Use masking tape to stick the foil down. I added extra tape to add extra definition to the ribs.

Cover the top of the pumpkin with a layer of papier mache and leave to dry (or use a hairdryer to speed it up). Once dry, turn it over and papier mache the underside.

Use small pieces of newspaper around the stem

You can either keep repeating these steps until you’ve built up about 5-6 layers of papier mache, or you can cover it all in one layer of ready mixed wall filler. Guess which method I chose. Leave a gap in the middle of the underside of the pumpkin as you’ll be cutting this bit out later.

 

Looking a lot like a giant garlic bulb

Don't pick it up by the stem until it's totally dry or this will happen

Easily fixed with another layer of paper mache

Let's give it a face!

 Sketch out a face design on a folded piece of paper to use as a stencil. Cut it out while still folded, then draw the design onto the pumpkin.

I woke up like this

Turn the pumpkin over, cut a circle from the bottom and remove the crumpled newspaper and any loose foil.

Cut out the eyes and mouth

Paint the pumpkin with orange acrylic. I left the area around the face white then dabbed a bit of white paint using a dry brush around the edge where it met the orange. This kind of made it look like the white was sitting on top of the orange. Like a clown's face paint would look. Sort of.

Paint the face details using acrylics and paint the stem green.

Hot glue a foam nose on and you're done!

Stick an LED tealight inside and enjoy your horrifying creation :-)