Hey girl, hey! Y’all, TikTok made me do this. We are going to pour mortar mix into pantyhose and get a pumpkin! Really? Yes, really. Trust me, it’s going to be cute!
I had to let my pumpkin dry overnight, so there are two videos. But look at how cute it is! It’s the one in front that looks like a real pumpkin!
Bonus: in the second video, I’m sharing some ideas for some beautiful glass pumpkins from the Dollar Tree!
Supplies:
Lowe’s or Home Depot: Cement or mortar mix, wide end funnel (I used a Solo cup!)
Dollar Tree: pantyhose or knee highs
Protective gloves, rubber bands (size of rubber bands depends on how big your pumpkin will be).
Let’s make it!
Remember when I did the German schmear technique on my brick fireplace? (Click here to check out the blog post.) Well, I have this mortar mix left over, so I’m going to use that. You can use either mortar or concrete mix for this project.
I “thrifted” my gloves AND the rubber bands from my own tie dye kit! You know I always say to “use what you’ve got”, right?
Did y’all know rubber bands can get old and brittle (just like the rest of us, right?) Old ones might work, but they may break when stretched.
I put my mortar into my pan and added water.
How much water? Just measure with love, y’all…just measure with love. BUT you want a thick batter. Too thick? Add water. Too thin? Add more mortar.
The girl on TikTok used a funnel, but I didn’t have one nearby, so I cut out the bottom of a Solo cup.
Then I cut one leg of the pantyhose off and stretched it over the end of my cup.
Woohoo! We have a funnel!
Y’all. This part was so stinkin funny!
I plopped the mixture into the cup and squeezed it all down into the toe of the pantyhose.
Then I did it again.
And again.
It was hysterical! There’s a big ole plump ball at the end, and y’all, I’m determined it’s going to be our pumpkin.
Next, I formed the indentations by putting the rubber bands on the ball (note that the ball is still encased in the pantyhose). You can see it is starting to look like a pumpkin!
I twisted the end of the hose into a squiggly vine on top. I will decide once it is dry if I will keep the hose on or cut it off.
I know, you’re probably thinking, “eww”. But as soon as it takes shape, you’ll want to make one too!
So far, so good! Now to wait for it to dry so I can paint it!
Day 2 of the cement pumpkin: It’s dry and time to make it look amazing!
(I had just finished another craft (click here to see it!) so you’ll see the craftermath on my table… it’s fine y’all, it’s fine.)
Removing the hose means dust! I realized it would be best to wear eye protection, take it outside and also cover your face so you don’t breathe in the dust.
And now it is all ready to paint!
Don’t be distracted by those bright red lines, y’all, it’s fine. It’s all fine.
So those lines will give us definition for the pumpkin and because the paint is still wet, will also blend well into the orange. I just kept working my brush until I got the color I wanted. I even added yellow and green! (See closeup below.)
Here are some closeups of the pictures above:
Speaking of closeups! I wanted y’all to see how the stem looks. It is actually the twisted part of the pantyhose that also had the mortar mix in it. I think it makes the perfect stem!
I painted it with Waverly Antique Wax and now I’m going to glue it onto the pumpkin.
But first, a final heat tool drying session!
Next, I glued the stem on with DAP Rapid Fuse super glue. You can use any kind of super glue that you have. Once it was glued on, I brushed some of the Waverly Antique Wax from the stem onto the pumpkin to blend it and make it look more natural.
Y’all, this is a favorite in my list of projects! It was not difficult, it turned out so pretty and it dried faster than even the paper mache pumpkin we made!
Can you believe this was a clump of mortar mix in a pair of pantyhose? This was so much fun to work with!
By the way, there is a glass pumpkin doing a photobomb in this image! What is that about?
I found these glass pumpkins at Dollar Tree and just had to bring them home to try something!
Each one was sealed on the bottom with a cardboard circle, which I removed. The idea is to put either a tea light or a string of lights in them and display them together.
One of our friends, Ms. Kimberly Johnson suggested stacking them, and wow! I hadn’t even thought of that! You guys sure have some great ideas.
Now to figure out how to light them up as a stacked trio!
I took them outside and spritzed them with water, then sprayed Krylon Looking Glass paint into it. This gave it an old glass look that I love!
Here are the insides. Sparkles are from the Looking Glass spray paint.
And this is how they will look once stacked together. I haven’t decided how to light them all up, but I’ll be working on that!
Whew! That was a busy crafting day! Let me know in the comments if you will try the cement / mortar pumpkins!
Thanks for stopping by,
XOXO-Erin
Leave a Reply