Gilded Pumpkins

If it’s true that my love of the color red somehow influenced my choice of universities then it follows that I subconsciously shied away from certain other institutions of higher learning.

I’m not a big fan of anything orange. Not the color, not the fruit, not the juice, not the sherbet.

And my lack of love leaves me torn because I adore everything about a batch of mini pumpkins…

…except their color.

So what’s a non-orange-loving gal to do with a batch of very orange mini pumpkins?

Paint them of course!

Thrilled doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about the new Martha Stewart Decorative Paint from Plaid. This stuff is nothing short of amazing. The colors are deeply pigmented, available in 160 shades and five finishes, can be used both indoors and out, and best of all can be used on any surface…wood, glass, ceramic, fabric, metal, plastic, and, yes, even pumpkins.

I chose three of the metallic finishes for my painted pumpkins…rust, copper, and yellow gold (pictured left to right).

I began by applying the deepest metallic, Rust, in each of the pumpkin’s crevices.

Without bothering to wash or trade out brushes (I just wiped it on some paper I’d put down to protect my table), I applied Copper to the left and right of each painted crevice and blended slightly.

After wiping the brush again, I applied a streak of Yellow Gold down the center of the pumpkin’s ridge and blended the gold into the copper.

I made sure I painted the entire pumpkin, top and bottom.

Once the pumpkins were dry, I painted the stem with a 50/50 mixture of Yellow Gold metallic and Vanilla Bean in satin finish.

A few final touches of Rust metallic on the stem for highlights, a few hours of drying time, and I had the perfect non-orange filler for my outdoor lantern.

I’m thinking this extra tall lantern may need another pumpkin or two, but this is such a quick and easy project I think I can manage to get a couple more finished before it’s time to take down fall decor and put up Christmas.