TikTok made me do it! A few weeks ago I saw Sierra L Miller’s Tiktok where she purchased this wooden blank from Michael’s and used acrylic paint to give it a vintage Halloween look.
I couldn’t resist. I miss the old-fashioned orange-and-black Halloween palette — I’m over pink pumpkins and disco ball skulls — AND I had an impending week off. I went to Michael’s, purchased the supplies, and got to work.
First, I covered the whole piece in Spiced Orange paint, blending in a little creamy yellow (color: Buttermilk) as I moved from the bottom pumpkin to the top for an ombre effect. I was too conservative with blending, so the gradient isn’t as dramatic, but two coats of paint later it was ready to dry overnight.
The next day, I used the buttermilk paint to add highlights around the features. The blank had those areas marked off, which saved me from guesswork. Two coats later I remembered a bottle of glow in the dark acrylic paint in my craft supply hoard. I thought it would be a fun idea to add that over the highlights to see if I could add an eerie glow.
Once that dried completely, I added black shadows between each pumpkin, and textured lines to the surfaces. These grooves were carved into the wood already, but painting all of them would have looked too stripey.
The outlining stage was the trickiest. I started off with a shaky hand but got steadier as I went. Once the outlines were completely dry, I touched up the yellow and orange spots.
The step that brings the decoration to the next level is painting some scrap wood black and gluing it behind the cut out faces. This gives the piece dimension. We had some very thin plywood in the garage; I measured the faces and used a jigsaw to cut out four pieces of wood. I painted those pieces and used wood glue to adhere them to the back of the larger decoration. It was raining outside that day, so I let that piece dry in the garage for two days.
Finally, I sealed the whole piece with Olympic WaterGuard. This will keep the decoration from warping once I put it outside, and it will also keep the paint bright. It’s very important to do this in a well ventilated area. I used two coats and dried it flat so that the sealant would absorb into the paint and not run.
LOOK AT THIS!
It’s adorably spooky and I can’t wait to put this outside. The original TikTok video is full of photo comments from people who copied the tutorial.
Craft rating: 10/10. Easy to do with a big visual payoff. If painting makes you nervous, start small with a single pumpkin blank.
Total cost: About $48 for the blank, two bottles of acrylic paint, and foam brushes. I already had black paint and detail brushes in my craft hoard.
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