DIY Malachite Pumpkin

Why not make a malachite pumpkin this year to add to your Halloween décor? A few years ago, I made a malachite pumpkin DIY for Design*Sponge. It was the perfect spooky chic, very modern and fun. I loved, loved, loved them. Halloween décor doesn’t have to be only for kids, in fact adding a little bit of classic style along with the standard skulls and bats can help make your home stand out from the crowd. I’ve created a lot of DIYs in my time and there are a few that just need a little upgrade. For example, in the original malachite pumpkin tutorial you can use already green acorn squash or just plain pumpkins and paint them green. They work beautifully, but here’s the thing: once you put in all the effort to paint them, once the season is over, and so are they. Disposable. I don’t know about you, but when I make something I want to be able to use it for more than one season, something that will last. This is especially important if it takes me a bit of time to make it.

This year, I am making these cool green pumpkins out of faux pumpkins. I found black ones with a really great shape. Feel free to pick and choose your favorite faux style, but try to get ones that don’t have seams that show, a pitfall of many plastic pumpkins. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this sooner, but I tried it and they are fabulous.

How to make a malachite pumpkin is really easy. Essentially, you are just adding various shades of green paint with a paint brush in a bunch of abstract formations. Layer by layer, each swirl gets a little smaller as you paint. Once you are done and the paint has dried, paint a thinned layer or green paint all over to glaze the paint strokes together. I just thinned my paint with water. Then, once that is dry, just coat with an acrylic sealer and voila. Malachite pumpkin. Helpful tip: practice on a separate sheet of paper.