What paint works best for Pumpkin Painting
By Spramani Elaun
In this blog I’m going to explain what paint works best for pumpkin painting, and share my best painting tips.
I get this question every fall from my students parents and teachers, what paint works for pumpkin painting?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUWiuaULyPo
The answer is Acrylic Paint works best for painting pumpkins.
Why acrylic paint works best for pumpkin painting!
- Acrylic paint is made with a polymer resin that dries like plastic, making it water proof.
- It will stick to a pumpkin for the life of the pumpkin.
- It usually has a semi shinny finish.
- If you put your pumpkin outside during the autumn season it will withstand weather and rain, no paint will drip off or wash away.
- Acrylic comes in safe student grade for kids.
So there you have it, five good reason why acrylic paint is the best choice for painting pumpkins. Acrylic can come in safe non-toxic student grade. Just check the bottles. Please do not use adult grade acrylics with small children. Adult grade paints may have dangerous chemical only adults can handle with care. Student grade will have a Conforms to ASTM D 4236 on the bottle, his means the paint is safe for kids to handle and has been tested by a toxicologists and is not harmful for kids.
Pumpkin Painting Best Tips:
So here’s some of my favorite tips on painting with kids. I paint hundreds of pumpkins with kids in my fall art events and classes.
Prep Your Pumpkin before painting.
Pick pumpkins that have no blemishes to keep them from rotting.
Pumpkins should be wiped down with soap and water or wiped off before painting.
Even take off those stickers!
Be sure pumpkin is dry before painting.
Where should you paint pumpkins
I recommend outdoors if it’s not too cold yet.
It’s much easier the handle any keep messy paint from moving around.
You can place a drop cloth on the ground in the back yard or garage.
Be sure small kids can move around the space.
If you have no drop cloth use old newspapers to catch paint drips.
Lastly, be sure to wear clothes that can get messy and withstand stains.
Even if you think you’re not going to get paint on them, you and kids should still wear art clothes or a painters smock, just be prepared!
Materials & Supplies
Acrylic Paints
Paintbrushes
Palette
Napkins
Water Jar
Have on hand a couple of paintbrushes, large and small ones. Sponges are also good to use for texture.
The water jar is where you will clean your paintbrushes in between colors.
Napkins are where you will wipe paintbrushes and any paint spills.
Palette is a place to hold paint. You can use a paper plate or bowl if you don’t have access to a palette.
Acrylic paint is best for pumpkins, however if you have no acrylic you can use tempera, or standard craft paints.
These paints wont be as thick or shiny as acrylic, but can work ok.
Remember some tempera may wash away in the rain.
That’s ok for young kids, the process is more important that the long-term effects of archiving the painting.
Tip: Don’t give kids too much paint, start with quarter size squeeze. I would show kids
how to paint small brushstrokes first.
If kids want to cover the whole pumpkin, just use up the quarter size squeezes, they go a go a long way, before refilling paint.
Color Pop
Try to use bright colors that will contrast the orange.
Use bright colors, like yellow, light green, white, purple, pink and black. These colors will give color pop!
Glam pumpkins with glitter!
Here’s a fun idea, my daughter and I love glittering up our pumpkins and almost anything craft wise we paint with acrylic during the holidays.
If you put glitter on a wet acrylic it will glue on and stay right in the wet spot. It’s so great looking and festive. My students get so excited when I pull out the glitter, try it!
So, in this blog I shared my best paint to put on pumpkins, my materials and supply list, top tips, and how to give your pumpkin color pop. Happy Autumn!