Paper Clay Pumpkins

Wendy Barrish
by Wendy Barrish
4 Materials
$5
3 Days
Easy

I had an urge to fill my home with pumpkins, but I really wanted to make them from scratch. This is my first attempt at using paper clay and I LOVE it! I will definitely be making more.

Cut strips of paper


The first thing you need to do is cut up strips of newspaper. You can always cut up more if you need along the way.

Soak it in water


Place the paper strips in a bowl of water and let soak for a few hours or overnight. The more it soaks, the easier it'll be to blend into clay.

Blend it


You will need a blender for this part! Place the wet paper, water, and flour into the cup. I used about a handful of paper, 2 spoon of flour, and a 1/4 cup of water.


Once it's blended it should look like this.

Drain the water out


The mixture will be very wet, and impossible to shape into anything. At this point you need to squeeze and drain out the water.

This is what it should look like, and then you are ready to shape the pumpkins.

Take a look at how I shaped the pumpkins. I used a small paintbrush which formed the wet clay really nicely.

Once you form the pumpkins, let them dry. Heads up, they can take up to 2 days to dry- they are packed with water!

Once they are fully dry, the first thing you need to do is paint a base coat. I used gesso. This way, the paint won't become fully absorbed into the clay.

Next you can paint the color you'd like. I went for a light blue.

I painted the stems gold!

There they are! I love my little pumpkins, and will definitely be making more.

Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • Hilary Hilary on Jan 21, 2021

    Could you use this on top of a base to do a larger pumpkin?

  • Lorraine Lorraine on Oct 15, 2021

    can I use paper from the shredder??????????

  • Jeanne Martin Jeanne Martin on Oct 17, 2021

    Just curious, what is the white thing they are sitting on?

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 8 comments
Next