Miniature Pumpkin Prop Tutorial

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      Well, it's October already, the air is getting cooler and cooler, leaves turn yellow. It means it's one of my favourite holidays soon. Yes! Halloween time!
       I thought I'd make couple of Halloween themed photo shoots this year, but when I started looking for props I realized I must make them myself, since most of the stuff I find in stores or online is the wrong size or shape.
      So, the first thing to set the right mood is of cause to make some carved pumpkin.


 Materials and Instruments

1. Any oven-hardening modelling clay;
2. Paper;
3. Tinfoil;
4. Acrylic paint;
5. Dry pastel;
6. Sculpting tools (I used a simple wooden skewer to create texture);
7. Brushes;
8. Art knife (possibly a pair of tweezers as well).


       So, lets get started! This tutorials is intended for those who want to make the miniature pumpkins lightweight or has not enough clay at hand to make them solid.



 1. Make the base for your pumpkin. Roll balls from any kind of paper and cover them with a single layer of tinfoil. If you make them from paper only it will be nearly impossible to take it all out when the pumpkins are baked.




 2. Roll a thin layer of modelling clay (approximately 2 mm. thick) and cover the paper ball with it, leaving an opening at the base (you will need it later to take the paper out). I used white clay, because that's all I had at that time, but you can use orange clay right from the start. Make sure your hands and the surface you work on is clean.

3. Use your sculpting tools to make texture, use the dull point of the skewer to make lines. Then add the stalk and some texture to it with the sharp point of the skewer. 

4. Half bake your pumpkin batch. If you use Fimo clay like I do bake it for 16-20 minutes, set the oven temperature to 110 °C (230 °F).

 

5. When pumpkins are cooled, take the paper and then tinfoil out of them through the bottom opening. You will need an art knife and maybe a pair of tweezers for that. Then carve the pumpkins using the art knife. It is better to carve half baked molding clay, because it is still soft enough for carving but you will definitely not deform the pumpkin while doing it. (You can see my half baked batch of cleaned and carved pumpkins in the screenshot. I've also made couple of pumpkin shaped bags for candy and several small plain pumpkins for autumnal photo shoots).
 
6. Now it's painting time! (If you sculpted pumpkins from coloured clay in the first place skip this step and move to step 7). I painted two layers of paint varying shades slightly from pumpkin to pumpkin and then letting it dry for several hours afterwards.
 
 7. This step is purely optional, but if you want to make your pumpkins more realistic and gritty looking add some dry pastel.  Shave some of it on a piece of paper. Apply the powder with clean dry brush to highlight and darken certain areas of the pumpkin, thus making it visually more interesting. I used some browns, whites and a warm yellow shade.

8. Bake your batch for another twenty minutes at 110 °C (230 °F). If will seal the acrylic paint nicely. That's it!

Below you can see some of the 1/6 and 1/4 size pumpkins I made using this tutorial. Thank you for reading!




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About




Hello!
My name is Mari and I'm a BJD collector and craft enthusiast from Ukraine. I'm passionate about photography, so I take quite a few photos of my dolls and the dolls of my friends.

I also own Greyeyed's Doll Wardrobe Etsy shop.

You can as well find me on Flickr and Den of Angels(DOA).




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