I spotted this adorably squat (light up) jack-o-lantern while perusing my local thrift shop with a price tag of only $5.99. His face looked a bit morphed (like something heavy was sitting on his head for years), but it gave him this charming personality. I also thought he would look adorable with that upcycled Pottery Barn terracotta painted look, to fit into my aesthetic. However, I wanted him to look more like antiqued terracotta with all of it gorgeous aged neutral colors. So, this is what I did...

After removing the bulb and plug from the bottom, to prevent damage, I collected my supplies:

-Baking Soda

-Red, Yellow, beige and dark tan craft paint (or you can just buy terracotta colored craft paint, if you dont want to mix)

-Paint brush

-Paper Plate

-Flour

From here I started to mix three different colors on my paper plate: a terracotta color (I mixed red, yellow and beige craft paints, but you can buy a terracotta color if you want), used a dark tan paint from the tube for darker areas on the pumpkin. With all of these paints dolloped on my paper plate I sprinkled some baking soda (about 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 2 tablespoons of paint, but this doesn't have to be exact and you can eyeball it) into each color to give the paint a matted texture. You can watch the video of how I painted this pumpkin here.

I coated the entire pumpkin with the mixed terracotta color while the terracotta color was still wet (very important... it must be wet paint to blend smoothly) I blended the other colors where it would be naturally worn, like around his base, the stem and in some of his pumpkin crevasses. By incorporating more colors than that just the terracotta color I created these beautiful colored variants on the surface, making it look more realistic to actual vintage terracotta than nearly all of the other terracotta DIY's I have seen.

To wrap this up, the paint must still be wet when you sprinkle, throw, and blow flour onto your pumpkin. I was heavier with the flour around the top of the pumpkin, to give it more variation. 

I'm so stoked with how this cutie turned out and even more stoked that the pumpkin only cost me $5.99, compared to the name brand terracotta pumpkins! This is an affordable and easy upcycling project even the least crafty person would be able to take on. AND while you may have seen this upcycling project before, try and elevate this project by incorporating more than just that terracotta color - I swear it will make it more realistic!

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