Have you seen Pottery Barn's fall catalog? They have some gorgeous grouted, mercury glass pumpkins. The pumpkins are blown mercury glass with ribbed sides and grouted with concrete. I loved the look of the mercury glass pumpkins but I wasn't sure about the grouted part.
So off I went to the thrift store to find a glass pumpkin. I was actually looking for a lidded pumpkin jar but when I saw the glass light fixture globes, I thought they would be perfect. (I didn't take a before pic so pretend with me that the above pic hasn't been finished, ok?)
To give the globe the mercury glass look, I used #Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint. I love this stuff! The process is super simple and there are tons of how-to's on it. Basically, you spray a glass item from the back side of the glass and the mirror finish will show on the front.
For the mercury glass effect, spritz the glass with a little water before spraying. Give a quick spray. Allow to dry a minute then pat the water dry with a paper towel. It really does look like the old mercury glass.
Now, it was time for the grouting. I had unsanded grout on hand but I wasn't too sure I wanted to commit to covering up that beautiful mercury glass look. So, I took the safe route. I painted the entire globe with a white chalk paint and wiped off the ribbed areas, leaving the paint in the grooves. I was pleased with the final look but I still prefer the mercury glass over this one, that's why I decided not to paint the other globe.
Now what to do for a stem. I looked around my work room and thought about using small glass knobs. Hmm...didn't quite look like a pumpkin. I needed something that was kind of clear but malleable.
Oh wait! Glue stick! It was right in front of me.
I already had the glue gun out preparing to attach the leaves when it dawned on me that I could cut a glue stick in half and use it for the stem. Ok, so cutting it in half didn't quite resemble a real stem so I used the hot glue gun (without a glue stick in it) and began melting the stick. If you look at a pumpkin stem, it has grooves in it and it's usually cut at an angle when it's removed from the vine. Using the glue gun, I melted grooves down the length of the stick, turning and melting until the sides were no longer smooth. Working on what will be the exposed end, I pushed the tip of the gun into the end of the stuck and began pulling the melted glue out at an angle. It leaves little wispy curls which is perfect as the pumpkin has little tendrils near the stem too. Now, spray paint it with silver paint and glue it (using the glue gun loaded with a glue stick) to the top.
(UPDATED: I added these two photos to help explain how I did the stem.)
The last thing I needed to do was to make some leaves. I had already cut out some book page leaves for another project so I tried those and I really liked the combination. Ready to see the two pumpkins together?
I hope you give these a try. I paid $.99 for each globe and had the other items on hand. If you purchase the Looking Glass paint, it is somewhat costly but it goes a long way!
Thanks for stopping by and God bless!
Angie
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