Wood Slice Pumpkins
These wood slice pumpkins are SO PRETTY! Transform a simple wood slice into an adorable fall decoration that’s perfect for autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.
Add a bit of rustic farmhouse style to your holiday decor with these DIY pumpkin wood slices. They’re super easy to make, using only a few simple supplies, and they look great on the mantle or side table!
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DIY Wood Slice Pumpkins
Materials:
- Large wood slice(about 8 to 10 inches across)
- Orange acrylic paint
- Tacky glue
- Small branch(about 2 inches long)
- Pipe cleaner
- Floral tape(optional)
- Twine
- Fabric leaves(green, or fall colours)
Equipment:
- Paintbrushes(1 small, 1 large)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Paint the wood slice
- Add a generous amount of paint to the center of your wood slice.
- Use a small paintbrush to paint a border 1/2 inch away from the edge of the wood slice.
- Use a larger brush to spread the paint across the wood slice, inside the border.
- Add more paint as needed until the wood slice is covered in a thin layer of paint.Allow to dry for about 45 minutes or until mostly dry to the touch.
Step 3: Add the pumpkin stem
- Stand the wood slice up and find the top center. Add a generous amount of tacky glue to this spot on the bark.
- Press the pumpkin stem (the small branch) into the glue and hold it in place for a few seconds, pressing it down to help it stand on its own.Allow the glue to dry for about 1 to 2 hours.
Step 4: Decorate the wood slice pumpkin
- Wind floral tape around the pipe cleaner.You can also leave the pipe cleaner as is, but we liked the colour and texture of the green tape.
- Wind the covered pipe cleaner around a pencil, creating a coiled pumpkin tendril.
- Uncoil part of the tendril and wrap it around the pumpkin stem. Twist the pipe cleaner around itself to keep it in place.
- Cut 2 lengths of twine about 44 inches long. Line up the two strands and find the center. Wrap the twine around the stem a couple times and then tie a bow.
- Add hot glue to the back of a fabric leaf.
- Press the leaf into place on the side of the pumpkin stem. Attach the leaf to the wrapped pipe cleaner or the twine, because hot glue doesn’t stick well to the bark.Add a second leaf to the other side if you’d like, or layer 2 leaves on one side.
- Your wood slice pumpkin is complete!
Helpful Tips:
1. Paint both sides of the wood slice to make a fun and festive centerpiece.
2. Screw a picture frame hook on the back of the pumpkin to hang it on the wall.
3. If your twine is very straight you can make it curly by wetting it and wrapping it around the tacky glue bottle, paint bottle, or a skinny glass. Then let it dry overnight.
Where can I buy a wood slice to make this pumpkin decor?
You can buy wood slices at Michaels or another craft store, or you can find them on Amazon.
Also check your local online classifieds or wedding groups on Facebook. Brides often use wood slices for centerpieces and then sell them afterwards. This is a good way to get wood slices for a lot cheaper than at the store.
And if you have access to a fallen tree and a chainsaw you can also cut your own wood slices!
How to prepare fresh wood to make wood slice pumpkins?
Wood slices can be expensive, so it’s great if you can cut your own (or know someone who can cut some for you). We used a chainsaw on a fallen tree to cut our wood slices.
Normally you would need to wait weeks, or even months, for wood to properly dry out. So we placed the wood slices in a 200F convection oven.
It will take anywhere from 3 – 6 hours in the oven to dry the slices enough to work with them. The time needed will depend on how thick the wood slices are and how wet they were to start with.
Once the slice is dry enough, sand one side just enough to get rid of the chain saw marks. You can also leave the wood slice with a rough finish, but it’s a lot harder to paint with the chainsaw grooves on the surface.
What size are these wood slice pumpkins?
We used wood slices that are roughly 8 inches in diameter. The ideal thickness for the wood slice is about 1 inch, since they will stand on their own, even after adding a stem and decorating them.
How to get pumpkin wood slices to stand up?
If your wood slice is too thin, or if it’s cut on a bit of an angle, it might have trouble standing up after the stem and decorations are added to the top.
There are several ways to fix this. First, you can attach the bottom of the wood slice to the center of another wood slice, with glue or a screw. Paint the stand brown or add more leaves, pinecones, and/or acorns along the base.
Another option is to cut the wood slice to be flat on the bottom. Or drill a hole in the back and support the pumpkin with a dowel. You can also set the wood slice pumpkin on a plate/picture stand.
Or, simply rest the pumpkin up against a wall or in a windowsill. Even if your wood slice pumpkin needs to rest against something to stand, it will still look great!
How else can I paint my wood slice pumpkins?
Write a message on the pumpkin wood slice, like “Hello Fall”, “Grateful”, or “Happy Thanksgiving”. You can use a thin brush or paint markers to do this.
You can also paint veins on the pumpkin with a darker (or lighter) shade of orange, or add glitter on top of the paint for a fancier, sparkling look. Paint a jack-o-lantern face on the wood slice for Halloween, or cut the facial features out of black felt.
What if I don’t have twine or fake leaves?
You can decorate the wood slice pumpkins with ribbon and/or raffia instead of twine. Instead of fake leaves you can also cut a leaf shape from green burlap or another rustic fabric.
How else to create tendrils for the wood slice pumpkin?
You can use floral wire or twine to make the pumpkin tendrils. To coil twine into a spiral shape, first wrap a pencil with plastic wrap. Then dip the twine into glue. Use your fingers to remove the excess glue and wind the twine around the covered pencil. Allow it to dry overnight.
We love how easy these wood slice pumpkins are to make, and they turned out so nicely! Make one, or make a group of them to create your own pumpkin patch. So fun!
Here’s even more pumpkin craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
