So at the weekend I launched a new tote design – pumpkins!
The totes are made from 100% recycled cotton and the pumpkins are hand-printed meaning each bag is unique – sometimes there’s a little extra paint here or there.
You can find the pumpkin totes and other designs (strawberry, radish, carrot) in my Etsy Shop – WonderfulWolfCrafts. They retail at £3.50 and I can ship internationally!
So unfortunately this Monday make didn’t quite go to plan, but I thought I’d post about it anyway because fails can be just as interesting.
I bought a white pumpkin from Morrisons Supermarket, it’s the first one I’ve ever seen! I thought carving it would be a waste: its peely wally skin was a little repulsive but also alluringly beautiful and I wanted to show it off. I decided it would be an ornamental, indoors pumpkin to complement my mini squash and pumpkin garland. Pintrest was my source of inspiration – I was not aware you could do so many things to them other than carve them, I cannot wait till next year now!
I really liked how some autumn leaves stuck to the skin looked, not completely Halloween themed so perfect to keep up afterwards without looking crazy. My glue was the source of the failure, it was just not tacky enough to get those darn leaves to adhere. The stuff I was using was basically PVA put into a fancy bottle meaning it’s wet, slippy and not at all sticky. I’d advise using a proper glue if you were to try this project, maybe even spray mount? As you can see the leaves ended up poking up at all points and I just didn’t have the patience to wait on each layer drying with ineffective results.
I gave up, pretty disheartened, and just sort of left it until later on when another idea struck me, this time it was to pin the leaves to the pumpkin with sewing pins. They have small enough heads to not be too noticeable but also manage to keep the leaves in place.
It did work, but it just still isn’t right. I think I’ve pinned too many on, as I’ve now hidden a lot of the beautiful skin that I wanted to show off. I’ll try re-pinning it all tomorrow but for the time being it shall stay as it is.
The annoyance that it wasn’t right was too much to sleep on, so I had to go and fix it. I think it’s a lot better now; I love that the leaves have started to curl up as they dry, it makes it look more natural and relaxed. Have you ever decorated a pumpkin rather than carve it? Also has anyone else came across a naturally white pumpkin, are the UK just late to the game?
So it occurred to me, as I was changing my home accessories to match the new season, that I was really lacking in autumnal themed objects. I decided I wanted to try and make one before heading to TKMaxx and purchasing one, and I’m so glad I did because I think what I made turned out super cute!
I picked up five polystyrene pumpkins from Hobbycraft at 50p each, and I already owned the needles, felt and jute. So technically this project cost me £2.50 and about 5 hours of my time on a lazy Sunday. Not bad huh?
I started off by roughly felting wool on to the pumpkin to create a base, and then went back over it with a second layer to fill in any gaps. Once I had the orange down, it was time to focus in on the detailing by repeatedly needling in between the sections to give it a proper shape. I attached the stalk and then needled in some jute string to enable them to be hung up. At this point I didn’t know whether they were going to hang at different levels as a bunch or in a garland.
I chose to felt two of the pumpkins in a darker rusty brown with a light stem and three in the classical orange with a dark stem. This was just to add a little variety, meaning I used four wool shades but technically if you were on a tighter budget, you’d only need two shades. I used one full pack and a bit for the three orange pumpkins so if you were planning on using the same colour for all 5 I’d suggest buying three 10gram packets of orange and only one of the green.
I chose to make them in to a garland as hanging bunch just didn’t quite sit right – they looked more like a radioactive bunch of garlic actually… At first I used slip knots to figure out where I wanted them all before tying them in to place a little more securely. The garland still didn’t look quite finished to me though: the tied knots and little tails of string looked untidy.
I decided that felting little balls on top of the knots was a nice decorative way to hide them, and I was much more pleased to call this it’s final look!
I am so happy with how it turned out! I think it’s cute and fun, and it felt way more satisfying making it myself than going out and buying something new. If we’re costing it up properly;
Jute String £1
2 x Orange Roving £3
1 x Rusty Brown Roving £1.50
1 x Dark Green Roving £1.50
1 x Light Green Roving £1.50
Felting Needle Tool £7
5 x Pumpkins £2.50
Grand Total = £18
Do you think that’s an okay total for a craft project? I certainly do. You’d have the needle tool for future projects, and you’d have the extra wool to play with too. I no doubt could have picked up something cheaper at TKMaxx but sometimes when creating handmade things saving money’s not the point.
WonderfulWolf 