How To Make Elegant Foam Pumpkins Using Silicone Molds

Gather Your Materials

• Paint (I used Frenchic Furniture Paint in a variety of colors, even mixing some to get the perfect shade) You can choose any variety of colors to fit your decor. I do prefer a chalk mineral paint. I like the matte finish, and the fact that most are non toxic and odorless. You can find Frenchic products in my Etsy store, linked below.
• You'll also need a variety of Redesign with Prima's decor molds. I used Bell Orchids, Cherry Blossoms, Winter Bloom, Botanist Floral, Sorrento Laurels, and Tillurie Flourishes. Obviously you don't need to use all of these, just choose the molds you'd like to make your design with. These are also found in my Etsy shop.
• Pickup some paper clay, found in most craft stores and on Amazon. If you have a Michael's store near you, grab a 40% off coupon and pickup it up there.
• You'll need some corn starch, this stops the paper clay from sticking.
• Wood glue
• A small paintbrush to use with the wood glue.
• And a paintbrush to dust the corn starch.

Paint your pumpkins the desired colors and allow to dry. The color used here is called Wise Old Sage, it's a gorgeous neutral pale green color.

Once the paint has dried, start making molds.

Dust the silicone mold with corn starch, you don't want it built up in the corners, just lightly dusted.

Grab a ball of paper clay and warm it up in your hands a bit by pressing it, rolling it, flattening it ect ..

Then press it into the mold, removing any excess. It's much easier to remove the excess clay while it's still in the mold rather than after you take it out.

Flip the mold over and start to slowly pull back on the edge so that the clay begins to pop out, keep going until the mold is completely out, lightly pulling on the clay to help it out if needed.

Once you have the molded clay out, carefully flip it over and put some wood glue on the back side. Be sure to get all of the edges. Then carefully place it on the pumpkin in the desired spot, lightly pressing down, ensuring it makes contact with the pumpkin.

Continue this process until you have the desired design.

You can overlap molds, just be sure it is adhered well.

Always apply the molds while the clay is still wet. Once dried, they are no longer pliable and will not form to the pumpkin.

You can also use 2 part amazing resin for extremely crisp details. These won't form to rounded edges like the clay will, but still a great option for smaller molds on the flat areas.

Mix the resin according to directions. It's usually equal parts of each. The amazing resin sets in just minutes, so it's best to only make a little at a time and move quickly.

Pour the mixed resin into the mold, no corn starch needs to be added beforehand, and allow to dry for about 10 minutes. You'll see it start to turn white as it dries. They pop out super easily! And the detail and lines are always crisp.

Amazing resin makes two different kinds. The quick set one and a regular one that takes about 24-48 hours to set. Make sure you get the one that best suits your project

Now that you have your molds on the pumpkins, they need to dry before painting. This usually takes about 12 hours. It's ok if they are still a bit wet, but you want the edges dry so that they don't chip off while painting.

Paint the molds the same color as the pumpkin, make sure you get the edges so that no white is showing.

I then dry brushed the pumpkins using Cream Dream, a creamy off white color.

When dry brushing, you want basically no paint on your brush. Wipe most of it off onto a paper towel/rag before brushing it into the pumpkins.

I like to dry brush in all different directions, left-right, up-down, diagonal. This highlights the texture more and I really like the look.

I love Frenchic's product called Frensheen! It's a metallic mineral pigment that is so bright and so pretty. For the sage, coral, and light blue pumpkins, I mixed gold and silver Frensheen with a little Finishing Coat to give me a pale gold. I then lightly brushed the tops of the molds with this mixture. I didn't get down into the details, I only wanted it on the raised areas.

For the darker blue and purple pumpkin, I used copper Frensheen in same way as above.

On the pumpkins without any molds, I dry brushed copper and Gold Frensheen over them.

Don't forget to paint the stems!

Now you have gorgeous unique pumpkins to put out on display ❤️

With so many different colors and decor molds available, options are endless! From traditional to country to steampunk, there are decor molds to suit your style!

Happy pumpkin making!

And enjoy your autumn 🍁🍂❤️