Faux Mercury Glass Foam Pumpkin Topiary

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If you read my last post, you know how ready I am for fall.  It's still in the 90's here in Texas and I'm ready for a break from the heat.

To help me get in the fall mood, I began pulling my fall decor out of the attic. I found these foam pumpkins and knew they were the perfect candidates for a little CPR...Craft, Paint, Restyle.  

I've always loved the look of mercury glass pumpkins but the price tag not so much.  I read online somewhere that in order to make faux mercury glass, you needed to start with glass pumpkins. And the technique really wouldn't work on foam pumpkins.  

Well, I pretty much considered that a challenge.  Tell me something CAN'T be done and I will find a way to make it work.  

Since I had three pumpkins to work with, I decided to build a topiary.  

Here we go...to replicate this project you'll need:

  • Foam pumpkins (small, medium, large)
  • White, silver & black paint
  • Paint brush
  • Glue gun
  • Decorative knob
  • Ribbon (optional)

I started by painting the bottom (largest) and top (smallest) pumpkin white. Don't worry about the stem because it will be hidden inside the topiary.

Then, I dry brushed a dusting of silver over both of them.  BAM!  Starting to look like faux mercy glass.

On the smallest pumpkin, I added a tiny amount of black paint, smudging it as I went along. Adding the black paint, made it slightly different than the bottom pumpkin.

Using silver craft paint, I covered the middle pumpkin leaving some of the black peeking through. 

Once it was dry, I dry brushed a light layer of black to give depth and recreate the mercury glass look.

Have you ever noticed how totally unrealistic the stems looks on foam pumpkins?  I found a way to solve that problem!

I found this gorgeous crystal knob on clearance at Hobby Lobby last week.  Too fabulous to pass up, I bought it not having a clue what I was going to do with it. Please tell me I'm not alone on this one.

Any guesses how I'm going to use the knob?

Instead of an ugly, fake stem how about replacing it with a stunning crystal knob?! You're welcome for that little crafty nugget.  

Now that the painting part is finished, it's time to assemble.  I cut a hole in the base of the middle pumpkin so it fit over the stem of the base pumpkin. Using my glue gun, I attached the middle and the top pumpkins.

Once the topiary is assembled you can fancy it up as much or as little as you like.  Using silver ribbon I already had, I tied it around the crystal knob with a glitter monogram letter I found in my crafting stash. The R started out gold but I painted right over the glitter with my silver craft paint.

Crystal knob with ribbon and glitter letter on foam pumpkin.jpg

So, what do you think?  Did I achieve faux mercury glass with FOAM pumpkins?  It can be done y'all!

I need to finish decorating the rest of my porch but it's a start. I'm thinking I might need to repaint that urn black.  What do you think?  

This was a quick, easy and inexpensive way to create beautiful fall decorations for your porch or home.  If you're not ready to start breaking out your fall decorations, I hope you'll pin this for future inspiration.