String Pumpkins: tutorial

When I was a little girl my mom used to make easter eggs using string and starch. This week I decided to try making some string pumpkins since you might think I was a little crazy posting Easter Eggs right now.

It worked great so I decided to share them with you. Do you want to make some of these?

Let's get started...

You will need balloons (one per pumpkin), white glue, water, foam craft brush or paintbrush, and crochet yarn. That's all.

I could only find a yellowish orange crochet yarn but I didn't let that stop me. I also found a fuzzy thread on clearance that I used on one pumpkin.

First mix glue and water in a 3:1 ratio. It should be like a thick soup.  Use the glue to coat the entire balloon surface.

Slowly wrap the string around the balloon.

 Keep wrapping, occasionally patting the entire surface of the balloon and string with more glue. You need to pat so you don't pull the strings off the balloon.

Keep going... until your balloon looks something like this:

Then hang it up to dry by tying a string around the balloon knot.

Now repeat to make more and learn how fun it is to take pictures of floating orange orbs.



If you want to make a fuzzy pumpkin than you need to complete all the above steps including hanging it up to dry. While it's hanging up, give it one last coat of the glue/ water mixture. If you look at the fuzzy string closely, there is one side that is actually fuzzy and one side that is just a braid. Wrap the braid side around the pumpkin several times but do not reapply any more glue because then you will glue down the fuzzys. Just do a couple of passes, don't go too crazy or it won't have enough glue to hold it. Let it dry.

Let all the balloons dry overnight and then using scissors, snip the top of the balloon by the knot. As the air leaves the balloon, it will pull away from the yarn leaving you a perfect sphere. Pretend you see a photo here.

Pull the balloon out of the top and you're almost done!

Now to make the pumpkin shape, just lightly push the top and bottom inside the sphere until you have a pumpkin shape. It should hold on it's own.

Trim off any loose strings, add a stem and a leaf.. and here you go...

You could also add a felt pumpkin face for halloween using tape and then gently remove it for thanksgiving. I love the double duty crafts.

Go make pumpkins! No dirt, watering, or waiting for months required.