Now that summer temps are starting to drop, I am looking forward to enjoying the cooler autumn weather. With that thought comes the inclination to decorate my house with fall-themed décor. In an effort to depart from the normal items, I searched Pinterest for a different spin on a fall decorating staple: the pinecone. I found this tutorial for treating them with an ombre hue, and decided to give it a whirl. I’ve given the details for creating this quick and easy ombre pinecone craft, below. I hope you enjoy!
Materials
What is Ombre?
Ombre is, quite simply, when a color graduates from light to dark. To achieve this effect with my acrylic paints, I used both black and white paint to mix into my base colors of pink, orange and green.
Preparing Your Pinecones
If you order your pinecones from Amazon as I did, they should arrive clean and ready to go. If you are fortunate enough to find them “in the wild,” here is a great tutorial for baking the pinecones. This causes them to open up, and eliminates any potential bugs living inside of them.
Getting Started
Begin by protecting your worksurface with newspaper or, in my case, an old vinyl tablecloth. I could only find small pinecones, so I have slightly less overall ombre than the Pinterest tutorial that I followed.
Create your paint palettes. Make sure to include white with any of your base colors, so that you can mix the paints to achieve a gradual color gradation.
If you would like to darken your base color, add a small amount of black acrylic paint.
Use your angled paint brush and start at the bottom of the pinecone. Paint the tips about 1/3 of the way up with your darkest color, then add some white to your base paint. Finish the top of the pinecone with your lightest variety of paint.
Allow your pinecones to dry overnight. I applied thick coats of paint, so only 1 coat gave sufficient coverage. Assess your pinecones as they dry; you may need to apply up to 3 coats of paint to the tips.
Decorating with Your Ombre Pinecones
I picked a pile of random, volunteer pumpkins from my compost garden, to use as table decorations. I mixed in my ombre pinecones, and love the unexpected punch of color they bring!
Jackie Baird Richardson is an interior designer, editor at The WON and avid junker. Watch for her design tips and occasional crafting ideas, bringing the outdoors indoors. View all posts by Jackie Richardson
