Painted gourd goes from faux to gold

Painted gourd goes from faux to gold. Plus tips for painting gourds and updating your fall decor in the bottom of your fall storage box.

Is a pumpkin a gourd? I googled it and still have no inkling what a pumpkin is of for that matter what’s a gourd!

I just know I’m not eating a gourd anytime soon.

But I do know how to paint a gourd, real or faux.

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These foam or plastic type of gourd and pumpkins are everywhere in different colors and sizes. This one was an ugly orange. At one point, I painted it sorta soft peach. Not it’s getting a rustic glamour update. Oh, notice the dent. I’m not sure if the dent’s intentional when it was made or from being squashed in the bottom of my fall box!

I plan on accenting the dent.

I pulled out that ugly plastic stem. I’ll replace it with a cool idea.

What kind of paint do you use to paint gourds?

Gourds real or fake take well to all paints. Since I’m not a fan of cleaning oil paint outta paintbrushes I use water-based paints.

On my gourd, I used white chalk-type paint to cover the layers of ugly. I painted two coats letting the paint dry between coats.

Next, I used latex paint to add style to this pumpkin for our fall home tour.

After the paint dries completely, I started applying the glue for gold leafing. The glue is milky in color and hard to see on white paint. I didn’t want to completely cover the gourd with gold. Just highlight area on the gourd. Areas around the top and drips down and that dent!

Let the glue “dry” to a tacky feel for 15 to 30 minutes. Here in Arizona, I waited about 10 minutes.

Gold leaf sheets are extremely fine. It comes stacked between tissue paper. I bought 100 sheets that are 5 1/2 square and the stack is way under 1/2 inch.

Apply the gold leaf by placing over an area covered with glue. Rub lightly to set. Use a stiff brush to remove the excess gold leaf. I use a stencil brush. Notice above I applied the glue around that dent. The gold leaf stuck to the glue but not to the center of the dent.

By the way, this is not the time to sneeze!

I hold up the gourd to light to be sure all the glue is covered with gold.