Have you seen gorgeous cement pumpkins and wished to make your own? I’ve wanted to try it for years and finally did!!! Here’s my take on the project, supplies used and tips!

You will need a bag of Quikrete High Strength Concrete Mix. The smallest bag I could find at lowes was 60 pounds and it is heavy!!! I’d recommend placing an order online to pick up and have it loaded for you or if shopping in store ask for help.

You’ll need a bucket to mix in. I bought this at lowes or you can use an old bucket. Don’t worry about knowing measurements. To stir I used free stir sticks from the paint department.

You DO you want to wear gloves. I didn’t for the first couple and could feel my fingers drying out. There are chemicals in the concrete and it’s best to wear gloves for this process. I used rubber garden gloves that we had on hand.

There are lots of rocks in your bag of concrete. Yes, small rocks! I used a kids sand sifter and put it over my mixing bucket to sift. You can use a shovel, cup or small bucket to scoop small amounts of cement from the bag.

Cover your work surface with newspaper for easy clean up.

I tossed the rocks aside. Repeat until you think you have enough (32oz or so) for a small pumpkin.

Not knowing what to expect I bought knee highs which come with 12 in one pack. I bought 2 packs and one pair of panty hose. You can cut each leg of the hose into 2 pieces. I figured those would work better for larger pumpkins.

You can use twine to tie your ridges. If you opt to use twine cut 3 pieces the same size and lay out in a star shape. You’ll sit your pumpkin in the center of the star then tie up.

You can also use 3 rubber bands per pumpkin. I tried both and they both worked just fine.

Here was the hard part for me. You want to find a container to stretch the hose over the rim so it’s held upright while you pour in the concrete. I used an old flower pot and a plastic sugar container.

Add water slowly and stir until it’s like a thick waffle batter. If it seems too thin add more concrete. If it seems to thick add more water.

Pour into the hose then pull up gently to slide cement downward into a ball then tie.

It will be pretty wet. Once tied off choose rubber bands or twine to give it shape.

I read to leave the tied off part off center since you will cut it off and remove the hose. Honestly I like the way the tie off kind of looks like a stem and in the future I would center the knot and keep it in place once the cement dries.

I made 6 in an hour. I worked slowly and in small batches. I was a little nervous about working with concrete and it really wasn’t so bad. I have 3/4 of a bag of concrete left so I can always make more.

To clean up just rinse out your bucket, sifter and any supplies you will use again with a hose and sit aside.

24 hours later I brought them inside to work on. I removed the twine or rubber bands.

I removed the hose from the pumpkin but left the “stem” in place. When you remove the hose it is very dusty and messy. I decided I wasn’t really sure why I was removing the hose because it was fairly embedded into the cement and gave it some texture. I did not remove the hose from there on out.

I busted out some acrylic paint and added some color.

I painted right over the hose and it only took one coat of paint to cover. I just brushed and dabbed on. Play around with colors until you are happy.

Overall this was a fun project to try. I think concrete works best to create small ornamental sized pumpkins.

What do you think? Would you try it after this tutorial? I think you can do it!!!

Happy fall~ Kristen