Back in August of 2020, I was BORED and came up with this fun idea for making unique tiki-style fall decor. I figured if you can paint on a pumpkin, you can paint something else to LOOK like a pumpkin.
After all, who needs plain ol' pumpkins when you can have TIKI pumpkins?!
(or - and hear me out - Disney character pumpkins or Harry Potter character pumpkins, whatever your vibe is!)
I recently realized that I've never shared them on the blog and since they fit right into my current Tropi-FALL vibe, now is a perfect time to remedy that.
Read More for an easy tutorial plus detail shots....
TUTORIAL
Materials
I painted these on square + rectangular scraps of plywood that were already in the garage. After painting, I hot-glued on wood stake 'stems' in varied placements.
Square / rectangular pieces of wood or plywood (any size!) for pumpkins
Small wood pointed stakes as stems
Hot glue or Liquid Nails to attach stems to plywood
Acrylic craft paints in brown, white, black, + varied oranges
Black + white paint pens or Sharpie pens for detailing
Clear matte spray paint for the final coat
Method
The plywood I had on hand and used for these is a thin 'luan' plywood, with a sanded finish on one side. This makes painting much easier!
The first coat is simply a 'wash' (water + paint) of a rusty orange tone. I covered the entire front of each plywood piece with the wash, and let it dry. It will soak into the wood, allowing the grain to show up.
The brown lines you see in the photo above were added after the paint wash dried.... and I used a brown CRAYON to add them! They give the effect of cracked wood, which appears naturally in the palm bark that is used for real tikis.
After that, face details are all sketched lightly in pencil first, inspired by the tikis I have already made as well as others online. I repeat some elements on a few, so they all work together. It's all just basic geometric shapes - triangles, circles, curves - that combine to give the appearance of a primitive 'face'.
To paint the details, I use craft paints. Just one coat does the job - except for white. I always add a second coat of white, as it tends to fade in the sun.
When creating multiple items like these, I work with one color at a time - painting all of the medium brown details on all of the wood squares first, for example. Then I grab another color and apply it to all of the wood squares. This allows each color to dry before I start with the next one.
The final detail is to add shading and highlights...
If you look close at some of the faces, you'll see a slight shadow line or a white highlight. I use a thick 'wash' for this and apply it in one flowing stroke (under an eyebrow or lip, next to a nose, etc.) so that it appears smooth. This gives the tiki faces a look of dimension, rather than just a flat surface.
Once all of the detail paint dries, I use the brown crayon again to add a few more of those 'cracks' onto the painted areas. Then I spray on matte-finish clear spray paint to protect the wood.
Then I add the wood stake 'stems'...
First, some green paint wash is applied in lines to approximate the look of a growing stem. After it dries, I hot glue the stakes on...
On several, I glued the back of a stake to the front of a wood square, lining up the point of the 'stem' with the face details - to make them look like they are squinting or wincing in pain as the point of the stake pokes them!
On a few others, I hot glued the front of the stake to the back of the wood square, so it appears just above the top edge. Those tikis aren't cringing ;)
TIP: Here's something I DIDN'T do, but you could:
Hot glue or screw a taller wood stake to the back of the wood, with the point aiming downward past the bottom edge. This would secure the standing squares in your flowerbed, yard, or herb garden to display them. Mine were leaning against wire tomato cages in my herb garden in the photos up above.
Why, yes, I WAS drinking a rummy tropical drink while painting these.... why do you ask?!!! LOL Not only do they have loads of personality, they have names, too!
Hibiscus is keeping an eye on alla' the boys...
There's Rummy - looking a bit confused:
This guy is Liddle Brudder:
...and the smiley guy? he's Daveed. IYKYK!
(Can't help it, I'm a Hamilton fan!
He needs some wild hair, tho!)I had planned to put them in the front yard, but love them so much that I wanted to be able to see them - so into the backyard they went!
Here, they're all 'growing' in our backyard herb garden - a perfect fall addition to the tropical ambience that we enjoy every day all year long. 
These photos were all snapped back in 2020 - our herb garden and lemon tree have grown a LOT since then, and these Tiki pumpkins wouldn't even fit in there this fall. I guess I need to find a new place to display them... maybe I can find a way to hang them on the fence, we'll see.
BONUS PROJECT!
Before I put my paints away, I had some of the short stakes left over (they're sold in a bundle) - so I painted three of them and glued them together to create this sign:
What do you have around the house already that you can turn into pumpkins that fit YOUR fall style?
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