Yes, everything on my Pinterest “visual happiness” board makes me happy (see the whole she-bang here). I’m actually giddy just looking at this screen shot (shucks, mittens? Rainbow dresser? Those bird wings?). But there was one thing I couldn’t wait to try: the paint-dipped pine cones. On a wreath. As some Thanksgiving-through-New-Years-appropriate holiday decor. Girl’s gotta cover her bases if she doesn’t want to continuously reinvent the entryway appearance.
I found a clearance bundle of (cinammon-scented) 99-cent pine cones in the clearance bin at Michael’s over the weekend, and knowing that I had butt-loads of paint waiting to be called upon in the basement, I was ready to get this project in the works so I could update my front door decor for the holiday season.
(Side note: That pottery’s a birthday gift from my sister, thrown by an artist in Steamboat Springs, CO. But what is it intended use? We can’t decide.)
My dipping process went smoothly. Wrap a piece of wire around the base, hope that the dog keeps napping in the background, try and read about some worldly slap in the newspaper, drop it in…
Pull out.
Drizzle, drizzle. (I used a screwdriver within reach to tip it sideways and drain some excess paint.)
Hook it on a pen, make sure that the paint isn’t melting through onto the dining table, wait around. Watch paint dry. Wait a long while, because if most of your paints were oil-based, like me, they’re going to take awhile longer to dry than latex. Actually, put it on the deck and relieve yourself of the fumes while it’s curing.
It didn’t all go so smoothly, for the record: I tried a Behr Premium Plus Exterior blend too (one that I used when I was painting the glassblock window frames). This thicker paint was a big fail, as shown in this next picture demonstrating how it looked when it was drip-dripping, and then again once dried on the cone. Therefore, my recommendation is to stick with basic interior latex or oil-based – not even the paint-and-primer-in-one, I think it’d be too thick.
Once I had treated 10 cones with a variety of glossy gray, aluminum, and ivory paint colors, it was onward with wreath installation. The wreath frame is actually an authentic grape leaf wreath that my Dad made from the vines on my parents’ property (read between the lines there, it was f-r-e-e).
With a little clean-up and tightening up of the way the wreath was wrapped (making it less oval), I began positioning the pine cones individually with thin pieces of wire. It probably reminds you a little bit of my summertime succulent wreath at this point.
I mixed in a few au-natural cones too to help make it feel blended in with the authentic grape vine.
Out with the driftwood wreath, in with the new painted pinecone wreath.
Voila. Hope you like! Easy, and possibly made for free if you have your own pine trees and vines to put to use.
3 Comments
Thanks! Agreed that some of the store-bought stuff can be a little cheese-ball.
Your beautiful bowl is a batter bowl, like mix your pancakes in it and pour on to griddle. You can add a little water to water based paint to thin it down some. Then dip cones.
Ah hah! That makes sense!