Craft Stick Pumpkin

I hope you love this DIY craft stick pumpkin! I love the idea of bending craft sticks to make 3D creations – it offers a whole new host of possibilities for a common craft supply. I wanted to give it a try, and so I decided to go all out with 3D pumpkins made from craft sticks. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

While I normally keep things REALLY simple, I decided that occasionally I need to step out of bounds and try a slightly more complicated craft. I did have a few hiccups with this one, but I love how it came out, and hope to make another (though it will have to be plain brown as I’m out of orange…).

It’s not really one of my quick and easy crafts (as I mentioned, I got ambitious with this one…) but I really enjoyed making it! Sometimes it pays to plan in advance.

There are various methods I saw for bending Popsicle sticks. Some said to soak it for ages. Some said to boil it and then soak it for ages. Some required the use of a pot, a shallow pan, a Pyrex dish, and since I have no dishwasher, I skipped those. I used the soaking method.

It wasn’t foolproof, and I did crack a couple. I managed to salvage the craft, because I had made a few extra – smart move on my part! If you want to be sure you don’t crack any use the soak + boil method. Otherwise, use the soak method.

Make one craft stick pumpkin, or make a cluster! You’ll love it – it’s the perfect accessory for your mantel and it’s great to pair with any other autumn decor. Spoiler alert: I have a free printable coming up that you might want to pair with this…

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CRAFT STICK PUMPKINS:

Orange craft sticks – you need six for the pumpkin, but prepare a few extras just in case.
E6000 glue or a hot glue gun
Assorted ribbons, twine in harvest-y colors
Scissors, a dish for soaking the sticks, a glass with the right width to make a semi-circle. For the glass, one with a SLIGHT taper works perfectly.
A green button (or use a prettier one.)

HOW TO MAKE A CRAFT STICK PUMPKIN:

1. Soak your craft sticks for at least 24 hours, or until they bend when you apply gentle pressure.

2. When you can bend them, place them in a glass to hold the curve. I allowed them to sit on top of each other in a slightly tapered mug so that there was a small difference in how curved they were.

3. When they are totally dry (I left it for a day) take them out of the mug. They will hold the curve. You can see that mine didn’t come out perfect, but my pumpkin was adorable regardless.

4. Glue them together in sets – so that two sticks form an oval.

5. This is the tough part. When your ovals are dry, place them inside each other so that you form a sphere. It might not work out perfectly, but with a some gentle pushing, prodding, and re-gluing, you should be able to fit it.

6. Touch up any mistakes once the first batch of glue has dried (you can see one stick came loose in the previous picture, when I combined all my ovals, so I re-glued it below.)