Pumpkin Tower

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Assorted pumpkins:
• 4 small orange
• 5 small white
• 5 large orange
• 5 large white


• Painter's tape
• White paint marker
• Clear craft sealer spray paint or Mod Podge
• Acrylic paint in fall & Halloween colors
• Detail brush, medium brush, large brush
• 3 dowel rods, 5/8"x 36"
• Half barrel planter
• 10" clay pot with hole in bottom
• PVC drain with screw holes, 3" opening
• PVC reducer 40 coupling, 1 1/2"x 3"
• PVC Bushing Spigot, 1 1/2"x 3/4"
• PVC pipe, 3/4"x 8'
• PVC primer & glue
• 8 screws & bolts, 10 x 32 x 1 1/2"
• Scissors
• Hand saw
• Drill
• 3/4" drill bit
• 5/8" drill bit

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut 14" off the PVC 3/4" pole using the hand saw and set it aside. Build the center pole first.
2. Start with the drain base. Starting from the bottom turn the drain base upside down.
3. Using the purple primer with a swab inside the lid, paint around inside the drain opening at the base.
4. Paint the purple also on the outside of the first reducer piece. Put it on thick.
5. This is to soften the PVC to be ready for the glue.
6. Using the glue with the swab inside the lid of the can, paint over the same area again and then quickly fit the two pieces together. They will harden quickly. Repeat these steps with the Bushing Spigot and then the PVC 3/4' pole to build the center pole. Set it aside.
7. On the top of the plastic half barrel, measure every 8 1/2" inches and drill a 5/8" hole straight down.
8. With a hand saw, cut the dowel rods to be 16" in length. Set them aside.
9. Find the center of the bottom of the barrel and place the center pole.
10. While holding it steady, trace around the center pole with a white paint marker and into the holes. Remove center pole and drill the holes for mounting the center pole. Use the screws and bolts to attach the center pole to the barrel. Make sure to place the bolts on the inside of the barrel.
11. Place the clay pot on top of the center pole to add height for the first pumpkin to sit on. Insert the dowel rods into the holes into the barrel.

1. Start with a large pumpkin for the base of the tower. Using the hand saw, cut off the stem.
2. Drill a 3/4" hole in the top of the pumpkin and the bottom of the pumpkin.
3. Slide the large pumpkin onto the pole.
4. Now you can drill the pumpkins to go around the edge of the barrel and lean against the big base pumpkin.
5. To place the pumpkins around the barrel, you will be drilling holes in the bottom of the pumpkins and placing them on the dowel rods.
6. Take a small pumpkin and figure out where you want it to be placed.
7. Push it onto the dowel rod to make a mark to drill.
8. Using the 5/8" drill bit make a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin where you made the mark.
9. Slide the pumpkin onto the dowel to figure out where you want the next one.
10. Mix up the colors and sizes on the pumpkins around the barrel.

1. Now you are going to slightly lean the pumpkins back and forth.
2. You will be drilling the holes slightly off-center.
3. If you drill the bottom hole slightly left of center, then you must drill the top hole slightly right of center.
4. They are to line up so that the pumpkin will slide onto the pole.
5. Change the direction every pumpkin to make them look like they are balancing on top of one another.
6. When you get the last small pumpkin to go on top.
7. You only drill a hole in the bottom of the small pumpkin.
8. You now insert the extra 3/4"x 12" PVC pole into the bottom of the small pumpkin and insert it into the top of the last large pumpkin.

1. To make sure you end up with a group of decorated pumpkins that look great together, start off with a mood board or a specific color palette. 
2. If you are making the tower reversible from fall to Halloween, use a pencil to mark a light line down the sides of the pumpkins on the center tower to divide them in half. Make marks while they are assembled on the tower. To change between seasons, you will rotate the pumpkins on the tower. All pumpkins must rotate since they are assembled off-center.
3. Seal the pumpkins with a coat of clear craft sealer or Mod Podge before painting them. This gives a smooth, non-porous surface to paint on, reducing the number of paint coats needed to achieve full coverage.
4. Use matte acrylic or chalk paint. Both types of paint will adhere great to the faux pumpkin surface.Ideas for painting pumpkins include: painting just the stem, covering smaller pumpkins in one solid color, making simple marks, dots or stripes in one color all over, masking the top half and painting just the bottom, using simple Halloween icon shapes or following the ridges to make vertical stripes.
5. Spraying your pumpkins with clear craft sealer after paint is dry will help make them weather-resistant.

JOANN HACKS:

• When assembling towers, figure out your placement of pumpkins, one at a time and start from the bottom upward.