Marbled Indigo Pumpkins
Learn how to make these gorgeous Marbled Indigo Pumpkins using nail polish and water! These no-carve pumpkins are a favorite Halloween pumpkin craft. Painted pumpkins are so much fun to make.
You know we have a thing for indigo, right? When it came time to start decorating pumpkins this year, we had to give them the indigo treatment.
One of our favorite projects to date was our Marbled Indigo Easter Eggs. You would not believe how many times that post has been viewed! We had to give this same treatment to pumpkins. The indigo hue would look best on white so we opted to use the mini white pumpkins.
There is something so sweet and almost delicate about the mini white pumpkins. A few weeks ago I picked up some mini pumpkins at the grocery. I also picked up some faux white pumpkins from Amazon. I was curious to see which would take the marbling treatment the best. Can you tell which ones were the faux pumpkins?
Some people use spray paint to marble things for craft projects. We find that nail polish is so simple! The blue in this indigo blue nail polish is perfect.
Make sure and read through all of the instructions for our tips on how to make the marbled pumpkins!
Read more to learn how to make the Marbled Indigo Pumpkins…
DIY Marbled Pumpkins Supplies
stir stick
plastic container
pumpkins (real and faux craft ones)
Marbled Indigo Pumpkin Tips and Tricks
- Use lukewarm water – if the water gets too cold, the nail polish will sink in the container
- Use new nail polish – for some reason new polish works so much better! Old polish is traditionally thicker and seems to stick to the pumpkin in clumps
- Regular nail polish – we have heard from readers that when they use quick dry polish, it seems to get more clumpy in the water.
- Wear gloves – grab a plastic glove when marveling pumpkins. If you do not have any, make sure and have nail polish remover ready!
- Open a window – make sure and have proper ventilation when using the nail polish
How to marble pumpkins
Steps
- Fill a plastic container 3/4 full with lukewarm water (If the water is too cold the nail polish will sink). Add about 4 or 5 drops of indigo blue nail polish.
- Use a wood stick to stir the nail polish on top of the water.
- Dip the pumpkin in the water and spin a bit.
- Remove from water and dry on wax paper. Flip pumpkin after 20 mins to dry on the other side.
Note – you will want to add more drops of nail polish for each pumpkin. The nail polish will move around as you swirl the pumpkin on top of the water. Thus, the nail polish will start to attach to the edges of the container.
See the video for our DIY Indigo Marbled Pumpkins here…
We have also made these pumpkins in other colors. The black and white are nice and give a more traditional look for Halloween. Multi colors of nail polish give a more whimsical feel – something our daughters love! We really want to do some earth toned colors like terra-cotta, moss green and mustard yellow. Those would be really nice in a display with dried grasses, don’t you think?
Photos by Sara Albers. all rights reserved.
Love indigo and love marbling! I just bought big pumpkins and now I want to go back to the store and get little ones also to make these. Lol Pinned 🙂
I love these! They are so pretty!
So cool!
Thanks so much!
Wow. I love these.
Thanks for the great idea.
D
Oh wow – these look amazing! I can’t wait to try this technique on EVERYTHING! Thankyou for the beautiful inspiration.
You are so sweet, thanks!
Oh my gosh these are so so pretty!
Thanks so much!
Beautiful. Wil definitely have to give this ago. Couldn’t tell which were the fake pumpkins Which handled it better?
They actually both turned out really well. The faux ones are just a bit more white.
These seem so simple but look amazing! I went a little overboard on white pumpkins this year and can’t wait to try this!
Enjoy!
What a seriously beautiful take on the marble look! I absolutely love this idea. So creative and gorgeous! ???
Okay this is SO cool! I was looking for the best way to decorate my pumpkins and it will be THIS 🙂 can’t wait to try it out!
This is so cool! Will try this with lots of other colors.
Enjoy!
I would like to try this for a church gathering. Are the pumpkins real? If no, what are they made of and where can I get some?
Some are real, some are faux. I got the faux pumpkins at Michaels.
So cool. I love these. Thanks so much for sharing.
Beautiful idea. Hope to use for a party. Thank you for sharing.
After each pumpkin, do you refill the water container with more nail polish drops? These are stunning
Hi Christy –
You do not need to refill with water, but you will want to add a few more drops of nail polish and swirl again before dipping the next pumpkin. Enjoy!
Hi! Just stumbled upon this post and gave it a try, but had some issues with the nail polish sticking to the stick when I stirred. Tried swirling the container instead to spread out the polish, but when I dunked the pumpkins… it was super clumpy and not marbled.
So wondering – what brand of nail polish did you use?? Can’t wait to try it again! I’m determined!
The newer the polish the better… and also make sure your water temp is not cold. Should be luke warm water.
I followed all the instructions and had the same problem mentioned above… I decided not to swirl the polish in the water which was fine except it was still a little “clumpy/lumpy” on the pumpkins. I’d like to know if you recommend a certain nail polish? The ones I used were labeled “fast drying” and I’m wondering if that caused the problem.
We recommend using regular nail polish. I have not used the quick dry before, but a new bottle of regular polish works best. And oddly enough, the better quality of nail polish works best.
That could be the problem! I bought some more polish that is not quick drying and it did the same thing, but I did not buy “high end” (a/k/a expensive) polish. Back to the store I go! I really want this to work!
and also make sure the water doesn’t get too cold. we find that lukewarm water works best for us.
You two women are incredible. I had tried other sites trying to make the marbleized pumpkins for Thanksgiving, none of them worked like they said it would. Yours worked perfectly. Can’t thank you two enough for saving the day.
Thanks again,
Mark
Thanks! Glad it worked out for you!
can I use plastic pumpkins from dollar store that been sprayed white
Yes! Have fun marbling!
I know this is an older post, but I still love these pumpkins! I don’t do much fall decorating but I could definitely enjoy these!
Our church group did this with small red clay pots – some painted white first and the rest natural for Mother’s Day – token gifts for our Nursing home members. We filled each as was targeted for each lady …candy, faux flowers, a few stamps, etc. I still see some of them in their rooms because of the small size.
Do you have to paint a base coat on the pumpkins
You do not have to