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  • #463720
    KarenESP
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        I thought about putting this in the acrylic section, since it will depend largely on acrylic paint, then I looked through the forums and thought, maybe the alternative materials forum. Here is an example of what I am trying to pull off for Veterans Day, early November… Ok, so here is a photo of an item that an artist sold, Michelle Golden… and here’s is an example of a pine cone wreath that she made a couple of and sold… So I am trying to do something similar, may try to get actual white stars instead of the white dots, we’ll see…

        #715494
        KarenESP
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            I already spent a couple of afternoons collecting pine cones… and then I picked out some with the best ‘backs’ that are attached to the tree.. because I want really nice ones for the blue pine cones, because they are going to get the stars so I need the nicest ones that I found for that…

            And then I cut them, not really in half, more like 2/3rds, trying to cut them in half, although it didn’t work out. I watched a video on another patriotic wreath and the young lady used a box to keep down the mess … so there they are, the ‘to be’ painted blue pine cones for my patriotic pine cone wreath. Not certain how many I will need, never attempted before…

            And there are two possible wreath forms that I may use, both twelve inches, and then the pine cones will stick off a bit father than the twelve inches. I wanted to start small and do something that will fit in a space beside my front door.

            Now I can’t recall where I first go the idea for a pine cone wreath, however, I am including one other that I saw that originally had me decide that I want to try one.

            I will be using a glue gun to attach the pine cones to most likely the metal frame, we’ll see. Most people use metal frames for pine cone wreaths, I’ve noticed, I watched many videos…

            It took me a while looking around for large stands of pine trees that I could get to to pick up pine cones.. many pine cones weren’t good and it took some looking to get enough. Then I put them in the oven on low heat, 200 degrees or less, for thirty minutes to make certain I wouldn’t be stuck dealing with bugs.. and there were bugs in them… Here’s an example video , one of the many that I watched. No I couldn’t paint that fast.. Lol https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=21470648

            #715495
            KarenESP
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                There are the paint colors.. a Navy blue and a red, white, I bought the better paints from the craft Isle in Walmart.. near the “Celebration” isle… they have paints you can buy for 50 cents… then you could give those a finishing spray of maybe exterior clear paint.. I thought to buy the arcylic paints that already mentioned ‘weather resistant’ however, you can’t leave a pine cone wreath out in full rain. It would need to be under a covered porch, inside a glass front door, somewhat protected. These paints were a little over a dollar each.

                Dollar Tree is out of metal frames , Walmart has them for three dollars and change…

                Then I used one of my better paint brushes to paint them with as I wanted to get them done, a soft round that I used for background painting. Maybe you should use an older one that you don’t value so much.

                I mixed a little of that Navy Blue with a little black because I wanted a deeper, darker blue, so that the white stars will show sharpley against the blue pine cones, eventually. I painted some large, some smaller ones and some of the little nubs that were trimmed off the larger ends for fillers if I need them….

                These are painted outside in October sun and I was having trouble getting fair photos of the painted pine cones, so one I took in sun and one I took in shadow.

                I am painting on the back porch, so I taped a paper plate to a regular dish plate so that It won’t fly in the air in the wind and make a mess for me to clean up.

                #715496
                KarenESP
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                    I thought if maybe I painted and glued on the first , largest, blue section, then I would have a better chance to judge how many pine cones that I might need for the other alternating white and red sections….that is just a guess, I really don’t know. Photo of an example again… I am also not planning on putting an giant door hook on it like that, that could rub off paint eventually or crush a cone if someone bangs the door to hard, I will put a wire on the back of the wreath form.

                    #715497
                    KarenESP
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                        Same artist complete two patriotic pine cone wreaths, these are the color tones that I liked best… the darker blues

                        #715498
                        KarenESP
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                            So here, took the glue gun and was pretty happy the way they stuck together, only had to go out and rush another paint on a small piece or two that was needed…

                            Then none of the stars I found were white, so I had to paint them, with a detail brush. Then I dried them with a hair dryer.. then I put pin points of glue from the glue gun where the stars were to set. Had to let the glue dry a little, if I put a star onto too fast, it’s just a little plastic sticker star and it melted, warped. Fairly happy with that how that turned out.. rather than just a white dot.. and I hung it up to try to get an idea of how it will look from a distance.

                            Those are indoor photos at dark, not the best. Have to clean up now…

                            Now to just get the red and white stripes in and hope that works out ok, etc.

                            I plan on dabbing a bit of paint to try to disguise the extra glue from the glue gun, here and there, as no expert am I in that.

                            #715500
                            KarenESP
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                                This morning, I get up, and the blue part of the patriotic wreath looks too big, so I take the “loppers”, head trimmers, what ever they are called and I snip underneath the most unattractive pine cones, and then between with the smaller clippers, and they came off surprisingly easy and cleanly. From the bottom of the starred pine cones. It’s really early and it’s dark and the pine cones look too dark I know, I’ve already hit them with the plain navy blue once to lighten them, may have to do that again…

                                #715501
                                KarenESP
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                                    So now, I think the process is going to be, fit brown pine cones to next spot.. then paint, then glue… and tough up paint depending on what shows after glued in. That way, I don’t have to use so much paint and time.

                                    Touched up the white paint on the stars and will still have to do something about the not very blue color, maybe I have a dark, dark blue downstairs in my many paint supplies, don’t think so though…. That blue is so dark, almost looks like black berries :confused: That would be nice if you were going for that look, though.

                                    Lets see if the new idea goes faster. I was giving two coats on the white before glueing, then a touch up after glued on for anything that still showed, I also have some white berries from the dollar store that I could place in to cover open spots, we’ll see. I would have to get some red berries too, if I go that route, however, there is no shortage of those at the Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, this time of year.

                                    #715487
                                    Cyndi L
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                                        I love that you used stars rather than dots! So so smart. The blue color is tough…did you try white gesso on any of them to see if that made it pop more?

                                        #715502
                                        KarenESP
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                                            Thanks for your note Cyndi L… I don’t know anything about white gesso. Thanks for coming by, less lonely and it’s getting tedious, the darn paint is drying so slow.. I was outside yesterday, I don’t have enough cord for the glue gun out there today.

                                            I put another coat of plain Navy on the dark cones [hoping to blue them up, a light wash, maybe I need a coat of full color], I glued in some red cones and the red is drying less ‘happily’ and so some got onto the white cones when I was fudgeting with it, trying to glue and hold things in place until the glue dried… or fitting them, or trying to.. and then I had to do a white cone ‘touch up’ already.

                                            The color of the red was Lipstick red, and I wanted Flag Red, so I used the navy blue as a complimentary color and toned the red down, tried to.

                                            I have also been cheating a little and for the tiny cones tops, if they don’t quite fit, I will nip off a side here and there, and then they fit. Can’t seem to tell once they are glued in.

                                            Thanks for looking…

                                            #715503
                                            KarenESP
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                                                I do have white acrylic gesso though, somewhere…:rolleyes:

                                                #715504
                                                KarenESP
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                                                    That is me trying to get the pine cone to stay put until I can get the glue gun on it…

                                                    #715505
                                                    KarenESP
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                                                        Unfortunately I don’t have a nice dark green door to take a photo of this on… or some where where it will stand out nicely. I had to take the tips of pine cones and make ‘plugs’ to fill in blank spots. I didn’t want to get into stuffing silk flowers or leaves into it.. I wanted it filled as was the one that I saw that I liked. Thanks for looking :wave:

                                                        #715506
                                                        KarenESP
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                                                            Indoor pic with flash.. I can see outside, that I need to take my detail brush and hit many little spots deep into the cones with the white, I can still see them…. Tomorrow, maybe. It needs a nice hanger, maybe a bow

                                                            #715489
                                                            CarlyHardy
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                                                                That was an energetic project! And it looks great! Kudos on your perseverence. I think I’d have just used spray paint…I know pine cones can be prickly!

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