How to Make Mushroom Ornaments. August 29, 2023.

Mushroom season is coming up soon. One arrived early this year at SomeTyme Place. The large mushroom cap was breaking through the mossy carpet of the forest floor last week. Well, hello! You are a bit early, I thought. Others will follow and by October the forest floor will be polka dotted with various mushrooms. And those who know how will be foraging for them. Little villages of mushrooms will sit solemnly under trees, and extra-large capped mushrooms will look like the perfect sitting stool for a gnome. Walking through the forest during mushroom season is a bit like strolling through fairyland as the mushrooms inspire the whimsical muse in me.

Mother nature’s inspiration led me back to my art room of course and eventually led to today’s post is on how to make mushroom ornaments. This mushroom ornament craft is a fun one and not hard although a deft, artistic hand is helpful here. The best tip I can give is not to paint in a heavy-handed way. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but don’t overpaint. I find the natural look comes better with a light hand. Below is the tutorial and how to make these and well as contains notes on where certain supplies come from. Use these for the Christmas trees, wreaths, gift toppers, and more. They are fun and adorable!

Ingredients

Wooden mushrooms (*see note below)
Brown craft paint
Cream craft paint
Triple gloss paint (see photo in tutorial for brand I used)
Dried moss (Optional)
Hot glue gun
Paintbrush
Sponge (I used an old but clean cosmetic sponge)
Small screw hooks (**see note below)
A tack
Small pliers

Instructions

Insert screw hooks for hanging thread. See instructions for this below.
Take 2 small dishes and add a teaspoonful of paint in each. It doesn't need to be a lot. You can eyeball this.
Add an equal amount of water to each dish. You can also eyeball this.
Combine paint and water in each dish until you have a wash.
Using a small paintbrush and the cream paint wash paint your entire wooden mushroom.
Let it dry a minute or two.
Take your sponge and put a small amount of brown paint wash on it. Lightly sponge the top of the mushroom cap to get desired look. A sponge works well for creating color gradations and a natural look.
Let it dry.
Coat with triple gloss paint. I like this brand a lot.
Using hot glue gun apply glue to bottom of stem on mushroom and place some dried moss on that.
Loop desired thread in hook for hanging.

Inserting Screw Hooks

Push tack into the top of mushroom a bit (just a bit; the tack doesn't go all the way in)
Pull the tack out.
Insert one screw hook in hole.
Using pliers screw hook into hole as shown in photo.

Notes

*I used these wooden craft mushrooms here.

**On screw hooks: after some research I decided to go with stainless steel hooks and used these here.

Have a beautiful day!

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How to Make Mushroom Ornaments