It’s Scarily Easy Make a Terracotta Pumpkin, According to TikTok

For thousands of years, terracotta has been used by civilizations for bricks, roofing and floor tiles, cookware, and flower pots. Now, it’s even being used for your Halloween decor.

TikTok user and DIY expert @withinthegrove has a hack that transforms an ordinary plastic pumpkin into a “terracotta” version. You don’t have to be a pottery expert to do it, as it’s quite easy. Here’s how:

In her video, she mixes a quarter cup Plaster of Paris and two tablespoons of warm water, then adds two tablespoons of orange paint and another two tablespoons of dirt, before mixing the ingredients again. The mixture is then applied on any size of jack-o-lantern — in her case, tall ones, round ones, and even really tiny ones as small as a succulent.

The end product is a collection of gourds that are as stylish as they are scary. By turning the plastic into terracotta, she was able to add a rustic, earthy feel to her decor, thanks to the mixture’s rich hue and gritty texture. 

For homes filled with natural materials like rattan or wood—similar to the furniture pieces in the video — the pumpkins will fit right in and could still look appropriate after Halloween.

If you’re going for a goth aesthetic, she adds that you can use black paint instead of orange. And if you’re leaving the jack-o-lanterns on the front porch, she recommends a coat of clear spray to make them moisture-resistant and smudge-free.

You can see more DIY hacks from @withinthegrove here.