Make Barnboard Pumpkins

for a Vintage-Style Halloween Porch

Jacki Cammidge is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Other links on this site may lead to other affiliates that I'm involved with, at no extra cost to you.

If you've been hoarding old barn boards and can't decide how to use them, here's your chance to make them into very special Halloween decor.

Shaped like pumpkins, what could be more evocative of the season?

I have been hoarding these old boards and standing between them and the bonfire for a few years now - and it's time to use them for something.

Because they're a little unsound, they won't be good for something structural, but they would make something decorative, like some rustic pumpkins.

Pumpkins are roughly shaped in a roundish form, but what really makes these two dimensional shapes give the impression of a real pumpkin right out of the field is the stem (a piece of twig) and tendrils (twirled out of wire).

Cutting the shape with a scroll saw or jigsaw

The basic shape is drawn onto the precious antique barnboards with a pencil, then cut out with a jigsaw. I do the drawing, my assistant does the cutting, with close supervision to avoid any misunderstanding.

Barn boards typically have been weathered by rain, snow and sun over decades - with the attendant splintering and splitting - drill small holes and glue pieces of wire into them to hold the splintered pieces together after cutting the basic shape if they split.

The general shape is accentuated with the stem and wire tendrils

Once the shapes are cut, then the fun begins.

Stems cut from a piece of almond wood (or any other kind of twig) are wired and glued on, and small holes drilled into and around the stem hold tendrils made of tie wire in place.

A little bit of glue holds everything firm, and the pumpkins are put into a slotted piece of lumber for a very rustic and cute Halloween display.

Wire Tendrils are the final accent on the Barnboard Pumpkin

You'll need some supplies for this project - get them from Amazon;

My favorite kind of wire, for the ease in using it, and its flexibility, is tie wire. Usually this is used to tie rebar, but I've found it to be just the thing for all kinds of rustic crafts.

Add this jig saw to your tool kit - I rely on the one I bought several years ago.

Keep some extra blades handy - I can guarantee that you'll break at least a few of these, especially with old (nail filled) barnboards.