These Fall Pumpkins Started as Dryer Vent Tubing: How She Made the Hardware Disappear
Orange paint and a cinnamon-stick stem draw the eye toward a pumpkin, but the close-set ridges reveal what came before it. Those grooves belonged to a length of white dryer vent tubing, which gained its rounded shape when the cut ends met.
Barb from Turtles and Tails made these decorations from plastic vent tubing in two sizes, adapting an idea she credited to Courtney at A Diamond in the Stuff. Curving the material into a ring supplied the pumpkin shape before any paint or leaves went on.
What makes the transformation work is the texture she kept. The ribs that run along the hose become grooves around the pumpkin, while moss covers the center where the folds gather.
White Tubing Already Had the Texture the Pumpkins Needed
Before the ends joined, the tubing formed a broad curve across the table, with its wire-supported ribs exposed along the white plastic. The folds spread apart around the outside of the bend and compressed along the inside.
She used 4-inch and 6-inch tubing to create different sizes, cutting through the plastic and wire with scissors and wire cutters. Those dimensions gave her a smaller version for tabletop decorations and a larger form for the porch.
Joining the Ends Turned a Hose Into a Rounded Shell
Hot glue held the open ends together, closing each length into a ring. Even without paint, the joined pieces had a squat pumpkin shape, with curved sides rising toward a recessed center.
Close views show wrinkles between the ribs, so the surface retained signs of its original material. She left those creases in place rather than covering the tubing with another layer.
Cinnamon-Colored Paint Changed How the Ridges Read
Krylon spray paint in “Cinnamon” covered the white plastic with a burnt-orange finish, extending across the raised ribs and the folds between them. Highlights catch the curved edges, giving each groove definition.
The paint supplied the color, while the tubing supplied the shape and texture. No carved lines or added strips were needed to divide the surface into pumpkin-like sections.
Moss Concealed the Center Around a Cinnamon-Stick Stem
A cinnamon stick stands where the ribs converge, surrounded by moss and decorative leaves in yellow, orange, and muted red. The moss covers the recessed center, hiding the opening beneath a loose cluster of fibers.
That detail completes the disguise at the point where the tubing’s construction is most exposed. The upright stem gives the rounded shell a clear top, while the leaves spread across the folds.
Printed Signs Turned Two Small Pumpkins Into Halloween Decorations
Black “Boo” lettering with an orange border stretches across the fronts of two smaller pumpkins. She printed the signs and glued them onto the finished pieces to take to work.
The signs add a Halloween message without cutting into the shells or drawing faces across their ridges. Both pumpkins retain the cinnamon-stick stems and moss used on the larger decorations.
Different Sizes Filled the Porch Steps Without Matching Each Other
Three pumpkins sit along the concrete steps beside the brick wall, with a larger one above two smaller versions. Their shared orange finish connects the group, while the changes in size give each step a separate accent.
From this distance, the stems and rounded silhouettes stand out before the narrow ribs reveal the material. Would you have recognized the dryer vent tubing without seeing the unfinished pieces?
Project and image credits: Turtles and Tails.