Tuesday, July 20, 2021

DIY Faux Blackberries Fun Accent Piece

5:46 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me fruit, pinterest challenge 8 comments

Welcome to July's Pinterest Challenge hosted by Alexandra @EyeLoveKnots. The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate us to actually make something that we have pinned! This month's challenge topic is Tutti Futti - a fruit themed challenge!

What is it about having fruit on display that makes a home extra special? I think we are just naturally drawn to fruit - whether real or fake! It's a fun accent piece! They can look very real if artificial! Also, displaying fruit can add a special vibe to everyday decor. It gives off a wonderful feeling - and sometimes a fresh from the garden look - just perfect in arrangements or baskets!

I'm particularly drawn to any fruit with a hint of purple! Lol! There are so many to choose from, but in terms of creating something handmade, blackberries are at the top of my list for being easy to make with it's deep purple and black hues!

I was inspired by this pin showing a picture of blackberries that were obviously handmade in clay (I think) - and actually looked rather cool. But the photo went absolutely nowhere as far as I could tell. No tutorial or explanation. Or maybe it did but the site was foreign and I didn't understand any of it. Never the less, I was intrigued to make a few blackberries of my own - so let's begin!

Materials Used:

Foam Beads

Floral Stem Wires

Acrylic Paints/Brush

Toilet Paper Sheets

Hot Glue

Gloss Mod Podge

Crepe Paper

Leaf Pattern (online)

Scissors

Fabri-Tac Fabric Glue

Floral Tape

Iron

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

First thing, pour some of the foam beads (Dollar Tree) into a bowl. Be careful as they can get away - like floating in air! Next take a sheet of toilet paper and fold in half, then tear it on the fold . . .

folding the half sheet twice. Next, add hot glue just before the end edge and place the tip of a stem wire on top.

Roll the toilet paper with stem wire, adding glue along the way.

Seal the end of the rolled toilet paper with more glue.

Then add glue all over the top, sides and bottom of the roll and insert into the bowl of foam beads.

While the roll stem is in the foam beads, squeeze roll to shape beads around the toilet paper to shape into a blackberry. Be careful, it's HOT!

Add additional foam beads, if needed. Or remove any beads out of place while the glue is still warm.

Make additional blackberries using the same method.

Once the foam and glue cooled off - time to paint the blackberries! I mixed a couple of drops of black paint to a very dark purple acrylic to mimic the color of blackberries.

And painted each blackberry . . .

and let dry.

Once the berries were dry applied gloss Mod Podge to seal.

To make the sepal to go on the bottom of each blackberry, Fold a small squaresheet (2"x2") of crepe paper in half to form a rectangle with the fold at the top and the open end at the bottom. Then fold each side corner down towards the center to form a triangle.