Decorative Dipped Pinecones: Three Methods

dipped pinecones

dipped pinecones in paint, crayon, and beeswax

Want to snazz up your pine cones, AND keep them forever?

Here are three different easy methods for making your own dipped pine cones – they’re gorgeous, they may even match your wall colors, and you can keep them just about indefinitely. Even better? Pine cones are free! Just head out to your back yard or to the park with the kids and a basket and collect those natural craft supplies to your hearts’ content!

Ready to dip some pine cones? We’ve got three different ways that you can do it using paint, melted crayons, or beeswax.

paint-dipped pinecone
paint-dipped pinecone

VERY IMPORTANT: Before you do anything else with pine cones that you want to keep indoors with you, first spread them out on a baking sheet and bake them at anywhere between 200-250 degrees for at least an hour, then allow them to cool. This will neutralize any critter eggs.

Also do this with acorns, seed pods, and anything else from nature that can take the heat.

Paint-dipped pinecones

Paint-dipped pinecones are the easiest of the bunch to make, since you can use your leftover paint straight out of the can. For all of these pinecones, I first tie sewing thread around the second or third row of…cone thingies?…from the top of the pinecone. That way, when I snip the thread away from the pinecone later, the place isn’t visible like it would be if I’d tied the thread to the very top.

crayon-dipped pinecone
dipping a pinecone in melted crayon

These paint-dipped pinecones will need someplace safe to dry for a VERY long time–over 24 hours. I set a drying rack or milk crate (turned on its side) somewhere safe over a layer of newspapers, and hang each pinecone from it using the same sewing thread that I used to dip each one.

Crayon-dipped pinecones

The first steps for these pinecones follow my layered recycled crayons tutorial, since you’ll need a single color of upcycled crayon, melted in an old spaghetti sauce jar, to begin. Allow the melted crayon to cool for a few minutes, then dip the pinecones just as you would in the paint-dipped pinecones tutorial. If the crayon is still very liquid, you may have to dip the pinecone several times to build up a good layer of color, but if the crayon has cooled enough to make its consistency more like that of PVA glue, then a single dip will be enough to coat your pinecone in a thick layer of bright crayon.

Beeswax-dipped pinecones

Making a beeswax-dipped pinecone looks a lot like making a beeswax-dipped candle; the crock pot makes it a very kid-friendly craft, but the kid will need some patience, because you’ll definitely want to dip the pinecone several times to build up a beautiful layer of beeswax.

4 thoughts on “Decorative Dipped Pinecones: Three Methods”

  1. Pingback: 10 Winter Activities for Kids | Dollar Store Mom Frugal Fun – Crafts for Kids

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