This week marks the beginning of summer, and one of the delicious highlights of the season has to be watermelon. I like watermelon in everything — salads, salsa, lemonade — but I really love it in home and crafts projects. Well, not the actual fruit, but the graphic motif. As you can see with these hand-painted clay pots, the cheery colors will add some sunshine to your decor all summer long.
What you’ll need:
Clay pot
Dark green, red and light green acrylic paint
Paintbrushes
Black paint marker
1. To mimic a watermelon rind, paint the brim of the clay pot a dark green color. I use DecoArt Patio Paint, which is an acrylic paint specially designed for outdoor applications. At my Michaels crafts store, it is on display right next to the clay pots.
2. Paint the rest of the pot red. I find that red is one of those colors that needs a lot of paint for complete coverage, so plan on applying a few coats.
3. As you know, the green rind of the watermelon frequently has lighter green stripes. To approximate this look, apply some streaks of light green paint over the dark green on the brim.
4. Using a black paint marker, draw some teardrop-shaped seeds evenly scattered on the red portion of the pot. I know that most watermelons are seedless nowadays, but seeds do add a nice visual punch.
Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.
