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How To Change The Color of Faux Succulents
The fake succulents on the left are ones that I do like the color of.
I probably got them one at a time using a discount coupon at craft stores.
The fake succulents on the right were a great bargain but I don’t really like to colors.
Sometimes I come across really inexpensive fake succulents
that have good shape but are not a color that my eye is used to
seeing so it LOOKS fake to me. If this happens to you, now
you can buy the succulent and change its color to what you like.
I couldn’t resist buying a bunch of faux succulents marked
down 80% last year at Michael’s even though I was not in
love with the colors. I told myself that somewhere in the world
there are real succulents those colors. I used them in my Autumn
decorating on top of faux pumpkins that I had painted white.
I thought I could learn to like the faux succulents just as they
were. but I did not. The colors bothered me all season.
Autumn 2017
So this year my painting project was not faux pumpkins but
faux succulents. I tried to “google” how to do it but the only
results I found were how to paint real succulents.
Here are my attempts at changing the colors of some
of my faux succulents.
I’ve had good luck in the past making my own chalk paint
out of plaster of paris and acrylic paint. (Click here for recipe.)
For some reason, the plaster in the mix makes the paint
stick to almost anything. Since the surface of the faux
succulents is rubbery, I thought the plaster would help.
The plaster is very cheap and can be found at any craft store.
The dots in the above photo are the bottoms of bottles of acrylic craft paints
that are candidates to be used on the succulents.
A chalk paint recipe is usually about 1 part plaster to 3 parts
paint then thinned with some water. I started out with about an
even amount of plaster and paint for this project.
I didn’t totally mix the entire amounts of the three ingredients together on the plate. just pulled a little of each together
with a wooden skewer and stirred together in the middle.
What seemed to work best was little bit of plaster, some paint and some water. If I kept the paint fairly thin with water, some of the
color variation from the original faux succulent could show through. That helped the succulent from being just one color.
I used a regular craft paint brush to put the paint on the leaves.
It seemed to be better to start at the bottom and work my way up.
I thought I was going to like the light green paint best but after
I had painted a few succulents with it, they seemed a little too
yellowish. At least I knew I did not want all of them that color.
In the beginning I was painting the back and the front of the
flat succulents. Then I got lazy and told myself the bottoms
would not show so I only painted one side. Big mistake.
When I was arranging the succulents, the bottoms showed
way more than I thought they would. Paint both sides.
I added a darker green color the the plate palette for variety.
I actually liked it better. I added some of it to the ends of the
leaves on the ones I had already painted and painted other
succulents with mostly the darker green.
I also like purple succulents. The purple that I had
in my paint stash was not quite right straight out of the bottle.
At first I added a brown paint to the purple which turned out
almost pink on the faux succulent.
not terrible but I wanted a darker purple.
By adding black paint to the purple, I got a color I liked.
Succulents on the left side of the plate have been painted;
the right side has not been painted.
Here are the colors of acrylic paint that I ended up using the
most in painting the succulents. Americana Avocado, Craft
Smart Spanish Olive, Color Traditions Wrought Iron and Color
Traditions Pansy Purple. By combining and layering these colors
I was able to get a lot of different looks on the fake succulents.
To get ideas on how you want to paint your fake succulents
just “google” images of succulents. so much variety!
You can use faux succulents all year in your decorating so
paint them in colors that appeal to you and enjoy them.
I hope you are happy with your painted faux succulents at
this point if you have tried this technique. If you don’t have
plaster, try painting the faux succulents without it. the
paint by itself may do just fine in adhering.
If you think the paint looks kind of “flat” or you want to
protect the paint, you can paint a clear “satin finish”
sealer on the succulents. Small amounts can be purchased
in the same area as acrylic paints at a craft store.
Before Sealer After Sealer
If you already have some clear wax on hand, an alternative
to the satin sealer is to rub wax on the succulents.
Smash some of the wax with a fork (you can throw away a plastic
one) until it is soft. I thought I would be able to brush the wax
on but rubbing it on the leaves with my fingers was best.
Succulent on the left has wax; one on the right is waiting for it’s wax massage.
On some, but not all, of the waxed succulents whitish spots
showed up a couple of days later. I think it was due to leaving
too much wax on the leaves. Usually when you wax over chalk
paint to preserve the finish, you go back and buff it down later.
I didn’t do that to the faux succulent leaves.
If the white (on purple above) or yellow (on green above)
bothers you, here is a fix.
Scraping the white (too much wax? too much plaster?)
with the tip of a wooden skewer and then buffing the leaves
with a lint-free cloth helps a lot.
Another trick I tried to speed up the excess wax removal was
to heat the succulent up with a hair dryer first. Stop the heating when you see the wax get shiny then immediately rub it.
A little bit of the color you painted on might come off but it
just helps the succulent have more depth of color.
Here’s how I used some of my refurbished faux
succulents in decorating for Autumn this year.
If you would like to see more of how I used the painted
succulents for Fall, click on this link.
Fall Home Tour 2018.
I might have made this painting of faux succulents more
complicated than it is with the plaster, sealer, wax, etc.
If you want to give this a try and all you have on hand is
acrylic paint, just try that on a faux succulent to change
the color. see how it comes out for you!
If you want to see the “how to” of putting faux succulents on
top of faux pumpkins for a carefree Autumn look , please
click on this post “How to Combine Succulents and Pumpkins”.
Here is a good Pinterest image if you would like to
save this idea to one of your boards.
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3 comments
Well—aren’t you a clever girl once again. I have never been terribly fond of succulents in years past but have started to like them quite a bit. I like how they can really stand alone or blend in with other arrangements. Happy Crafting. xo Diana Reply Delete
You are so clever to think of a way to change the color of faux succulents. Yours look so pretty on your pumpkins. Reply Delete
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DIY Faux Succulent Wall Art
This simple DIY Faux Succulent Wall Art is a beautiful and easy craft to make. Not only does it add a bright spot of color to your home and wall space easily, but it’s a plant that you never have to worry about actually taking care of and keeping alive!
The best part about this easy wall art activity? You’re actually making the “succulents” out of clay! How fun is that? Not only does this mean that you’ll get to mold and shape them but it also means that you’ll get to paint them fun and funky colors as well.
While there are directions for making this faux succulent craft, you’ll be able to make the succulents as big or as little as you want. And if you want to make more than one, do so! You can literally have one of these in every single room.
How long will it take for the clay to try?
It’s hard to know an exact time but you will need to be patient. The part that will help is that you’ll be applying paint over the clay and once the paint dries, it will then help to seal it and give it a nice hard outer seal.
If you try and pick up the clay and notice that it’s really soft or you just get a feeling that it needs more time, just let it dry a bit more before you try and superglue it into place.
Great Ways to Share This Wall Art Framed Succulent
If you’re anything like me, once you start crafting you just can’t stop. This means that you might find that you have more faux art than you know what to do with. Don’t stress and don’t get rid of them! Instead, hold onto your creations because they’ll be perfect as fun gift ideas or homemade welcoming gifts for family and friends.
Supplies Needed To Make Faux Succulent Wall Art
Supplies
- Model Magic Art Clay
- Food Coloring in Green and Blue
- Gold or Bronze Acrylic Paint
- Red, Yellow, Brown and White Acrylic Paint
- 12-inch Wood Canvas
Yield: 1
DIY Faux Succulent Wall Art
Materials
- Model Magic Art Clay
- Food Coloring in Green and Blue
- Gold or Bronze Acrylic Paint
- Red, Yellow, Brown and White Acrylic Paint
- 12-inch wood canvas
Tools
- Paint Brush
- Hot Glue Gun & Glue
- Toothpicks
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutters (shapes like bunny/star)
- Dowel
- Pencil
- Various Size Measuring Spoons
- Craft Knife
Instructions
Start by painting your wood canvas white. Allow the paint to dry completely then add a second coat, if necessary for adequate coverage.
To make the succulents, start by adding 4-5 drops of the green food coloring to a ½-cup portion of model magic clay and kneading the clay until the color is consistent throughout.
Separate the green clay into 4-5 portions to make 4-5 balls to make 4-5 succulents. Repeat this step to make as much green clay as you determine you would like. Try making varied shades of green by adding more or less food coloring or adding a little blue food coloring to change the saturation of color.
To make a “spikey flower” succulent, roll the green clay flat and about ¼-inch thick, then cut out varying star sizes using a craft knife or star cookie cutters.
Use a teaspoon or half-teaspoon to press bowl shapes into each point of each star shape then pinch the tip of each point onto itself, forming a bit of a cup shape.
Stack the star shapes on top of each other in graduating size with the largest on the bottom. As you stack one shape on top of the other, about every third star, press your thumb into the center of the stack of stars to press the clay pieces together and add a little bowl shape to the overall succulent.
As you start to get to the smaller sizes of stars, wrap the center of the smaller sized stars around the end of your dowel, to give them a little curl-onto-itself shape.
Finish stacking your star shapes and firmly press together to ensure the clay shape won’t fall apart after it dries. Paint the tips of the shape with a bronze, gold or dark red acrylic paint and allow the paint to dry completely.
To make a “striped spikey” succulent, roll the green clay flat and about ⅛-inch thick, then roll a portion of white clay flat and about ⅛-inch thick. Lay the flat white clay on top of the green flat lay and gently roll the two together (not blending them, but pressing them together).
Cut the stacked white and green clay into thin 1-inch squares using your craft knife, then stack these squares on top of each other and press them together.
Turn the stack of green and white squares and cut them into 15-20 long, thin triangle shapes. Smooth the edges of the long, thin triangle shapes, pinching the ends to be very pointy.
Join the wider bases of five of the triangles, making a star shape. Trim the length of five more triangles by ½-inch, on the larger end of the triangle base. Join these five triangles to those assembled into the star shape by pressing the wider ends into the center of the star shape.
Repeat, building up the spiked star shape to your desired size, turning the spikes up and outward.
To make the rounded “flower shape”, roll your green clay flat to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut out rounded shapes with a bunny ear portion of a bunny cookie cutter or a craft knife. Roll the center of the bunny ear shape with your dowel to give it depth.
Press two of the bunny ear shapes together at the base to create an “x” shape with the ears. Cut 5-10 additional single bunny ear shapes, rolling them with the dowel for depth, trimming some to be smaller, and even pinching the base together in a rolled fashion to make them varied.
Stack the bunny ear shapes on top of the initial “x” shape with the ears, layering them into the center to build a flower shape. Paint the interior of the curled portions of the shape with a dark paint and allow to dry completely.
Repeat making as many succulents as desired. I made 11 or 12.
Hot glue the clay succulent shapes into the center of the painted wood canvas, pressing them together in a tight cluster.
© Amanda Mouttaki
Project Type: Craft / Category: Home
Can you use other paints besides acrylic paint?
You always have the option to use another type of paint but I wouldn’t, if at all possible. Acrylic paint just does a great job of sticking to surfaces and staying on them without washing off or chipping. (and keep this in mind as you’re using it because if you spill it, you’re going to have quite a dilemma to clean up!)
What other fun ideas could you use to decorate this faux succulent?
If you like glitter, you know the answer. Add some glitter on the wood or even the succulent plant itself. If you’re making this simple craft for yourself, then decorate and paint it exactly how you want it.
This faux succulent wall art is a fun and easy way to bring some new “life” to your space. With the bright colors and the crisp background, it really will stand out and “pop” in any room or place that it’s kept!
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