Halloween Gnome – How to Use an Airbrush for Crafting!

Looking for creative Halloween gnome ideas? Try out this fun DIY for crafting your own spooky Halloween gnome using airbrush painting and stenciling techniques! Whether you’re looking to paint with an airbrush, try out a stencil pattern, or want a free printable gnome hat pattern, this tutorial has everything you need. 

You may remember our gnome DIY with the cool light up hat. That same laser cut gnome kit is the jumping off point for this project. It comes with interchangeable accents for every season, including Halloween! Of course, as usual, we’re putting our own unique spin on it!

Painting and stencilling by hand can be tedious. We have shown you how to paint using a spray gun, but it’s way too big for those small craft projects that don’t need a lot of paint. So when I had an opportunity to borrow and try out this air brush kit, I thought it might be a game changer for crafting.

As it turns out, it IS a game changer! Air brushing is not just for artists. If you buy the right air brush with a tip that can do wide strokes, like this Iwata air brush, it not only speeds up the crafting process, but it’s so much fun too! This one has a .35 mm tip. Air brush on a table

Watch the Video

By the way, if you own a laser, you can purchase an SVG from Kim and Garrett Make It, and cut the gnome yourself (not an affiliate link). But they also sell the mdf kit ready to embellish, like we’re doing here!

Prime the MDF

I had already painted a primer coat when we did our Irish Gnome (see St. Patrick’s Day Crafts for Adults). It’s always a good idea to prime first!

Air brush, paints and Halloween Gnome paintables on a tables

Prop up your item with these painter’s pyramids (we prefer the ones with the tabs!). If you’ve never used these amazing paint accessories, you’ll want to check out our painters pyramids article for what’s so special about them!

Halloween Gnome MDF pumpkin propped up by painters pyramids on a table

Safety First

NOTE: always spray in a well ventilated area; ideally outdoors, or wear a mask to protect your lungs. When I looked at the MDS sheets for Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint, it turns out that the black does contain a known carcinogen. But I can say that about red meat, processed meats, alcohol and sugar too, which most of us ingest, so work smart!

Although I love the quality and coverage of Golden paints, for our next craft project, we’ll likely be exploring VOC paints and how you can make them work for crafting with an air brush. In the meantime, this maker uses cheap craft paints and shows you how to thin them for air brushing using a DIY make-your-own-thinner.

Halloween Gnome Materials

Air Brushing Pumpkins

At first I tried some paint that came with the kit. I was not impressed. It was way too thin and I had to brush it off and wait for it to dry. Then I tried this Pyrrole Orange fluid acrylic paint by Golden. It’s ideal for spraying with an air brush and the coverage is amazing! I only need one coat.

Hand using an air brush to spray a flat MDF pumpkin

I got into the groove of air brushing and sprayed a few more things that came with the Gnome Kit. The trick is to keep the air going at all times. Depress the air brush trigger for air flow, then pull back to release paint. Bring the trigger forward when you move off the edge, but maintain pressure on the trigger to keep the air flowing. Slow and steady wins the race.

pumpkins and leaves painted orange and a yellow sunflower drying on a table

Posca paint pens are perfect for filling in details.

Painting in the details of the pumpkin with a Posca paint pen

Now onto our felt gnome hat!

Felt Gnome Hat

After painting the various pieces, I wondered what it would be like to try air brushing through a stencil.

I cut out a piece of orange felt and secured it to my MDF hat using double-sided tape.

Hand tracing around mdf hat onto orange felt

This method is quick—I didn’t have to wait for glue to dry!

Orange felt hat for Halloween Gnome beside mdf hat with strips of double sided tape applied

I printed this ‘Boo’ graphic on a piece of acetate and cut it by hand. I really should get the hang of my Cricut machine; it would save SO much time!

Halloween Gnome Boo stencil on acetate sitting on top of orange felt hat with hand holding x-acto knife

As I sprayed, I used a toothpick to hold down the stencil. Keep in mind, the air output from my Iwata kit isn’t adjustable so can blow under the stencil. In retrospect, using low-tack vinyl might have reduced the slight paint seepage.

Hand holding air brush stencilling black paint onto orange felt hat

Boo! It’s so rewarding to lift the stencil and see the graphic come to life!

Lifting off the stencil from the felt hat

By the way, if you’re not into stenciling and you own a laser, this design would look amazing scored or engraved with a laser! Either way,

If you’re a subscriber and want to try this out, check our  Birdz on the Fly Freebie Library for a free printable template.

Otherwise, fill out this form to subscribe to our newest DIYs, crafts, recipes and gain access to free patterns and printables!

Cleaning the Air Brush

It’s crucial to clean your airbrush thoroughly every time. A quick rinse won’t cut it!
You can see a tiny clump of paint in the nozzle; that’s from the previous person not cleaning it before we tried it out.

Hand holding air brush with nozzle in view

Acrylic paints dry super fast and the tiniest clump of paint can stop the air brush from working (which is what happened when we first tested it!).

We recommend use Iwata-Medea air brush cleaning solution for the best results.

adding cleaning fluid into cup

Soak the parts in a small cup to avoid using too much solution. Surprisingly, I find that these Oral B bristle brushes work wonders for scrubbing hard to reach area on these small parts.

Hubs did also try a cotton bud, but I prefer to avoid any loose fibres that might shed. air brush parts soaking in cleaning fluid

If you ever have to deep clean the parts where you can reach dried on paint, an ultrasonic cleaner can be used in severe cases only. I wouldn’t use it often as it can eventually remove the chrome coating. If you read our post on how to clean brass hardware, you’ll be amazed at the sludge that comes off of things you think are already pretty clean!

Can you Use a Regular Air Compressor with an Air Brush?

Now that our initial test is over, and we returned the brush and compressor, we’re eager to experiment more! However, instead of buying the entire kit, we only bought the air brush and some adapter fittings to make it compatible with our regular California Air Tools compressor.

We’re also adding a quick connect to speed up the setup. One thing we disliked about the portable compressor was how long it took to screw on the air brush hose!

Once we get it up and running, we’ll tell you all about how to attach an air brush to a regular compressor in an upcoming post.

First Impressions

The air brush is great for painting the small accessories, like the pumpkins. Here’s how the other pumpkin turned out after finishing with the Posca paint markers.

close-up of halloween gnome holding an orange painted pumpkin with a face

Halloween Gnome Reveal

Our Halloween gnome fits right in with our other Halloween decor! I couldn’t resist doing a traditional pop of orange! If you like to crochet, you can find the free crochet patterns for both the crochet pumpkin and crochet can cozy.

Halloween gnome with crochet pumpkin and skull soda can cozy

Spooky Gnome

Halloween gnome holding an orange painted pumpkin wearing a orange and black stencilled felt hat

Spook-tacular Halloween Gnome

As you can see, I did get some overspray on the Halloween Gnome’s hat. But in this case, I think it’s fine because it just looks spookier.

So would you try an air brush for crafting and what do you think of our spooky gnome?

Pin Halloween Gnome

Pinning is always welcome and appreciated.

pinnable image for halloween gnome

8 thoughts on “Halloween Gnome – How to Use an Airbrush for Crafting!

  1. Sara, stop, I don’t need any more tools! Haha.

    • Ha ha; Christmas is around the corner so you need to put this on your ‘I’ve been good this year’ list Rachel!

    • Glad you think so! I love that combination of spooky and cute lol!

  2. Oh he’s tooo cute, Sara. We love using our airbrushes for all kinds of things, but for some reason I’ve never thought of an airbrush and a stencil in the same sentence but it makes so much sense. My stencil work is always untidy, so I’m definitely going to give that a go

    • I can’t believe it took me so long to ‘discover’ air brushing for crafts lol. Can’t wait to see what you do with stenciling Michelle!

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