How to Make Mushroom Ornaments

Mushrooms are popping up all over Christmas decor this year! Learn how to make your mushroom ornaments with this easy tutorial.

The iconic toadstool is also profoundly rooted in Christmas folklore, occasionally making it into holiday decor and ornament designs.

On a recent shopping trip, I noticed an abundance of mushroom Christmas ornaments in the stores. I loved these ornaments and thought they would add some whimsy to my family room tree this year. I am not ready to reveal the entire tree, but here is a sneak peek. However, I also wondered about the correlation between Christmas and the mushroom, so I dug deeper. Unfortunately, the majority of the mushroom ornaments I saw were rather expensive.

A little history about the mushroom ornaments

“Known in German as glücklicher Pilz ” “lucky mushroom,” this bright red-and-white fungus grows deep within the forest. The real name is Amanita muscaria (fly agaric), which can only grow on certain types of trees – typically, trees we use as Christmas trees.

It’s common around Christmas because people often go out looking for these fungi in December. However, most folks buy them at grocery stores rather than gathering them in the woods today.

Somebody once said that finding a mushroom was a sign of good luck.

Mushroom ornaments I found

I saw many beautiful mushroom ornaments in the stores, made of glass, felt, wood and ceramic. However, the prices varied from $10.00 an ornament to $84.00. I am not sure about you, but I am not willing to pay $84.00 for a Christmas tree ornament.

Let’s make mushroom ornaments

You know me!! When I get an idea, I will find a way to make it happen. So let me share with you how I created these adorable mushroom ornaments. This is just one idea. Honestly, there are so many different ways you could finish these mushrooms. Here are just a few other ideas.

• Paint (add baking soda for some texture for the top)
• Stain
• Cover the top with fabric
• Cover the entire mushroom with a thin coat of cement
• Moss the top of the mushroom
• Decoupage the top with a paper napkin

Supplies Needed to make mushroom ornaments

• Drill
• Velvet ribbon 3/8″ wide
• Wood mushrooms
• Annie Sloan dark wax
• Small screws with an eye on the end
• Cookie Sheet
• Wilton red candy coloring
• Totalboat 2-part epoxy
• Wood popsicle sticks
• 2 round plastic containers to mix epoxy ( you will throw these away when you are finished)
• rubber gloves
• Frog tape
• Heat Gun
• red acrylic paint
  • paintbrush

Instructions to make Mushroom Ornaments

Step 1

Drill a small hole in the very top center of the mushroom cap.

Screw in the screw with an eye on the end into the hole. You may need a pair of pliers to screw this in.

Step 2

Tape off the stem of the mushroom with frog tape. Be sure that the bottom is covered and that the mushroom sits flat.

Step 3

Paint the mushroom cap with one coat of red acrylic paint and let this dry well. Since the acrylic is transparent, I find it best to do this so you get a bright and brilliant red cap on your mushroom.

Let’s pour some resin on our mushroom caps

Step 4

Now the fun begins, and we can start to prepare our resin to pour over the caps of our mushrooms.

You must mix equal parts of A and B of the Totalboat epoxy. Make sure that the epoxy is warmed up to room temperature.

Add a few drops of the red candy coloring and mix well.

You need to mix the epoxy for 5 minutes before it is ready.

You can always add more candy coloring to get the depth of color you are looking for.

Once you have finished mixing the epoxy, I let it sit for another 5-10 minutes to thicken up before I pour over the wood caps of the mushrooms.

When you pour the epoxy over the cap of the mushroom, do it over an empty container so you can reuse the epoxy.

Twist and turn the mushroom until most of the excess has dripped off.

Next, blow the heat gun on the mushroom cap to eliminate the air bubbles.

Now set the mushroom on the waxed paper on top of a cookie sheet. Let the mushrooms sit for a minimum of 12 hours.

How to decorate your ornaments once they are dry

Once the epoxy dried, I removed the tape from the stem and used a soft cloth and a bit of dark wax from Annie Sloan to stain the stem.

You could add white dots to the mushroom cap if you like. I left mine solid red as I had other mushrooms on my tree with white dots and wanted these to be different.

I added a lovely 3/8″ wide red velvet ribbon to hang them from the tree.

These wooden mushroom ornaments are so easy and fun to make! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you’re looking for more DIY Christmas ornament inspiration, be sure to follow my blog. I’ll be sharing lots of other great ideas in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading!

If you are looking for other great ornament ideas, see how to gold foil ornaments

Or steps to decorate your Christmas Tree

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