Faery House Gourd

I got to work on my faery house gourd today. I used the wood burner to add ferns, mushrooms, lady bugs, a butterfly, some acorns and some oak leaves to my house.  I need to make a chimney next.

Two Gourd Fairy Houses Work in Progress

Last Sunday I took gourds to the archery meeting and started working on 2 gourd fairy houses.  It was supposed to be just the one, but the first gourd I cut open had no seeds in it. Zip, zilch, nada. So I had to cut the second one open because I wanted to glue the gourd seeds like tiles around the windows I had cut into the gourd. Then yesterday the plan was to continue on the fairy houses with the wood burning tool, only yesterday was a mess and I never got to it. So today if the rain is done I'll try again. I want to work in front of the garage but it's a bit chilly out so we'll see.

Some gourds have a pretty silvery interior like this one.

This gourd had no seeds so I had to steal them from the one above.

My Friend's Garden

My friend Jessica in Santa Ana is growing gourds this year.

Princess Gourd Doll Folk Art Pyrography

I just finished a gourd doll with wood burned designs (pyrography) and I really love the way she turned out. She has a heart shaped face and a little crown and decorative patterns swirl around her. They include lady bugs, chicks, a bird in leaves, some lacy moss, 2 caterpillars, some butterflies, some flowers, and other random designs. Such a joy to make although it took many hours. It makes me so happy when something comes out nice.

Looped Gourd

One way to embellish a gourd is by looping it with wire or thread. So here is a gourd I just started working on.  I've never tried embroidery thread and it seems to be going a lot slower than when I used linen or hemp. I'll have to keep you posted on how it's coming along.

Turning a Gourd Into a Pouch

My friend Sal gets the credit for this next project.  It's based on a gourd he brought back from Mexico. See the photo of it at the top of the page.

For this project I needed a gourd that could be turned into a little bowl. The first one I picked up had a good shape, but when I flipped it over it had a long lengthwise crack.  Rats.  But I figured I could save half of it and make a scooper for birdseed or lavender or something.

But I'm glad I kept looking because then I found a gourd in my stash that was a twofer. I was able to cut it in half and make 2 bowls.  I used my gourd saw, but a hand saw would have worked.

After I cleaned it inside and out, and sanded it, I drilled holes around the rim with a Dremel drill. Then I did pyrography petroglyphs. In other words, I used a wood burning tool to draw 2 lizards in a petroglyph style. And on the other bowl I put a cat line drawing.  I thought part of the appeal was to keep it really basic and primitive looking.  My boyfriend looked at them and said, "The art is too basic." Sigh. We always have different visions for things.  Simplistic was my goal. I feel like the crochet is going to add yet another element, so I wanted to keep the art basic. 

Next I will apply a clear finish over the art, because when I do the crochet part, I don't want the overspray to go on the string. If you look at the photos this will make a lot more sense. I think I am done with this project for today so stay tuned.

Cleaned bottle gourd.

The top and the bottom of the gourd.  I saved the middle part for another project.

I used a drill to put the holes for the thread to go through.

lizard and cat in pyrograpyhy

Gourds and Reciept Confusion

We had a wonderful time at the gourd farm. This time we took a different route through Fallbrook because of some road damage on the usual route. We only saw one place the road was still a bit flooded but it was no big deal. But you could see the high water line had flooded out the road a few days ago.

Mostly we got bottle gourds because they were 70% off.  Even the mini gourds and the jewelry gourds were still $70 off as long as they were bottle shaped (big on top and bottom, with a smaller waist). I couldn't resist getting 3 warty gourds as well.
After the talley we went inside the shop to get everything rung up. I about had a heart attack when the cashier said the price of my gourds with the discount was almost $200. But my boyfriend kept saying she knew her job and if she said that was the total, then that was the total. So I wandered around the shop while he rang up his gourds.  A bit later when the cashier went to put it on the credit card, she saw she'd rung up the 3 warty gourds as 54 warty gourds, so when she fixed that the total dropped down to about $70. Thank goodness I was right and they caught the error before I was halfway home. But how come neither one of them believed me when I said the price she first rang up couldn't possibly be right?

We also asked her to subtotal mine, and his, so I'd know how much I owed him, but when all was said and done she put the sale gourds on one receipt and everything else on the other, so I still don't know how much I owe him. We are going to have to recount and re-lable everything so I can find out whose gourds are whose. I probably got 100 gourds.

Gourd Sale At Welburn Gourd Farm

According to my boyfriend, Welburn Gourd Farm is having a 70% off sale on bottle gourds. I'm sure these are the very end of last year's crop. And since we use them to make canteens, vases, and water jugs, we always need some.  I use the bottle gourds for dolls, birdhouses and vases. So with any luck we'll drive out there first thing in the morning.

I hope to get some more little gourds to make gourd necklaces.  I really need to show some restraint or I end up buying way too many.

Gourds and Hubpages

I've been reviewing and updating all my gourd articles on Hubpages. Hubpages has made so many improvements in the way things are catergorized and linked together, that I had to edit things to catch up with the newer features. If you don't know about Hubpages, come say hi. Hubpages . The link will take you to my gourd santa page and you can maneuver from there.

My Boyfriend's Gourd Projects

My boyfriend has been working on gourd drums and gourd pitchers. I love the wood burning he did on the lettering. His style is very different than mine. On the table you can see the wood burner.
He has his own gourd blog here:  http://greenmangourds.blogspot.com/

Gourd Drum

I worked on a gourd drum today that I'd already dyed yellow and red. As I was cleaning out the interior a bit better, I found a bunch of tiny spiders inside. I guess they'd made it their nest. It seems insects like the pithy interior of gourds. That part gets removed when you clean it, but I've found some bugs like to burrow inside it.
My hands gave out before I was done sanding the top and bottom level. The rest of it will have to wait for another day.

Gourd Nativity Scene

Two days before Christmas I get an insane idea to make a Nativity Scene out of gourds, including the people. It was a present. I barely got it done in time. The clear acrylic spray was still slightly tacky. For inside the 'stable' I used raffia cut into bits. First I tried putting long pieces in there but that was too springy. I used a bit of natural color roving to set the sheep and wisemen on, and I used a wee bit of white roving for under the baby Jesus.

The woman I made it for loved it. And that's what mattered.

The Welburn Gourd Farm is having a clearance of last  year's gourds right now for 50% off, so we are planning a trip out there in a day or two. Hit hard by the recession, they even have a 75% off voucher on their website right now, but you have to spend $200 for the privilege and we just don't need that many gourds sitting around.

The Horses Are Ready

I got my horse gourd vase finished and listed on Etsy today. It should show up in my shop to the right. I can't believe how I have so many things to list, yet can't seem to get around to it. But today the weather is beautiful and I'm home on a Saturday so I took it outside and took photos.

A New Gourd Doll

I started making this doll a few months ago. I like it so far. I really do. I'm just not sure where to go from here.  Yarn hair? Wire hair? Paint in the face with acrylics? Leave it primitive looking? Oh well I'll come up with something. I've done the pyrography on it.

Gourd Rain Stick Build Along

Part One and Part Two


I grew this snake gourd in my garden and was hoarding it to make something special. Then I decided it would be just right for a rain stick. I really enjoyed this project even if it was rather labor intensive. Now I just need to join a drum circle or something so I have a chance to play it in a real environment.
I'm getting quite the collection of weird gourd instruments. I'm made a didjeridoo, some rattles, a guiro, a drum, and now a rain stick.

Update: I have no idea why Youtube videos suddenly stopped working on my blogs, even the ones that were my own productions. Until I figure this out, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Gourd Artist

Youtube has a wealth of videos about gourd art. Here is one I found tonight.

Gourd Purse Build Along Part 1

I just started a gourd purse. I was about ready to clean a canteen gourd when my boyfriend handed me one he'd already cleaned inside and out and painted the interior. So I was able to decoupage the insides before it got dark. I'll let that dry overnight and then give it 2 more coats.

One photo is of the decorative paper I added to the interior, plus the clear medium, and the pre-painted gourd.

The others are of the interior as I was adding the collage with a foam brush.

Wild Horse Trotting Around a Gourd Vase

Last night my boyfriend was making a paleo style bowl and had just woodburned a curly horned ram on it. I said it sure would be neat to do a horse, so I sketched up some horses. They weren't really the style he needed, so I slept on it, and this morning I just couldn't bear to waste those horse sketches. So I got some of the new pyrography paper we just got and traced the best of the horses onto it. I selected a gourd that would make a good vase and set out to work sawing off the top and cleaning it for woodburning. It was very satisfying seeing my drawings come to life on the gourd. Then I got to experiment with the new ink dyes we got. The Gourdmaster ones were so much better than the other brand we bought. In fact the other brand left streaks and dried so quickly I could barely get in onto the gourd before it dried. The Gourdmaster inks stayed wet a long time and covered up the streaks from the first inks. Unfortunately we spent $30.00 on the other inks. If my boyfriend hadn't already opened all three packages (each with three bottles) I would have returned them the next chance I got. Maybe they work great on some things, but not on gourds.



I already drilled holes around the rim of the gourd because I either want to sew on pine needles or raffia around the brim. And I think I have a buffalo head nickle button around here that I can sew on to the front. But tomorrow is another day and it's time to wind down now.

My Heart

Check out the new gourd art my boyfriend just finished. http://greenmanarchery.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-gourd-art.html

Gourd Hand Saw

We got a new gourd saw and I must say it's making my life so much easier. It's given me a renewed interest in gourd crafting. Yesterday I even dug out a gourd lamp I started a few years ago. I just got tired of all the hand sawing. So I flip it over and it had a spider inside and also silverfish. Yuck. So I learned something new...silver fish like to eat the papery part on the inside of a cut gourd.

So I used the new cleaning ball to get the papery part removed, and removed the spider of course, and then I cut out a lot more bits with the new gourd hand saw. It was fun. I also cut out a fairy gourd house with doors and windows, and I started working on my rain stick gourd I'm making from a snake gourd that I grew in my garden.

I'm having a blast. As soon as I have breakfast, I'm going to go work on my gourds some more.