I only thought you could make bird houses, but when I started browsing
the internet for gourds, I found a lot more!
Here's what I've created so far...
The above gourd only worked because of a lot of accidents. I had
hoped to have interlocking lizards
(design borrowed from M. C. Escher) in even rows around the center
of the gourd. But as I traced
the lizards onto the gourd, the pattern dipped. I continued,
and amazingly the design ended up
where it began!! Even more than that, I alternated colors on
the lizards, and that worked evenly as well!
So then I needed a lid. The design of the lizards prevented having
a regular round lid. I decided on a
leaf-shaped lid, but what leaf? Finally, I chose a GOURD leaf.
It is a broad leaf with little spikey points
along the edge of the leaf with the stem of the gourd acting as the
stem of the leaf. I'm very happy with the
outcome of this gourd. I used Fiebring leather dye to color the
gourd, and will soon wax the outside
with Johnson's Floor Paste and coat the interior with melted parafin
(because this gourd will be going to
a humid climate). 7-25-2001
I learned how to chip carve at the 2000 World's Largest Gourd Festival
in Ohio.
I also learned how to sew pine needles onto the edge of gourd bowls.
October, 2000
This is a vase I made for Grandma. I cleaned it and waxed it with
floor wax. The inside has melted parafin soaked into the interior
to make it waterproof. The exterior has some braided linen, beads
and gourd seeds as decoration. 7-17-99
These are very loud instruments called Shekerie
This is the front and back of a cat vase. I think I would like
to cut off
the neck part to make a bowl vase, but I haven't done it yet.
It's
very hard to put it back once you cut it off. I wood burned the
designs.
This gourd was created in January 2000. It is not an original
design, and the lighting is not right in the photo, but I like it.
It is a series of four intertwining lizards. I initially painted
the center of the lizards dark green, but once the finish was applied,
it looked black. So I added green glitter. The black spaces
between the lizards is cut out of the gourd. The interior of the
gourd is painted black.
This gourd was created March 2000. The scallaped lid looks like
a sunflower laying face down when it is on the bowl. The inside of
the lid looks like the right side of a sunflower. The bowl is painted
green with a marbled look inside and out. There are three decoupaged
butterflies on the outside, and one on the inside of the lid. The
lesson I learned: It was elegant until I put a semi-gloss polyurathane
finish on it - then it looked plastic.
Birdhouses made in June/July 2000. Learned a great lesson of soaking
the gourd once the hole is drilled.
This is very helpful in getting the inside cleaned with a spoon, and
by using an orange, plastic scratchy scrubber,
getting the outside clean. These are finished with 2 coats of
Johnson's Floor Paste. And the purchased 1 1/4 inch
drill bit was wonderful in getting the holes neatly cut.
Ok, the first gourds I decorated. At the time, I had no idea how
much more you could do with a gourd.
This book, "The Complete Book of Gourd Craft", by Ginger Summit, is
an excellent book. I got many of my ideas here and by browsing the
internet. You can purchase the book at www.amazon.com
or check it out with interlibrary loan.
Another extremely interesting book is "Why Cats Paint". The book
is humorous and leaves me not knowing what is real and how much the authors
are yanking my chain. Also available at www.amazon.com
or via interlibrary loan.
Back to Patty's Potpourri Page
This page was last updated 8-18-2005
Contact Patty Delmott delmottp@emporia.edu
Emporia State University www.emporia.edu