I have recently started crafting with gourds.?
I started out with a simple bird feeder, then carved one out indian style…a few beads and feathers. Now I am inlaying beads and stones. Anyone out there into this? I had grown my own gourds but ran out! I love this new passion. Any ideas on where to get more gourds? Any cool ideas? Would love to find a fellow “carver”! Thanks, Debi
Suggested Reading:
1000 Jewelry Inspirations (mini): Beads, Baubles, Dangles, and Chains (1000 Series) A visual catalog for jewelry, bead artists and crafters who will relish the opportunity to have so many ideas at their fingertips to inspire their... Read More >
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Sometimes there are pictures of them in Birds and Blooms, by Reiman Publications. I’m sure they have a site online.
Farmers Market is a good source or the flea market or yard sales [sometimes]
I found that gourds were seasonal here. Try local truck farms. They might have a store of them left over from the harvest. I made several that were carved. I also used a wood burning tool to decorate with. You can use shoe or leather dyes to color the surfaces. You might check the library for these books; “Complete Book of Gourd Craft” by Ginger Slummit and Jim Widess or “The Weekend Crafter, Gourd Crafts” also by Ginger Summit. I found these books to have a lot of ideas and they were good launch points for my gourd art. You can cut and splice the small gourds to make animals. I made a large gourd into a storage box with a lid. I cut the lid in a scalloped shape, wood burned the edges and sides, and dyed the different sections. There are two kinds of leather dye. An paste and a liquid. Depending on the result you want, the liquid is more transparent, the paste is somewhat transparent but covers blemishes better. You can use acrylic paints, and spray paints for gold leaf look. Here in the Southwest some of the Native American tribes glue little seed beads inside the gourds in “dream designs”. Another idea is to drill hole in the top of the gourd opening and weave around the top with yarns. If you can, get that book “The Complete Book of Gourd Craft” It’s really good.