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One is pyrotech with wood burning tool, all are done with acrylic paints with Polycrylic Clear Gloss finish.
I call one a "Gourdtar"! LOL Not too creative with my names! My dad fashioned the wood pieces at the base for the strings and the wood pieces for tuning at the top. After deciding on the outside, the inside was going to look quite unfinished and dull so I painted a little landscape scene inside the gourd. My dad passed away unexpectedly. I feel fortunate that I have these pieces he handcrafted for the "Gourdtar". He was 86 when he made the wood pieces for the "Gourdtar"! He had a stroke in one eye years prior and had vision in only one eye, so anything he handcrafted, to me was amazing. He built wooden airplanes out of wooden tea boxes and I painted them for him. Thanks for letting me share about my dad on this forum.
Do any of you do any gourd art? I would love to see your creativity with them. I am not creative when it comes to the gourds but I do love doing them. They are just fun!!!
What a wonderful thought Clough! Thank you!
I just posted a few of the gourds I spoke about earlier and hit submit about the time I received notice of your note. Inspiration is so abstract yet concrete in what it causes as an end result. I needed inspired!!! It is easy to get complacent and settled in a routine. I may get so inspired, I will have ideas flying wild in my head for the Thumb Pianos!!!
How about displaying some of your pencil drawings also. Have you mentioned yet about being in shows?
Clough, I don't recall if I have mentioned the shows or not yet. I have been stumbling around trying to just not get lost in this site. LOL. Thanks to you and Firmbeliever, I may remember now how to post images! I did post one drawing earlier called "Majestic". It is one of a cougar.
Actually, I had a show yesterday. I had a private showing several years ago then got away from it. Just got "inspired" about four years ago to do shows. I love doing the work but don't enjoy the shows too much! I was ill (no, not on purpose! LOL) and didn't get to go but family got it taken care of. Several pieces sold, including some prints matted and framed, some in protective sealers also, cards and bookmarks of my work. I will post "House of Wonders" in a bit on this note if I remember. It was a commission piece of a house in the town where I live. A couple came by my display and was looking at my work and the lady gasped and said, "I know that house. I work in that house. I'm the maid." So of course, that stirred conversation. I was told that the house was built in 1898 by a dentist and it remained in his family until the last member of his family passed away. The owner had given his housekeeper the house in his will. She sold it to the current owners who have refurbished it from a home in disarray to one of grandeur. I contacted the current owner after I finished the piece and offered to give her a print from the original drawing. She was very appreciative. Once you present your portfolio to "Utica Square" a panel of judges determine if they accept or reject your application to show. I felt and still feel honored that I was accepted. Once you make this show, you are pretty much accepted to do any surrounding shows without presenting your portfolio. If it had not been for my daughter, I would not have even presented it. She drove from another town, picked it up and took it to the judges. KIDS!!! Wonderful, huh??? We all need someone to believe in us.
What is it that you do to the gourds to preserve them so that they won't rot, please? I have never been sure about that...
Actually, nature does it for you for the most part. The soft outside covering begins to harden after you cut it from the vine. Just one more gift provided for us to use. If my grandfather had seen me painting on one, he would have had a good laugh. He used his to dip water and to dip seeds for planting! LOL
It takes a few months at least or that has been my experience for gourds to dry out. Once it is hardened, the seeds inside and the pulp have also dried. If left out in the weather, they turn darker with aging but are fairly sturdy little things! You can use them for bird houses outside or use them as decor. If I take the time to paint on them, I generally put the polycrylic clear coat on and keep them inside. My sister-in-law was so excited about them, she grew her own and painted them but she has them hanging in her trees (bird house gourds, not dipper gourds) in her back yard.
I am interested in growing some basket gourds but have not been able to locate viable seeds. The ones I have purchased were apparently not mature seeds so didn't produce. Do you have any knowledge of these?
Hmm...I guess it might speed up the process. I have not tried it. The outside is soft when you hang them to dry. I believe there might be a danger of insects invading the gourd and ruining it but this I do not know for sure. Perhaps as it is in the later drying stages, it might not attract insects as easily. If a large hole was cut or the top cut off, it is possible it would curl as it dried and might make for interesting art pieces. I might just have to try that!
A few more beaded state stamps here. There are 24,000 beads in each one. Those tiny black things next to it, bottom right, are the beads not yet threaded on the needle.
I told my niece about your bead work. She is so anxious to see them. She has just begun working with beads and glues them on little wooden eggs. This will just blow her away. How many hours do these take? I know each piece differs but just ball park figure. I am fascinated!!! I don't use thread at all even to sew on buttons so this just mystifies me! Beautiful work as well as all your other pieces. I want to see more when you have time to post.
Hmm...I guess it might speed up the process. I have not tried it. The outside is soft when you hang them to dry. I believe there might be a danger of insects invading the gourd and ruining it but this I do not know for sure. Perhaps as it is in the later drying stages, it might not attract insects as easily. If a large hole was cut or the top cut off, it is possible it would curl as it dried and might make for interesting art pieces. I might just have to try that!
I didn't know about hanging them to dry. Thanks for the information! I should know better because I do a lot of herb and vegetable gardening though. But, I have been putting small holes in them and just leaving them sitting in my basement. Probably the wrong move there! They have not lasted, I think, because I have put them in my basement!
Do you remove the insides of them somehow before hanging them to dry?
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