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Thank you Firmbeliever for your nice comments. Great way to start off my day!
I thought I had also attached an image of a gourd vase. I will try that one later.
I was in the woods one day and came upon a Cougar or it came upon me, I should say. It was gorgeous. We were eye to eye for a few brief moments. It is one of those moments you just want to encapsulate in your mind and never lose.
I thought I would try one more time before getting on with my day, to attach one of the images of a gourd vase I made. I resized it a little differently than the Cougar and Egg.
Jrebel, There is a female artist in Kentucky that works with gourds, the seeds came fom her grandpa when she was younger. Are you her? Not many people work with gourds that I am aware of. The egg and cougar are beautiful as well.
Firm thank you for starting this thread it is so nice to see peoples talent and I also liked the sites/artist that chek mentioned in one of her post.
Jrebel, There is a female artist in Kentucky that works with gourds, the seeds came fom her grandpa when she was younger. Are you her? Not many people work with gourds that I am aware of. The egg and cougar are beautiful as well.
Firm thank you for starting this thread it is so nice to see peoples talent and I also liked the sites/artist that chek mentioned in one of her post.
I am glad I started this thread too and happy to know you and others are enjoying it as much I am.
I like to see other people's art work.
JR,
You must explain how this gourd vase was made....
While you can purchase gourds that have been harvested and dried already, I grow my own, sometimes dipper gourds and sometimes birdhouse gourds. "Warmth", the photo of the red with black gourd I posted is a dipper gourd with a large part of the dipper handle cut off. After the gourds grow and mature, the stems will turn brown and that is when they are ready to be cut. They then have to dry completely which takes several weeks to months. I made the mistake of hanging them in my garage the first time and by the time they were dried, each were covered in a lovely coat of fuzzy mold (LOL) which then had to be scrubbed with a solution of hot soapy water and a little bleach. LOL I have cut them and left them outside since then. They turn color but do not mold. I still scrub them before beginning to work with them but it is not as difficult as getting the mold off. Once cleaned I decide the design and begin cutting with a dremel tool. Inside the gourd is a thick fibrous material and many seeds. I remove all I possibly can and then again using the dremel took, I remove the lining which is fibrous down to the outside shell of the gourd to refine the piece for a clean line look. I use acrylic paint. After painting the gourd, I finish with a coat of Polycrylic clear gloss finish. I use inside and out in case I want to use water for a flower but I wouldn't trust it not to leak if water was kept in it for long periods of time. I sometimes use sand to weight the vase and use dried flowers or pieces resembling wheat, etc. (Polyurethane will yellow acrylics but I use it if using stains or oil base paints). I tend to be an A to Z person so forgive if I go into too much detail. I will post another gourd I have done showing the use of not only paint but wood burning tool if you would enjoy seeing that. While the gourds are craft more than art, they give me a good feeling when I work with them because they are nature made. My grandfather used dipper gourds on his farm to dip water and grain. Anytime I can create something fun from anything in nature, it gives me a feeling of gratitude and of peace. Seems everything we really need is already in existence through nature!
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