a little about gourd art
To decorate, craft and embellish gourds may be very simple or very complex. A particular project may take a few hours, days, weeks or even months. Techniques and applications used may involve simple hand tools or sophisticated electrical devices. An artist may employ one technique or several as the 3D canvas provided by gourds allows for many different inspirations and applications.
Gourds can be crafted green or dried. A carved green gourd may serve as the centerpiece for an evening dining table much as a tomato may be carved into a rose and used as a temporary garnish. There is a technique in Hawaii called the Ni'ihau method which uses green gourds that are dyed from the inside out and then left to dry. The result of this process is one of the most beautiful I have seen and I hope one day to learn how to do this.
If a dried gourd is to be opened one might choose a hobby knife, hand saw, jig saw, mini jig saw, scroll saw or knife. Much depends on the thickness of the gourd, what's at hand and one's preference. A variety of instruments may be used to scrape clean the interior, or one may attach a special gourd cleaner ball to a drill and make fast work of it. You might even take it to waters edge and shake the insides loose using sand, pebbles and a little water.
Many kinds of coloring agents may be applied to gourds including transparent inks, metallic inks and powders, leather dyes, acrylic and oil paints, watercolor and oil pencils, waxes,varnishes and nature based pigments.
Woodburning is a very popular technique used in gourd art. There are simple inexpensive woodburners which have no variable heat setting but a variety of tips and also very sophisticated woodburners which have dials to select heat settings and a variety of plug in pens with differing tips. With woodburners one can draw, outline, shade, stipple and even pierce the gourd shell if desired. More primitive methods of woodburning are still in use today and may take the form of smoldering sticks or heated metal prongs.
Several methods of carving are used by gourd artisans. One may use hand tools such as chisels, gouges and skews, simple craft saws or electric saws, hole saws for birdhouses, or most popular the rotary tools which have a multitude of attachable bits and burs. With these tools one can create linear carving, engraving, chip carving, scrimshaw, fretwork, relief and sculptural carving. Carving is also used to create recesses for inlaid objects such as gemstones, cabochons or resin.
The rims of gourds are often treated by wrapping or coiling with a variety of materials including waxed linen, pine needles, raffia, twigs, fabrics, wire, sea grass, feathers and many other types of fiber.
So what do artists make out of gourds? The possibilities are endless! Besides objets d'art , gourds are still beautifully crafted into highly functional objects such as bowls, platters, vessels, vases, pitchers, teapots, carafes, ornaments, bird houses, jewelry, lamps, masks and musical instruments. Let your imagination run wild! Adhere to no rules!
If you are interested in viewing gourd art, I encourage you to explore books, galleries, and websites. I promise you will be awed by what artists are doing with gourds.
If you are interested in crafting gourds, there are a number of books available by well respected artists who can help to get you started, or maybe even a class in your area. America has a Gourd Society as do most individual states. These societies are a great source of information for growing gourds, crafting classes, upcoming shows and competitions. Searching the internet will yield a vast number of resources.
