Gourd Babble

I have an abundance of gourds right now...and I seem to have found some paints that give me a transparent base coat that I've been trying to get for a while...

purty I think

I've started some stamping on 2 of the smaller ones, don't know where I'll go from there..paint, texture, something.

I think these will be a series...or something

Fair Part II

so I finished this pitcher and went with it...the wood slices are from a wisteria vine pruned from our back yard and I strung stone chips in between and around the base

I also found out today that Popcorn (see previous post) was juried IN for it's division which means it WILL be on display in the fine arts division this year

I love fair season

latest gourd

another pitcher....the spout is part of the neck....the base is plaster, covered in twigs from the yard...J made beads that are partially attached to the handle....for some reason I have been unable to finish this one.....maybe later today....maybe not

New Year - New Gourd

a cannonball one at that....there was a little universe of space witches and warlocks battling dragons and spaceships hiding on it...

I've cleaned some more today (gourds, I mean) and have another box of them on the way....

J gave me some books on different gourd finishing methods and I think I want to try a banjo at some point....I can play it on my redneck pallet deck while swilling beer.....that's my kind of new year's resolution

edited to add the painting on this gourd was inspired by sci-fi illustrator Hannes Bok

*Updated* Gourd Update

The tattooed gourd is essentially finished and I'm pretty pleased with it and myself, LOL...I think I would have slept with it last night had J not made me put it up...I'm a little obsessive sometimes and won't even try to explain it past that...

My vision for this (if I actually have those in regards to something I'm working on) came together quickly once I got started...I wanted it to look like something a sailor in the South Pacific could have done to keep busy while island hopping at the turn of the century (not this past one either) or during WW2 after being exposed to tattoos and tattooed culture in different parts of the world...at any rate, I'm once again amazed at how great a canvas a gourd can be

I will stop this so not me post now...clicking on the top picture will link to a slideshow of more shots....


lots and lots done on the latest gourd lately.....I've found a ton of inspiration at Vintage Tattoo Flash ....all the wood burning is done, some painting started...I also managed to work two pin-ups on it...hehehehe....I love them

this is fascinating - I know

New Gourd

well, not really new...it's top made the dragon's egg in last year's State Fair entry and I decided after the Cherokee trip last October to make a pitcher with the rest of it....but I never got further than attaching the handle...I'd had an idea about putting traditional tattoo flash sparrows on the front and doing a tribal piece on the handle but abandoned that in the spring for some stupid fairy design that never quite worked out...then after pruning a few months ago, I wrapped some wisteria vine around part of the handle to see how that looked....

then I put it on a shelf and didn't touch it again until today....

zuhn's recent post about choosing a design for her new tattoo (bush diving sparrows) gave me the push I needed to return to my original idea (thanks z!)....which I've sketched and roughly wood-burned as of right now...the handle is still iffy...I may wrap the whole thing in vine - or not - and I think I may add a banner that the sparrows are holding in their beaks...at any rate...it's started, which is a good thing since there a whole bunch more waiting in the laundry room