New Gourd Art

This piece is something of a departure for me.

Typically I do gourd art that has a use, a purpose, something you can do with it.

Canteens, cups, bowls, jugs... that sort of thing.

Well, this one is absolutely useless as a functional gourd. It's art. At least, I think it's art.

My Heart is Locked for You is 3 1/2" high and 5" in diameter.

The heart on the lid is imitation gold leaf outlined by acrylic paint. The body of the gourd has been stained with leather dye and the whole thing has been sealed with lacquer.

The lid is fastened down by 4 brass straps. I guess you could unscrew the straps to find out what is inside the heart... but then the heart wouldn't be locked any longer.

And that's the point: My Heart is Locked for You.

What do you think? Have I wasted a perfectly good gourd or am I an artistic visionary with a devious mind?

A Great Day at the Gourd Farm

Last Friday the company where I have my day job was closed for the 4th of July but my department was open (and it was busy! what was everyone doing calling us instead of enjoying the holiday?). It was my turn to work the holiday so I didn't get the day off. But I got to make up for that by taking this Friday off!

Fayme and I have been having so much fun with gourds again that we decided to take a safari down to Temecula, CA to visit the Welburn Gourd Farm to re-stock on gourds for particular projects we've been thinking of. At least, that was my plan. Fayme tends to wander around, get interesting gourds, and only decide later what to do with them. I usually pick mine with a particular use or end in mind.
Fayme took a few photos while we were there:

If you live close enough or happen to be passing through the area, I can't recommend visiting Welburn highly enough. You'll find great folks who will be happy to answer all your questions about this fascinating and versatile art medium. As you can see, their selection is vast. In that little building in the background you can purchase all the tools and supplies you could want to make great art.

Update: Garith had a question about pricing for Welburn gourds so I thought I'd post a link to that particular page of the Welburn site. Wholesale at the farm is definately the way to go if you're in the area. Also, I suggest buying un-cleaned gourds. They are way cheaper than already cleaned gourds and I think half the fun is seeing the gourds character emerge from beneath the field dirt. Cleaning the gourds isn't at all difficult.

Are these beautiful, or what?

A few months ago a gentleman left a message here on the blog asking how I did the faux finish on arrows. I wrote up a good reply and sent it off to him. His question prompted me to also put together a post here on how to do the finish.

He wrote back to me today and included a picture of some arrows he made for a woman. I think she's one lucky archer because these arrows turned out beautiful!


Thanks, Craig! I'm glad I was able to help get you started on these.

Gourd Drums

I started these two gourd drums some time ago but put them aside when I ripped the rawhide when trying to fasten a head on the brown gourd. Fayme rekindled my interest in the project recently and this time I had a bit better success.
The blue gourd got a different fastening method and I definately like that method better. Both drums sound great to my untrained ear.