The Creation Process:

Gourds are an ornamental, inedible member of the squash family. They come in lots of varieties, sizes and shapes. Dried, hollowed out gourds have been used as drinking cups, canteens, dippers and bowls for thousands of years. And they're just plain fun to decorate.

They don't seem to grow as well in upstate New York as they do in Pennsylvania. So several times a year, Tim and I make a day trip to southern PA and visit the Meadowbrooke Gourd Farm. We go out back to the bins of dried and moldy gourds and I hand-select every gourd from the bins. We load them into plastic bags and stuff them into the car. We usually come home with at least 100 gourds.

The mold occurs as part of the drying process. Once the gourd is dried, and the mold is cleaned off, it won't mold again. The nice thing about the mold is that it leaves interesting marks and stains on the gourd. These add to the beauty of the gourd.

Tim helps to clean the gourds with a power washer. Right now the bin behind our garage is full of washed gourds waiting to be turned into works of art.

At any given time I usually have six or seven unfinished gourds sitting around in our living room so I can ponder them for a while. I look at their sizes, shapes and markings, and start to develop an original design for each one. I do a lot of sketching in my sketchbook. When I'm ready, I begin working on each gourd, and often have several in different stages of completion at once.

If I cut the gourd open, the inside needs to be cleaned out. There are different, handy tools for scraping out the dried, seedy interior. Sometimes this fibrous, feathery material is stuck to the shell of the gourd and it takes work to get it detached and out. I wear a mask or respirator when cleaning out and carving a gourd because lots of dusty material ends up in the air and one can develop a sensitivity to it. Sometimes I leave a gourd intact and don't cut it open or scrape it out. If you shake one of these gourds, you'll probably hear the seeds rattling around inside.

To begin, I draw the design in pencil on the gourd. Sometimes I use a wood burner to mark parts of the design. Then I start carving, painting or staining. I do most of the carving with a Dremel rotary carving tool and various bits, but sometimes also use carving and utility knives. The work is smoothed with files and sandpaper. I use inks, dyes and stains when I want to add color but let the mold markings show through. When painting, I use either gouache watercolors or acrylics. Finally, the gourd is finished with either linseed oil, wax, clear acrylic spray or polyurethane.

Sometimes I embellish gourds with purchased beads, buttons, feathers, leather, wire, etc., or with found natural objects such as pebbles, fossils and pine needles. I love to display a beautiful rock or fossil by insetting it in a gourd.

Finished gourds are available in a range of sizes, from quite small to very large, and each one is unique. They are hard and strong, and not apt to break or crack unless they fall just right or take a hard blow. If they get dusty, they can take a gentle cleansing with a soft, moist cloth. As far as I know, they will last forever.

If you have something special in mind, let me know. I'm happy to take custom orders.