Gourd Art

Human beings have used gourds since pre-history, and have decorated gourds for almost as long. Since we moved to North Carolina we have admired pieces of gourd art in gift shops and tourist traps. Most of them are bird houses, but some are genuine pieces of abstract art.

David is an artist who usually works with watercolor and oil, but he couldn't resist creating some gourd art himself. Here are a few examples.

David usually buys the gourds on eBay or locally at farmers' markets. They are in a raw, uncleaned state with splotchy fugus all over them. He soaks them in soapy water and cleans them with steel wool or Brillo pads. Then, he soaks them in a 10% solution of bleach in water to stop the fungal growth. Sometime they have to be sanded in places, or David has to repair worm holes with wood putty.

Then, David stains them with leather stain or paints them with acrylics, burns or carves patterns into them, cuts patterns with a jig saw, and seals them with varnish. It takes from 2-4 hours to do the typical gourd. David has seen large gourds that "masters" spent 1000 hours decorating.