| My "Jouney" is actually just beginning. I've been doing crafts of all kinds for many years. My expertise is actually in Dough Art. I've had several dough art craft books published. My latest book was for Kids. I love to create crafts for kids. This book uses Model Magic modeling compound. I got very burned out on dough art, even though I'm begged to create more every Christmas. I was looking for a new creative outlet for MYSELF. In collecting and looking through many craft books I noticed Gourd art. It looked like something I might like to tackle. I bought some books and couldn't wait. Surfed the web and found what turned out to be a great California gourd farm and ordered a box of gourds. When they arrived it was like Christmas. How fun! All kinds of shapes and sizes. Cleaning them was great therapy. Each was a jewel to uncover. I'm not into bird houses. I didn't want to paint anything on them. The natural look with just a little embellishing was what I wanted to do. I'm not into long hours of carving or painting. Leather dyes are my only coloring source. It lends well to the gourd texture. I'm learning to use the woodburning tool and my new mini jigsaw. Most of my gourds are vases, pots, boxes. I never throw a part of a gourd away. I take those left over tops to vases and make all kinds of things with them such as; Santa heads, punkin heads, scarecrows, and my newest endeavor fairies. As I said in the beginning this Journey is just starting but I'm really enjoying the creative process again. I'm learning something new all the time about gourds and loving it! Just wish we had a longer growing season and I'd start my own gourd farm. |
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| MY GOURD ART JOURNEY! |