A Valentine Gourd with an Awesome Proxxon Tool!

This particular project was a lot of fun to do as it was in my favorite medium to work with which is gourds. I really enjoy using the Proxxon (link) Jig Saw STS 12/E . I use it with the foot pedal and it is a great little saw.

For this project you will need:


1 medium/large gourd
1 bottle of adirondack ink/color: Poppyfield
1 bottle of metallic gold acrylic paint
1 bottle of black acrylic paint
Sandpaper
Xacto knife
Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E  (Go to link)
Proxxon Delta Sander OZI/E  (Go to link)

To begin with I chose what I believed to be a good gourd to work with. After you've worked with gourds for awhile you can feel the differences in them and hopefully choose one that will be good to work with. (Not always though) I then measured and drew a line around the gourd where I wanted to cut the top out. I use an xacto knife and make a slit in the gourd where I want to insert my saw blade to start my cut. I then cut the top off the gourd and cleaned the insides out until it was smooth and free from any gourd pulp.

Once cleaned and sanded smooth on the inside, I painted the inside of the gourd black and the rim of the gourd black and let it dry. As soon as it was dry enough to handle without getting black paint on me while holding it, I traced some hearts onto the gourd in four lines that I had measured to get the lines of hearts even across the gourd. I then proceeded to use the xacto to make slits in each heart so that I could insert the saw and cut them out.

After accomplishing that, I then wood burned celtic hearts in between each line of hearts.

Next up was coloring the gourd with Poppyfield, Adirondack Ink but leaving the celtic heart lines undone. I then used the Metallic gold paint to paint the lines of the celtic hearts and also to paint the insides of the lines of hearts. The whole gourd turned out wonderfully and I put a couple of tea lights inside just to see how it would look.

Now this is a Valentine Gourd! I love my(Go to link)  Proxxon Jig Saw
If you think that you might be interested in one of the Tiny Tools that you see here just go to www.proxxon.com and check them out.


Barbara