A New Name Tag Made from a Gourd Scrap!

One of the things the Missouri Gourd Society asks it's members to do during the yearly Gourd Festival is to wear a name tag made from a scrap of gourd. I've had one that I made the first year that I was a member but had said I was going to make a new one for this year's festival. Well that festival is coming up in just a few weeks, April 8, 9, and 10. So I thought for my project this week I would just go ahead and make mine.

Items needed for this project: 
Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E
Proxxon Belt Sander BS/E
Proxxon MICROMOT Tool Clamp No 28 410
Proxxon Delta Sander OZI/E
Proxxon Footswitch FS
Woodburner
Inks/Stains
Embossing Pen and Powder
Paint
Mini Bottle Gourds Cut in half
Scrap Gourd to cut your name tag out of
Cord
Beads

This name tag was meant to be a fun project and I did have fun doing it. To begin with I cut a tag out of a scrap piece of gourd that I found after digging through many pieces, using the Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E. ( I save just about every scrap piece of gourd that I have)

 Once the piece was cut out, I used the Proxxon Delta Sander OZI/E. I started the sanding on the edge and back of the piece.

I then hooked up the MICROMOT Tool Clamp and the Proxxon Belt Sander BS/E to finish the sanding.

And I should mention that if you are doing any sanding, always wear a respirator of some sort to protect your lungs, especially with gourd dust.

Once I got all of the sanding and prep work done I used a pencil to lay out my design and then wood burned my letters into the piece. I colored the gourd piece with some ink and then glued the mini bottle gourd halves to the gourd piece and then used a PITT Pen to write on them "Show-Me Gourd Society".  I then glued a Razorback hog on the front, painted the back of the piece and used my embossing pen to go around the edge and used black embossing powder around the edge. When all was done I added the cord with some beads on it to wear it around my neck. Here's the finished result:

In case you didn't know, the Razorbacks is the name of the University of Arkansas' sports teams, and Missouri is the "Show-Me State". Arkansas doesn't have a gourd society so our little "patch" belongs to the Missouri Gourd Society. Those little tiny bottle gourds are no more than an inch and a half tall.
I'll have fun wearing this!

Barbara