It's never to early to make a Fall Gourd

Yes I made another gourd with my Proxxon tools. I'm primarily a Gourd Artist and working with gourds is a passion of mine.

Here's the materials you will need: 

Proxxon JigSaw
Proxxon Delta Sander
Proxxon Rotary Tool w/ flexshaft 
Wood burning Tool
Alcohol Inks in Fall colors
Acrylic paint (Ivory)
Paint brush
Q-tips
Clean piece of cloth cut into squares
Gloves
Krylon Kamar Varnish

I started out with a gourd on which I drew a circle and cut the top out of. Here's a picture of how yucky it looks when it's first opened up. I do want to mention again though, that it is very unsafe to not wear a respirator mask when working with a gourd in cutting it open and also cleaning the inside out or when doing any carving or grinding on one.

Here's a look at the inside of the gourd after the inside was cleaned. I then painted the inside of the gourd black.

After the gourd was cleaned and painted on the inside, I then put my leaves and acorns around the gourd and wood burned the designs onto the gourd. With all of the wood burning done, I colored the leaves and top and bottom with the alcohol inks. And then sprayed on the Kamar Varnish so that the inks would be sealed.

  I then used the Proxxon Rotary Tool w/flexshaft to use a scribble technique within the borders for my leaves. This technique helps to make the leaves and acorns on this gourd to stand out. But what makes it stand out even more is painting over the scribbles with the Ivory Acrylic Paint. This makes the leaves and acorns really pop.

So what do you think? I am really pleased with the results of this gourd. Can you see the texture that has been painted over? It gives it a crisp, clean look and really accentuates the leaves and acorns. You need to check out all of the wonderful tools over on the Proxxon Tool site

Barbara