A Maple Leaf Bowl for Fall Decor

I've been trying to get ready for Fall Shows and Festivals that I'm going to and so this Fall gourd came to mind while I was trying to come up with some inspiration.

The Supplies Needed for this project are:

Proxxon Jig Saw
Proxxon Rotary Tool
Proxxon Delta Sander
Seagrass
Artificial Sinew
Wood Burner
Alcohol Inks
Acrylic Paint- Ivory
Paint brushes
Sand Paper

To start with you must cut your gourd open, and I used the Proxxon Jig Saw . In my opinion it's the best gourd saw on the market. It can cut through thick gourds and thin ones. I then cleaned out the inside of the gourd and sanded it by hand to make it smooth.

Next up, I drew Maple leaves all around the gourd using a pattern that I had and then I wood burned the leaves onto the gourd. Using different colors of alcohol inks that I had, I colored each one of the leaves and also colored the top and bottom of the gourd.

This is the really hard part, it's called stippling and I used my Proxxon Rotary Tool with a round bur in it to take away the outside layer of gourd from around the  leaves. It's a rather time consuming and difficult thing to do but the results are really nice. I didn't draw a set line around the leaves to stipple in but rather did the edges randomly. It takes patience to get into the tight spots and not make a mistake and take away the leaf too!

Once the stippling was complete I used my Proxxon Rotary Tool with a drill bit in it to make holes around the top of the gourd. Can you see where I was also painting over the gourd that had been stippled? That's what the paint was for. Sometimes the gourd looks pretty bad after you take the top layer off but looks really pretty after the paint.

  

I used my Proxxon Delta Sander to smooth out the top edge of the gourd before using the artificial sinew to coil the seagrass around the top of the gourd.

Here's the finished product, what do you think? I nice piece of decor for Fall I think. What do you think? Please leave me a comment below and let me know. 

Barbara