Sunday, November 20, 2011

Gourd Art ~ Using the Gourd as a Palette

More and more we integrate the Gourd into our artwork. Having always been drawn to using natural materials in our creations, this medium becomes not only a perfect palette, but provides so many possibilities.
Granted, the cleaning of the gourd is time consuming, but if you are not wanting to exert the energy for that step, you can always purchase your gourds from a farm that will do it for you. We get many of our gourds from Ghost Creek Gourd Farm

Otherwise, you'll need to use a little elbow grease, a Scoth-brite pad, and a 10% Bleach solution.
If you are choosing to paint your gourds, you have a diversity of paints you can use. Acrylics or  Oil Paints can be used, while many others use leather dyes. Personally, acrylics are our preferred paint because it dries quickly, blends well, and has nice coverage.
Alcohol inks can be used: http://www.gourdsupplies.com/Adirondack-Alcohol-Ink-Dyes.htm
Many leather dyes, angelus paints, and suede dyes, along with a treasure box of other gourd art supplies can be found at TurtleFeathers
http://turtlefeathers.net/text/product-index.html

Do you know what types of gourd you want to use? There's many varieties.





Digital Gourds chart © Dan Dunkin 2003
This chart is used courtesy The Gourd Reserve

Gourds aren't just for birdhouses anymore. The creative possibilities are endless. They are used in sculpture, musical instruments, vessels and bowls, lamps, dolls, ornaments, the list goes on and on.

Some of the things we do with OUR gourds..

Bear Claw Frame Drum by John Fry

Sweetgrass Blessings to the Star People Gourd Art Doll by Jeanne Fry
Running Horse Gourd Art Bowl by Jeanne Fry
Bear Totem Gourd Ornament by Jeanne Fry
Gourd Jewelry by John and Jeanne Fry
Dragonfly Gourd Ceremony Rattle by John and Jeanne Fry

To see more of our artwork you can visit our website
http://www.consciousartstudios.com/

We also sell our work on Artfire
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/ConsciousArtStudios

Happy Gourding !











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