I just finished this ornament from one of my gourds. It's a wedding gift and has the names on the side and date on the back. The base is a slice of snake gourd:



I should have joined the ornament exchange but I can never count on getting anything actually done

Holy spit, that's gorgeous... Yeah, you shoulda joined the ornament exchange. Then I could have rigged it so you were paired with me.

Is that simply painted, or did you combine some techniques? Tell us a bit about how you did this.

Oh, that is gorgeous!

I'm guessing you used a wood burning tool on some of it? Or dye or both?

Thanks! LOL elfie... rigging the trades

You are right Top, the design is woodburned. The background is stippled with dot dot dot burns and some shading was added to the knot part. I used acrylic paint on the green ring. I hate paint. I scrubbed that silly ring off 3 times trying to get a nice transparent cover. I gave up and went with the heavy opaque look. Then I sprayed it with Deft semigloss for the finish.

Wow, beautiful. I grew some gourds of that shape this year and I've been thinking about painting a few, but I think the wood burning technique comes out much nicer than my hand with a paint brush.

How long did it take you to decorate this gourd? And, just how did you slice that snake gourd for the ring? Cutting a curved surface so cleanly does not sound simple.

Thanks Mountain Cat. The design took me a couple days of maybe 2 hours each to do. It took me longer to paint that goofy ring than anything. That's because I'm so lousy with paint.

The trickiest part of the ring was getting the right diameter for the egg to rest in. I cut the gourd up by the stem with a one of these hand saws: http://www.amazon.com/IRWIN-2014400-ProTouch%C2%BF-Coping-Handle/dp/B000B3AR04.

I made the top cut at a slight angle and the bottom cut straight across. The cuts weren't perfect but I scrubbed the ring on a piece of sandpaper on a table until they were. Very easy to do.

I have a few of these gourds. Here's my harvest of these things:

I should make a contest... how many gourds in the picture??? The winner gets a nice dried egg gourd ready for crafting

Pogo, the gourd you decorated is beautiful. I love how the decoration doesn't distract from the gourd but fits in, a good blend of nature and decor.

To make painting much easier, go to a good art store and invest in a few good quality brushes, it's amazing how much difference it makes when you use a well made brush, well worth the money they charge for them. Also you said that you wanted the green to transparent, mix the paint with a little water and practice on a unusable piece until you get what you are looking for before painting on your piece. They have some special stuff to mix with the paints too to give the transparent look, but I've always just used plain water.

Have to say that I'm a little jealous too, your gourd crop did much better than mine did... and I think your in the same garden zone as we are here.... we maybe a little further north than you are tho.

Thanks Pinky. I like to let the gourd show through in all my work, that's why I always try and make the painted part transparent. I've been using leather dyes because they're transparent, but I've found that the colors fade so badly that I don't want to use them anymore.

I'm trying to use acrylics now because of the nice range of color available, but I have so much trouble using a thin wash. I've tried thinning with water, retarder, extender, flow medium... what ever else they make for that purpose . The problems I have is that when I try and blend or smooth the brush lines the pigment clumps and makes dark spots, or lifts and makes light spots, the end result is anything but smooth looking. I have several brushes but maybe they are all too stiff. It seems like I need a really realy soft brush. Thanks for the advise on thinning and brushes. If you have any other advise I'd be appreciative.

Here are some pics of some of my other gourd stuff. I've posted the link before so sorry if it's repeat. http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/548445198FlyIti

Pogo, if the paint is mixed well you shouldn't have clumps and such when painted on. I use the acrylics all of the time but have to admit I haven't tried them on gourds. A few thoughts that might help you, then again not sure if they will or not, but things that work for me.

In order to get a good surface you have to do the painting in one good stroke of color, don't do the dabbling, it never works and annoys the paint! Get enough paint on your brush to cover the area that you want painted in one stroke. And most of the time when you go over a painted spot that is partly dried it will remoisten the paint and make it come back off onto the brush. This is where a good brush comes in... ask at the art store for water painting type brushes and then buy the best one you can afford, if the people at the store know what they are doing they should be able to help you pick out a good set of brushes that will work well for you... explain to them what you are going to do. The most expensive is not always the best... also tell them that you want brushes that hold their point, nothing more annoying than trying to paint with a brush that is a limp noodle.

Another way to get the transparent look would be to block off the area that you don't want painted, contact paper works well for this, then stipple on paint as you would when doing stencils... I've done this with watered down paint for a really transparent look. Dab the brush or even a sponge in the watered down paint, getting just a little on the brush and then dry the brush on paper towels or a towel until their is just the tiniest amount of paint on the brush/ sponge... and test on something else before painting on your gourd.

For fun I buy old wood furniture at garage sales and paint them, the crazier the better... it's only paint so if you don't like it you can paint over it... but it is a great way to get some practice painting!

Have to add that the acrylic paint I use is the cheap stuff at Walmart in the craft section... it's cheap and a wide range of colors! Have you ever tried any of wood type stains? I think they are starting to make those in lots of different colors too.

Oops, should have mentioned that the stenciling way would need a different type of brush than the regular painting would... don't use an expensive good paint brush to stipple! The stencil brushes they sell at Wally world would work, but I'd look for better ones if you were going to do a lot of it.

THANK YOU PINKY!!!

quote:

you have to do the painting in one good stroke of color, don't do the dabbling, it never works and annoys the paint!

YES!!! (My husband says this line a lot... something about never trying to teach a pig to dance haha!) This is my problem, I fuss and dabble so much I extremely annoy the paint. When I did a lot more art in an earlier life my meduim of choice was colored pencil, which required much dabbling and fussing. How do you ever get a nice thin coat placed perfectly in one swipe... and without brush strokes??? I like your contact paper idea with a dry brush stipple. I'm going to play with that one. I'm also going to get some good brushes. I've read that you should use synthetc brushes for acrylics but all of mine seem too stiff. I carve out brush lines in the paint. It seems like I need nice soft sable but won't the paint wreck the brush?

I have tried a few gel stains (water base) but I use them only for overall staining. One nice product is a colored glaze, it's basically a light sealer. I've added just a teeny bit of colored mica powders to a clear glaze and got nice results, but then again it was for overall coloring.

I'm working on a gourd project now that I can test some new techniques on. Thanks for your help

Oh Pogo, they have good synthetic brushes now that are like the sable brushes but can be used for both water colors and for acrylics. So with the acrylic paints the brush doesn't dry out the paint and make it gloopy.

The art store in town here always gives out free brush cleaner/conditioner when buying brushes, I have a few of them laying around here somewhere if you would like one. Usually I just wash my brushes well with water and hand soap, dry on a towel, shape the brush to the way it should be... if it's suppose to be pointy, make it pointy, then put in a cup with the bristles in the air to dry. They will last a long time when taken care of, and don't let anyone else use them!

Why do you only use the gel stains or colored glaze for overall coloring? I would think they would do well painted, even in small areas.

Thanks for offering one of your brush cleaners Pinky! You're so nice! I've got everything I need and more I'm sure. I order most of my stuff online and I'm always throwing more stuff in .... what else can I use since I'm paying shipping?...I live in a rural area and I find my self trudging to town less and less since it's a full day event and I hate to use the time. I just bought one of those cleaner buckets, I use pink soap with my brushes now. The problem with ordering online is you don't get to talk to anyone about the products.

You're right! I think the gel stains and glazes would be great for transparent painting in smaller areas. I just never thought of using them. Also I'm more limited in the colors I have on hand. I should consider them more though.

Thanks for your help!

Pogo, you are just buying the glaze that doesn't have color in it aren't you? You should be able to find the plain glaze at any store that sells paint... then make it the color you want by adding the color of paint you want. I think the glazing would work perfectly on your gourds. Keep the pictures coming... they are beautiful.

I have to agree with you I hardly ever go to town any more... only when needed. DH is really good at grocery shopping when we need something. He use to call before coming home from work and I'd give him the list of things we needed. Now he works at home but most of the time we just look for something we can cook with what we have here instead of wandering the grocery store to see what looks good!