Gourd Love

Gourd Love

How did it happen? I suppose every obsession has a beginning. A piece of art held in the hand, an interesting face seen across the room, or that heavenly lemon sponge I made for dessert last week. The object, person, or that unbelievable lemon sponge provokes a reaction so visceral that the experience will need to be repeated.

In the case of the gourds, they were hanging innocently from the ceiling of another artist’s living room. Tennessee Spinners is what they are called, although I didn’t know it at the time. Hundreds of them were strung, swinging to and fro with every breeze that blew through the door. It was love at first sight.

The artist, noticing my absence of interest in his art and absorption in the gourds, cut down several and placed them in my hands. That was THE MOMENT. From then on, all I could think about was gourds.

Arriving home, I filled a large pot with dirt, broke open the little guys and planted the seeds. I was going to have my own gourds! If love and worry could have made them grow faster, they would have been up over the roof in two days.

Finally, the little green shoots appeared and soon turned into vines. I hadn’t counted on vines for some reason. I ran strings up to the porch roof. The vines followed the strings and were soon producing little flowers which turned into little gourds. Hurrah! I was the proud owner of 8 gourds before the frost ended the growing season.

The gourds dried over the winter with a couple losses to mold. The next summer I was ready to go into gourd production.

While all this was taking place, my gourd obsession had not been idle. Thanks to the internet and Amazon my gourd lust found fulfillment in books on gourds and big hard shell gourds from California and Arizona. Obtaining all the equipment for any new-to-me art form is usually a lengthy process because of the prohibitive cost but one small benefit of the virus was the stimulus checks. Not to belittle other folks pain and suffering, the stimulus money was definitely a windfall for my art.

I love learning a new art form. The steeper the learning curve, the happier I am. Each art form has its own language. Learning the names of the different types of gourds. The names of the tools. How to use the tools? How to use the tools without hurting myself? What type of paint is available and how is it used?

The first hurdle was how to get the design on the gourd. I wanted to paint flowers on the gourds, but it was the middle of winter. Not to be thwarted by this first speed bump, I printed out photos from the internet. I put the photos on my light box and traced the flowers onto see-through interfacing. I used interfacing so that I could cut and bend it to the shape of the gourd. Using my indispensable Fiskars to cut out the patterns, I gave it a try. It worked! Problem solved.

Now to remove the top of the gourd from the bottom. The tools for carving are loud, fast and scary. Not to mention that gourd dust is extremely toxic. I can’t just sit on the couch and carve a gourd. I decided to use a room in my shed which is really only useable in the warm months. That would be June, July and August. I wore the mask I wear to work and an excessive amount of warm clothing. By the way, this is how I found out that the masks don’t do anything! I used a tool called a Pro Carver which is like a very sharp drill. I did a decent job of taking the lid off the gourd, but the dust was everywhere, including inside my mask! The next task was removing the dried membranes and seeds from the gourd’s interior. This created even more dust. Having successfully prepped the gourd, I stumbled from the room gagging and choking. I was sure that I would die for my art and that the room would have to be condemned. I have since bought a high-tech mask that keeps out absolutely everything, even the virus.

I have been painting for years, but gourd paint does not act like any paint I’ve ever used before. Gourd acrylic paint is transparent which isn’t unusual for acrylic paint, but this paint is sticky. Second coats pick up the first coats. It only dries when I use a heat gun on it. Even when dry, a second coat will pick up or dissolve the first coat. To top off the cake of aggravation, gourds don’t absorb paint. The paint slides around and can quickly become a gooey mess if I’m not careful. Over time, I’ve learned a few tricks and discovered Formula 49. Formula 49 will remove any paint mess from a gourd whether it has been heat treated or not!

By now you can imagine how happy I am with the steep Everestinian struggle to create gourd art. Small triumphs really are thrilling. My lust for gourds hasn’t abated a bit and the boxes from California and Arizona continue to stack up around me. I have so many visions in my head of gourds I want to create. I dream in gourds. I only get anxious when I imagine I might run out of gourds.

Indulging in my obsession with gourd craft does have a few drawbacks. The lawn is up to my knees. My house resembles a freight train wreck. I vaguely remember my grandchildren’s faces. I find myself empathizing with Nero and his obsession with the violin. Maybe they will write on my tombstone “Woman wild about gourds.”

Oh, and the first garden planting of the Tennessee Spinners yielded about 200 of the little guys.