Friday, November 8, 2013

Gourd Ornaments

Christmas is just around the corner and it sure snuck up on me fast this year!
I wanted to make some ornaments, but wanted to try something "new" so I decided to give gourd crafting a shot.


In October we took the Grandgirls to the Pumpkin Patch and I purchased some dried gourds and couldn't wait to make something with them, so when I realized the "No Ugly Ornament" series was coming up, I knew it would be a perfect time to "experiment" with my new craft materials!


I started out by cleaning the gourds, as the one's I purchased from the local farmer had been dried, but not cleaned. Some places sell cleaned gourds, but you will most likely pay more money for them and it's really pretty easy to clean them yourself if you have time.


I won't repeat the entire cleaning process here, but instead I will direct you to two of the sources I used to guide me, since this was my first time using gourds.

I watched this video on YouTube which was very informative and helpful:


I also visited this webpage on cleaning gourds: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-clean-a-hardshell-gourd/

Once the gourds were clean and dried it was time to get busy!

At first, I wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate them, but I knew most likely they would need to be "primed" in some way, so I painted them with some white acrylic paint (2-3 coats).

I decided to try a few different techniques since I had several gourds.

For this series I decided to make a Bejeweled "Blinged-Out" Ornament and a Hand Drawn Mosiac design ornament.


Here are the supplies I used for this project:


Materials/Tools List:

Sanding Pads (Coarse, Fine)
Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint (White)
Paint Brush
Bic Mark-it Ultra-Fine Permanent Markers
Sharpie Ultra-Fine Permanent Markers
in Bloom by Bead Design, Faceted Faux Gems, Assorted 
One Button (from misc. stock on hand) - (for Hanger atop gourd)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
E6000 Adhesive
Krylon Workable Fixatif 1306

I used the fixative spray (not shown in photo) on the mosiac gourd, to keep the colors from smearing when the ornament is handled.

(This also helps if you are going to add lacquer, mod podge or other decorative coating to the surface, as some of these coatings will make the color from the ink pens run and a very light spray of fixative will help prevent this problem)

Be sure to stop by and visit all my crafty friends who are part of this great series hosted by my friend Erin at My Very Educated Mother.

I know you'll have fun and be inspired!

 photo NUO2013_zps3547e5dd.png


2 comments:

Erin Sipes said...

OMG! Those are too stinkin' cute! We have a little Dutch store that might still have some gourds-I really want to make one of these!! Great job and thank you for being a part of the series!

Louise@ElsieMayandBertha said...

Fabulous ornaments. We don't have dried gourds here in the UK (well I've never seen them before anyway). They're such an interesting shape to work with. Yours will look lovely in your house for Christmas☆