The Beginners Guide to Gourd Crafting

How to Select, Cut, Clean, Stain, Woodburn, Paint, Weave, and Decorate Gourds!

Introduction: (on the cover, gourd art by Heidi Anne Sanger) Thank you for your interest in gourds! Every year thousands of newcomers visit the Welburn Gourd Farm and our web site and have all kinds of questions about gourds. The Beginners Guide to Gourd Crafting answers the most commonly asked questions AND gives you great tips and resources to save you both time and money working with gourds! The Welburn Gourd Farm, located in Fallbrook, CA, is the largest supplier of quality, hard shell gourds and grows over 350,000 gourds per year! Best of all, the gourds are grown organically so when you purchase a Welburn Gourd not only are you helping to protect and preserve the environment you are also avoiding health risks that can be associated with chemical sprays being embedded in the gourd shell. To learn more about the farm, click here! To learn how gourds are grown and see step-by-step photos of the growing process, use this link. The Beginners Guide to Gourd Crafting is jammed-packed with great information, and even if you already have some experience working with gourds, youre sure to find new ideas and great techniques in the pages that follow. Take special note of the Insiders Tips sections of the book, where youll find priceless insider secrets and short-cuts to make your gourding experience fun and exciting!

Youll discover everything from easy methods for cleaning and cutting gourds to simple methods for designing an art piece, including what colors and finishes to use.

Click on the underlined text throughout this book for links to additional resources! If you would like to share copies of this book or post it on your web site, please do so! Copyright law prohibits the sale of this book
without permission, however sharing without charging for it is fine!

Also, if you have new or additional information to add, wed love to hear from you! Please send us an email or give us a call at the farm! info@welburngourdfarm.com or 1-877-420-2613.

This beautiful seascape by Dianne Connelly is woodburned on the gourd, then dyed with GourdMasterTM Ink Dye and the fishes accented with metal leafing.

Selecting Gourds: One of the best ways to create a beautiful gourd piece is to start with a top quality gourd! Gourds that have are symmetrical in shape, and have a smooth, thick shell with no holes or damage are prized by gourd artists. These are what we refer to as Premium Quality gourds and represent the majority of gourds that we ship. (see photo, right) Bargain gourds are gourds with some minor shell damage or other flaw and are offered at special, discounted prices. (They are a top seller on our web site!)
"I am exceptionally pleased with the box of mixed size canteen gourds I received...Any gourds I purchase in the future will only be from Welburn Gourd Farm. Its kinda like cooking, if you want your food to turn out good, you must only use the highest quality ingredients. I feel the same way about my art." -Marjorie A.

Gourds are priced by the diameter at the widest point using a sizing board with holes cut into it. A gourd that is just under 10 inches in diameter will fall through the 10-inch hole on the sizing board so it will be priced as a 9-inch gourd.
Insider Tip for Ordering Gourds Online or Over Phone: Remember, a gourd is classified as a 9-inch diameter gourd if it passes through the 10-inch ring but not the 9-inch ring. This means if you order 9-inch gourds, you will receive gourds that are actually over 9 inches, so keep that in mind and adjust your order accordingly if you need specific sizes for your project!

Ordering and Price Lists: You get the lowest prices when you come to the farm to purchase your gourds, but if you cant make it out to Fallbrook, California, we are happy to select your gourds for you and ship them! There are two options for mail order: (1) Place a Custom Order. A Custom Order is one that meets your specific needs, including size, shape, and also specific criteria such as gourds with stems or gourds that sit flat. To see price lists, click here!
Insider Tip for Getting the Best Gourds with a Custom Order: If quality is your most important criteria and you want only thick gourds that are nice and symmetrical with smooth shells, adding additional critieria like gourds must have stems may result in the Order Processing Dept. being unable to fulfill your order. Instead, it is a good idea to say I would like the gourds to have stems, if available. (Keep in mind, you can always add a stem!)

(2) Order Gourds-by-the-Box. Want to save an average of 35% off Custom Order prices? Order Gourds-by-the-Box! With Gourds by the Box, the labor cost is greatly reduced because the shapes and sizes are consistent and we can pre-box many identical orders at once, which means you save money! Plus all the pre-boxed gourds are shipped cleaned! With a Custom Order you pay extra for cleaning, but with Gourds-bythe-box, its included in the price! To see the selection of over 20 different Gourds-by-the-Box click here!

Washing Gourds: One of the least favorite tasks among gourd artists and crafters is washing the gourd. You can avoid the messy task altogether by purchasing your gourds already cleaned with Gourdsby-the-Box, or you can roll up your sleeves and do your own cleaning! To clean your gourd, soak it in a bucket of water for about 15 minutes. Since gourds float, it is helpful to cover the gourd with a wet towel while it is soaking.

Gourd covered with wet towel.

Gourd ready to clean using a wire, mesh pot scrubber.

After trying every possible tool, we found the best thing for washing gourds is a wire, mesh pot scrubber. It does a great job of scrubbing away the dirt and dried skin, and it wont scratch the surface of your gourd!
Insider Tips On Washing Gourds

If you live in a dry climate like Arizona, do not place your wet

gourds in the direct sun as they may crack! (Ironically, very thick shelled gourds have more of a tenancy to crack in the sun. This is because the hot air that expands inside the gourd cannot escape as quickly as with a thin shelled gourd.) If your gourd has any areas with shell damage or small cracks (often where the gourd was lying on the ground) be careful not to soak it too long; the water may seep into the shell and weaken it.

Welburn Gourds are famous for two main reasons: their exceptionally thick shells (especially in the Canteen Gourd), and being easy to clean. So even if you decide to purchase unwashed gourds, either at our farm or with your Custom Order, cleaning them is pretty simple (especially if you have kids to do the job!). Of course, if you purchase any of our giant gourds you may decide thats just too much gourd to wash by hand! Thankfully, you can get giant gourds already cleaned with the Bargain Box of Giant Gourds. Cutting Gourds: Safety Note: Gourd dust can irritate the throat and respiratory system so please use a face mask when cutting open and cleaning the inside of your gourds. A simple, paper mask usually works fine, but if you are extremely sensitive, please use a professional face mask. Always cut your gourds on a solid, non-slip surface. I piece of rubber shelf liner on a table works great! Making An Even Cut: To make an even, circular cut, use an embroidery ring, mason jar lid, or cardboard template and mark the gourd with a pencil. Make a narrow slit in the gourd using a hobby knife so that you can insert your saw blade.
Insider Tip: To remove your pencil lines use a baby wipe. Unlike a pencils eraser, baby wipes remove lines instantly without smearing!

You can now either make your cut manually with a saw blade attachment for your Hobby Knife, or with an electric jig saw or Mini Gourd Saw. Keep in mind that some Welburn gourds are extremely thick shelled, so a hobby knife with saw blade attachment may be hard work! To make the job go quickly, the mini Gourd Saw is the way to go. Another great benefit of using the mini Gourd Saw is it allows you to make precision cuts that would be near impossible with a regular saw. The intricate leaf cut-out design pictured left was done using a mini saw.
Insider Tip: The Gourd Saw has a very fine blade so go slow when cutting thick gourds, otherwise you will break your saw blades.

Cutting so the Lid Fits Back On: For a snug fit, use a fine saw blade, such as the one that comes with the mini Gourd Saw. A regular saw blade can be too thick and the lid will sink down leaving a gap. Also, a notch in your lid can be helpful so you know which way the lid fits back on! Gourd art by Kristy Dial Pictured above is a gourd bread warmer. The cut was made so seamlessly, at first glance you may not realize the top is a lid!

Cleaning the Inside: The inside of a gourd contains the dry seeds and membrane, which you can discard or save for creative decorating of your gourd! Again, a face mask is recommended for cleaning the inside of gourds. You can clean the inside of your gourds one of two ways: the first is using a hand scraper, as shown above. The second is with an Easy Cleaner Ball, which attaches to any standard drill and makes the cleaning process ten times as fast and easy!
"I used my new Easy Cleaner Balls I am in Heaven! They are GREAT!!!!!!!! No more sore fingers, hands, wrists etc... In 5 short minutes I cleaned a gourd that would normally take hours." -Ivy A., South Jordan, Utah

The Easy Cleaner Ball comes in both coarse and fine grit, which enables you to create a smooth, professional finish on the inside of your gourds. It is available in different diameters and different lengths, so you can even clean tall gourds! The Easy Cleaner Ball is one of our top selling products! In fact we are so sure you will love it, it comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee! To find out more about the Easy Cleaner Ball, click here!
Insider Tip: Use the side of the Cleaner Ball rather than pressing straight down with the ball. Keep your drill speed low until you feel comfortable.

The REAL Shortcut to Cutting and Cleaning: If you really want to take the shortcut on cutting and cleaning your gourds, you can let us do it for you! Order Pre-Cut & Craft Ready gourds! Pre-cut, Craft-ready gourds are available in several sizes and options, including the Bottle Gourd Top Vase, pictured right. To see the selection, click here. Repairing Cracks: Gourds are very similar to wood and cracks are easy to repair using woodfiller. The woodfiller provided by GourdMaster Products is designed not to flake off or shrink, and once it is dry and sanded you would never tell where the crack was! This product is also great for adding texture to your gourd! (For more, click here.)
Insider Tip: Before you use woodfiller, drill a tiny hole at each end of the crack using a Micro Hand Drill. This will ensure the crack does not spread.

Troubleshooting: Gourds that Do Not Stand: Often times you will find a gourd that is perfect in every way except it does not stand or has a slight lean it in. Dont put that gourd back on the rack, put it on a stand! (at right, gourd art by Gloria Crane)

There are many different options for stands. A grapevine wreath like those found at craft works well and can serve as a nice compliment to the natural qualities of the gourd. The reversible, metal gourd stand is very popular because it is 2 stands in one. Set it one way for a larger gourd or flip it over to hold a smaller gourd! The most economic option is to create your own stand using pieces of a gourd as shown below. The size gourd you use to make your rings will depend on how wide and thick you want your gourd stand to be.
Insider Tip: To get your rings straight and even, try using masking tape as a marker. You can peel it off and re-position it several times, and if you want wide rings, 3-inch masking tape is available on our web site.

One of the best parts about using gourd pieces for a stand is you can stain your stand to match your gourd using Ink Dye! Keep in mind gourd shells of separate gourds take stains and dyes differently, so there may be a slight variation in the color.

Replacing Stems: One of the most attractive features of a gourd is the stem, but unfortunately stems fall off or break, often before they have a chance to make it into the shipping racks! To replace a broken stem first use scissors or pruning shears to remove as much of the broken stem as possible.

Next use a metal file or rasp to file down the stub so it is flush with the gourd, making sure not to scratch the shell of the gourd with the file.

Drill a long hole in your stem and insert a piece of wooden dowel, gluing it into the replacement stem with wood glue. Use a drill to make a hole in your gourd slightly bigger than the size of the wooden dowel you inserted in the stem. Make sure the stem attaches correctly and sits the way you want, and then glue it into the gourd using wood glue or other strongbonding glue. Allow to dry 24 hours before handling, or whatever your glue instructions recommend. To order replacement stems for your gourds, click here!

Gourd Colors and Finishes: Up until recently gourders had to depend on products that were created for other mediums to stain their gourds, such as shoe polish and leather dye. Leather dye quickly became the most popular because it is available in a wide range of colors. However, leather dye was created for leather, not gourds, and along with being messy and difficult to work with, the colors will fade A LOT. Now there is Gourd Ink Dye created by GourdMaster Products. Finally a dye designed specifically for use with gourds! Ink Dyes come in a huge variety of colors, such as those shown on the gourd pictured right, by Linda Stryker. Ink Dyes are fade resistant, semi-translucent (like leather dye), non-toxic, and very easy to work with. Simply apply the Ink Dye using an Applicator Cube or a piece of felt. Ink Dye will air dry, but its much faster and easier to use a heat tool because, not only does it speed up your art work, it also heat sets the color making it even more durable and permanent. (Pictured left, gourd lamp by Pamela Redhawk.) When you first apply your Ink Dye, it will look very glossy and shiny. When it dries, the color will dull a bit. To bring back the glossy, vibrant look, and to give your artwork a long-lasting, durable finish, apply GourdMaster varnish. The complete Ink Dye video is available online -- click here!

Painting Gourds: Every coloring agent out there has probably been tried on a gourd at some point, including water colors, oil paints, acrylic paints, colored pencils, and more. Its always great to experiment and try such products for yourself. For painting gourds, acrylic paints are extremely popular, such as those used on the butterflies in the gourd art piece by Carrie Dearing, above. Unfortunately most acrylics you find in the craft stores are low quality and you will see they scratch easily when applied to a gourd. (If you have a gourd painted with acrylic paint, pick it up and look at the bottom; you will most likely find scratch marks from where the gourd has been turned or moved.) Gourd artists and crafters wanted a higher quality product for their work, and GourdMaster Products fulfilled the demand with their Gourd Paint. Not only does Gourd Paint resist scratching and flaking beautifully, it is made to be combined with GourdMaster Ink Dyes to create an almost infinite line of custom colors! (At left, gourd fairy by Linda Noblitt.) Instead of wasting money buying a whole bottle of lower-quality acrylic paint, you can mix White Gourd Paint with any of the Ink Dyes in whatever amount you need!

Woodburning Gourds: As you get into gourd crafting, you will find a woodburning tool (more formally known as a pyrography tool) is almost indispensable! This Ivy Leaf Basket, made from a Canteen gourd (tipped on its side), uses woodburning to create the weave of the basket and the shading in the handle; the leaf veins have also been woodburned. To woodburn images onto your gourd, such as the horses on the gourd pot pictured right, by Carrie Dearing, in the past you had to first hand draw the image on your gourd or transfer it using carbon paper. Design transfer with carbon paper can be discouraging, with images coming out crooked and incomplete and rubbing off easily. Plus it is time consuming since the image must be traced over again using your woodburner. That all changed with the introduction of Stick n Burn design transfer sheets. The sheets are made to go through your printer, so you can copy or print your design right onto the sheet. Once printed, simply cut out your image, peel away the backing, stick the image directly on your gourd shell, and start tracing your lines with your woodburner right through the micro-thin film.

No double work drawing your design, then woodburning over the lines.

Plus, Stick n Burn can be peeled off and repositioned before you start woodburning, so you can be sure to get your design on straight and even and right where you want it. Choosing a Woodburner: The basic woodbuner is economical and offers several different options for tips, including a wedge tip, a needle tip, and a button tip (makes small circles). Even though the temperature is not adjustable as in the higher end woodburners, you can still do basic lines with the standard wedge tip. This tip also gives you the ability to do some nice texturing, such as that shown above right on the acorn tops. There are several higher-end, professional woodburners on the market, which have an adjustable temperature dial and professional tips, which are called pens because they are most often sold as a full hand piece and not just a tip. The adjustable temperature allows you to move slowly when necessary, such as when you are burning an intricate design or shading, or more quickly, such as when you are burning straight lines. (woodburned hawk, above, by Pamela Redhawk.)

Another huge advantage of the professional woodburner over the basic woodburner is how quickly and easily you can change tips. To change from a blade tip, used to do the straight, cut lines in the feather pictured above, to a more rounded tip used to do the shading in the hands, simply unplug one pen tip from your unit and plug in the other. The pen is hot and ready to use in about 10 seconds. The beautifully woodburned gourd shown above is by artist, Carrie Dearing and is a Native American-themed piece called Passing the Feather. Carrie is a regular instructor at the Welburn Gourd Farm. If you ever have the opportunity to learn from Carrie, it is well worth the time and investment! Pictured right, gourd art by Laura Cunningham; the fall leaves were first woodburned onto the gourd, then colored using GourdMaster Ink Dye. It is important to woodburning your images first because it gives your design definition and helps contain your ink dye or acrylic colors so they do not bleed into unwanted areas of your gourd. Which woodburner is right for you? DetailMaster, RazorTip, and BurnMaster all make quality, professional woodburners that use tips that come as a whole pen (see photo, right). The BurnMaster Hawk1 is the most popular woodburner we sell. At under $100 it offers not only the best

price, but it also accepts all types of burn pens, including those sold by DetailMaster and Razortip. The MasterCarver Combo has both a woodburner and a carver in one unit, which is really handy when taking classes or attending gourd gatherings since it cuts down on the number of tools you need to cart around! The Indian Corn Maiden piece pictured right, is a class taught by Carrie Dearing in which students need both a carver and a woodburner. (Carrie, herself, uses the MasterCarver Combo.)
Insider Tip: Once you have drilled away the outer shell of your gourd, the porous surface takes stains and dyes much differently, and you will find they will soak in and become very dark and unattractive. To add beautiful color to your porous gourd surface, simply mix a few drops of Ink Dye into Gourd Varnish on a palette and paint on with a paint brush. Works great on the rim of your gourd too! (Technique featured in the Ink Dye video.)

More Ways to Decorate Gourds: A popular technique used in gourd art is inlay, which also calls for a carving tool. The gourd pot, pictured left, was done by artist and instructor, Gloria Crane, and incorporates precious stones and matching beads inlayed into the gourd surface. Weaving pine needles along the rim of your gourd is a beautiful compliment to the natural look of gourds, and its easy!

First, make sure your ink dye and final varnish have been done before starting your weaving. Then mark where you will drill your holes along the gourd rim.
Insider Tip: To get your holes evenly spaced it is helpful to use a product like the Designers Template we carry, which is a flexible, plastic sheet with a grid marked on it. Cut a thin strip from the sheet, then use a hole punch to punch holes in it at even intervals. Now you can use and reuse your template for marking evenly spaced holes for weaving.

Use your carver with a drill bit or a DremelTM tool to drill the holes along the rim. Once you have your holes drilled you are ready to attach your pine needles. The best thread to use is Waxed Linen Thread because it will not slip around as you are working, and it comes in several different colors to compliment your gourd art. Use a needle large enough to accommodate the thickness of the thread; use a small bundle of pine needles and sew onto your gourd rim, adding more pine needles as needed. This is a very basic use of pine needles with gourds, but you can create incredible works of art using just weaving techniques! To learn more about these and other techniques, sign up for the Welburn Gourd Farm newsletter. Youll receive free gourd crafting videos (viewed online only), special offers on gourds and gourd tools and supplies, notices of upcoming classes and events, and more! Click here!

Conclusion: When it comes to working with gourds, the possibilities are literally endless! The gourd pictured right, by artist and instructor Kathy Riker, was created using a decoupage technique. The gourd shown left has been embellished along the top using long strands of beads sewn (not inlayed) onto the gourd. Be sure to experiment with your own decorating and ideas, and most importantly, have fun! To request a FREE Catalog from the Welburn Gourd Farm, click here, or call our office toll free at 1-877-420-2613.

Shown above, a customer shops at the Welburn Gourd Farm.

For more about how to create great projects with gourds, be sure to watch the FREE online video tutorials click here!
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