Additional gourds from summer 2011

We have been working on producing gourds for a new show we have entered for this fall.  It's the art show at Ball's Falls Conservation area near St. Catharine's, ON.
It has been going for several years and has a reputation for offering fine arts and crafts, so we are hoping that we will do well.  Gourds in Ontario are not big sellers in most markets.
I have been weaving and coiling on several pieces, which I refer to as my production gourds, since they are geared to sell and are not extremely complicated, so I can do them fairly quickly.  I haven't really been exploring my more complex coiling designs for a year or so.  I'm hoping to find my muse one day soon and get motivated.

GARY'S FUSCHIA VASE
This gourd is tall and slim and very delicate looking. It is constructed of three pieces
of gourd, fully carved and the centre section gessoed and pencil crayoned.

The base is made in two sections. The lower section has a relief carved motif of leaves around the edge.
The second section is also carved and gives a 3D effect to the base.  The gourd was left unfinished and sealed with Deft.






The top few inches of the gourd have been carved through in a leaf pattern with the motif from the base repeated.  Below the pencil crayoned section, there is an additional section of sculptural carving.  Both these sections have been left natural and sealed with Deft.

Below are a few of the pieces that I have been working on.  Nothing too elaborate, alas.



This is one of my weaving pieces.  I used paper core, danish cord, dyed reed and pandora-style glass beads.  It is quite large.

This one has blue dyed reed woven over black round reed. A round base was made
from a gourd piece and attached.

This is a fairly large fruit bowl, done using round reed and dyed caning material. A small gourd base has been added.

Very large gourd base, with dyed reed and caning material to form a basket.

Something different.  Gary had done a sample carving for one of his classes on half a gourd and was going to throw it out.  I used round reed to make a frame around it and it will be a wall plaque.

More to come, since we need to have a lot more stock for October.  I'm going to have to stop sitting on my thumbs and actually start producing.