It all started in 1999, in the middle of a January winter snowstorm.  Home sick from my factory job I sat in the middle of piles of seed catalogs, tissue in one hand and high lighter in the other.  I innocently ordered a few packets of gourd seeds for spring planting along with my usualy assortment of peppers, tomato, and lettuce seeds. 

 

Everything I planted came up that year. I weeded and watered all summer long, by August you could see nothing by vines in the garden. You had to take a machete to get to the poor tomato plants.  Our first hard frost put an end to the jungle look; leaving dead and dying brown vines every where. They covered our garden, ran into the lawn and up into the neighbors trees, everwhere. I was amazed to find ten large bottles, six canteens, and fifty green and orange spoons hidden under all the leaves. 

 

Next I had to read a few gourd books to find out what to do with all these strange funny looking veggies. I hung most of the big ones in the garage and the rest I spread out on old screens to dry out over the coming months. During the winter I worked on Emu eggs and poured through all the gourd books in our local library. And all the surrounding counties too.

 

The first warm spring day I cleaned all my dirty, flaky, moldy black gourds.  I soaked the big ones in trashcans filled with mild bleach water and tied the lid down with all the budgie cords I could find. The smaller ones I put into heavy-duty trash bags and zip lock bags to soak. After and hour or two I headed out to the back deck to scrub clean last years bounty of gourds.  Armed in bright yellow rubber gloves, plastic pot scrubber in one hand, brass bristle brush in the other I was ready. Five hours later the deck was littered with drying clean gourds. I looked like a frightful sight, speckled with gourd skin flecks, soaked to the skin, hair a frizzy mess and a smile on my face. The next day I gathered up the dry gourds and sorted them into piles by size and kind for storage. I pick out one large bottle for my first project.

 

I chose to start by making a simple bowl. With a geometric pattern on a golden bellyband. It took me longer to cut and clean that gourd then to finish the design. This lead to me buying a Dremel, a flex shaft, a deluxe accessory set, flap wheels, X-acto kits and lots of sandpaper. All these tools made it faster for me to cut and clean the gourds. I painted, wood burned, stained and varnished gourds. Still the desire to make new things out of gourds kept me working.

 

I started to experiment with inlaying jewels onto the gourds for a splash of glitter and glitz. I hand drilled shallow holes and routed in channels for glass beads and crystals. After each piece was finished it brought back the challenge and wanting to try something else.  Since then, I've made pitchers, flowers, fish, masks, jewlery and even a lamp or two. 

 

During Sunday a morning web-surf, I found the American Gourd Society home page and signed up. Then I visited the Indiana society and the Ohio. They had pictures online from gourd shows they both had. I had shown at county fairs during my 4-H youth days and this sounded like fun.  The Worlds Largest Gourds Show in Ohio sounded like a good place to see just how good my stuff was.  So I signed for the show, and booked a hotel room for the weekend. When my program arrived I poured over it trying to figure out what to put in what class. I phoned and emailed the poor president of the Ohio Club so many times with questions he must have thought me a pest. I filled in the classes I would show in and mailed my entry form in.

 

Then the work began. I had lots of bowls but only one piece in each class was allowed. I needed to make new things to take to Ohio. I made things I never thought about making like lamps, jewelry, and flowers. This show really got my creative juices flowing. I ended up with thirty-three entries for my first show. So with my sisters SUV packed to the roof off to Ohio we went.

 

Upon arriving at the fair grounds we found people warm, friendly, and every bit the addict I was to gourds. I got my show packet and headed off to set up the displays.  I had never seen so many gourds or so many different kinds all in one place before.  Rushing around for two hours setting my gourds on display cases in their classes spots.  Then it was off for the evening dinner and a concert of great gourd music. I was on a gourd high that would last till way after I got back to Alaska, Michigan  (I dont think its worn off yet). 

 

Saturday morning left me time to shop for new gourds and see the other entries before the judging started that afternoon. I was too excited to stay on the grounds so we went out for lunch, that turned into a three-hour brain storm session.  We went back in the afternoon to see if we had won any ribbons.  First we saw one ribbon, then another, and another. When all was said and done I had won twenty-four ribbons. I was in a state of euphoric shock. I couldnt wait to tell my husband how well I had done. 

 

After I returned home with more gourds then I left with, I was so full of ideas it made it hard for me to sleep for a few days. Then a friend came over to see the new pieces I had done for the show and suggested I let him shoot new pictures for the web site. I admit Im no photographer so my husband and I packed up the gourds and eggs and went to Dan Watts studio for a two-hour shoot.  That website is down, now, but the professional shots you see here are his.

 

I can say that gourds have changed my life for the better. I looked for a medium to work in that would not limit me and yet still be fun.  I've found that in gourds. I do take breaks from gourds and work on a dozen or so eggs at times just to break this up.  As I work on pieces for the next show I wonder what new and fun ideas I'll come up with next for the hundreds of gourds that now await my touch. Only my dreams will tell.