Hi Everybody!
Wow! featured on The Crafty Crow, Craftzine Blog and on Boing Boing? Zowwee!
Thanks Everybody!
I am getting a few questions on the use of freshly cut gourds. Tis the season, after all!
If you find or grow fresh gourds, ( I got some at the pumpkin patch) the best thing to do is place them on a plate or tray with gravel in it, in a warm dry place. Then turn them every couple of days to make sure they dry evenly. They are pretty and this makes a good looking fall display on a table. I have also heard that sponging them off once a week or so with a dilute bleach solution increases your chances they will dry well. Mold is your main concern.
Once they are all dry, (which takes quite a while, a few months anyway) they will be a golden color and will rattle when shaken.
Then just scrub them with a scouring pad, dry them off and seal them of you want to. I used mod podge and some people use furniture wax.
Thanks and keep reading.. Next up: The New Vintage Wardrobe Rides Again!
9 comments:
Your gourds are excellent; thanks for explaining how to use the fresh ones!
There's an excellent anti-mold product called Concrobium that you can buy at any Home Depot. It has no scent, is made of food-grade mold-killers, and will not only kill any mold spores that are already in existence, it'll kill any that land on the gourd later.
I only know this because my cats will lick ANYTHING that smells like bleach (special, special cats) so I had to find alternatives.
The easiest thing to do with a gourd is decide it's no good and throw it down the hill behind the house into the snow in about November, forget about it, then find it again in May when everything thaws out and discover that it's dried out beautifully and is ready to go with a light sanding outside and a hole to dump out the seeds from the inside. :o) Speaking from personal experience, that is.
Verification Word: "lrvufyfs. Cat-owner talk for "Luv you, fuffies!"
Hells yeah you got featured all over the place, these gourd doll houses are genius.
If you haven't heard them already, check out the Austin band "The Gourds". I love them, especially their bluegrass cover of "Gin & Juice."
A trip to the Welburn Gourd Farm may be a little far to travel, but if you ever found yourself in So Cali, it's worth a stop.
Really an amazing place and a great festival if you're into gourds...or want to be!
http://www.welburngourdfarm.com/
I love your gourd dollhouses!
But right now , you've got me excited about Vintage Wardrobe coming up! Yippee!
How cool you got so heavily linked! It's well deserved, I'd say--I love all of your projects.
Hawt dawg! The Boing Boing and Craft effect! Muchos, much deserved recognition for you BB. Very exciting.
Thank you!!! I can't wait to have some fun! :)
would you beleive they have a GOURD festival about 20mins from here.. and the guy who runs it every year calls himself 'the GOURDfather'.. what a hoot!
Lissa
Australia
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