Thursday, February 21, 2013

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 5

I made a promise to five people to commit my time, my energy, and a portion of my life to giving them something homemade - by me.  Those five people did not know what I would make for them when they participated on my Facebook post declaring I would give away something homemade to the first five people to leave a comment.
I am a semi-crafty person, so for all the five people knew I would be sending them a purse/bag crocheted from plastic grocery sacks. Or, I could be sending them a bracelet or necklace made from hand crafted paper beads. I enjoy crocheting with unusual materials and throwing a magazine away is like throwing away a jewelry box filled with beautiful bracelets and necklaces! But, I decided to artistically use and give away 5 gourds. In addition to crocheting and making paper beads, I am a gourd artist and I am a bit crazy. I have blogged about the gourds I worked upon and gave away, and this little photo enhanced blog post is of gourd number 5, the last gourd that fulfills my promise and brings and end to this particular journey in creativity.


The gourd in the photo above is the only one that will remain locally. Of the 5 gourds  I gave away in the Great Gourd Giveaway 2 are now in California, 2 in Oregon and this one will remain in Colorado where I live. When I begin to work with a gourd I may think I have an idea but I never really know what I will end up doing. The gourd in the photo is cleaned and awaiting its new look. I take into account the texture and the patterns and the gourds thickness. There are times when a gourd can fool me and I do not see its imperfections until I have committed too much time and I then need to draw upon my problem solving ability and make the gourd submit to being a beautiful piece of art in spite of itself! Lucky for me and for gourd number 5 there were no flaws to work with or around.



When I first began to use gourds creatively I made what I called Fairy Houses. But now, I am more drawn toward making gourd bowls. Sometimes I will make the bowl lidded, but most often not. I get a lot of my inspiration from Art Nouveau. I love natural form and structure of our organic world and my love is often reflected in my gourd art. In the image above I am drawing onto the gourd intertwining vines with very few leaves. This style of vine I use often, and have done so since my very first gourd. Sometimes the leaves are larger, sometimes more prolific and sometime I omit leaves all together.


I was remiss in documenting how I burn the design I create into the gourds body. If you read my older blogs you can see my process using pyrography as part of the overall visual aesthetics of my designs. In the photo above you can see that I have cut the top of the gourd off. Removing the top makes the gourd into a bowl. Gourds are hollow and very easy to clean out. You can also see that I have begun painting this gourd a beautiful red. The bowls I craft are not for food. My bowls are ornamental and should never be placed outside for decorative purposes for they will breakdown. Gourds are by design seed pods and when a gourd is repeatedly exposed to water and direct sun it will split developing cracks and the paint will peel off too. I have had someone "forget" and when I saw the gourd a few years later, which they had hung outside, it was unrecognizable!



Gourd number 5 done! I was thrilled when I was able to report to the gourd's new owner that they could drive over at anytime and pick up their gift. My promise fulfilled! I admit this gourd bowl is one of my favorites. Not only is this gourd beautiful it is one of a kind. It is impossible to recreate because the design is out of my head, spontaneous at the time of drawing in addition to the fact that no two gourds are alike!

Looking down into gourd number 5 you can see how deciding to paint the inside black really enhanced the overall appearance of this bowl. As I mentioned, I cannot make two gourds alike but I can use similar techniques. I am thinking I will make more in this style.

While I was making the five artsy gourd pieces for those who responded to my offer, I also made four other gourds for customers. I have been busy and very thankful for this adventure that I signed myself up for. I loved having to produce. I loved having to be creative. I loved getting back into doing what I love to do most and that is expressing my creative side.

I will be blogging about my gourds more and more. I enjoy documenting my process and sharing the end results too! I have people ask me how much my gourds cost and that is hard to answer because each gourd is unique. The price of my gourds is governed by my design and the size of the gourd itself. My gourds start at $100 and go up from there, my most expensive so far being $700.
I do take orders and will use personal information as a way to get to know my customer's likes but I do not let my customers tell me what to do with the gourd.

Until my next creative adventure take care,

M

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 4


When someone smiles at me I am no longer the master of my face because my heart takes control and I smile back without even thinking! I believe smiles are the currency of the heart and I always feel blessed when I receive those beautiful heartfelt deposits. When I began the journey of creating 5 gourd vessels to be given away I never anticipated that I would be the recipient of so much joy and as the photo below shows, my heart's bank account is overflowing because of beautiful souls and their gifts to me. Gifts of smiles.



Unfortunately gourds don't clean themselves. As gourds cure over months and months of drying time mold grows on their skin before the gourd dries out and it is the dried mold on the gourds skin that needs to be removed. How I clean my gourds today is so different from when I first started working with gourds. All I will say is that I made a huge chore out of a very simple process. Thank goodness I came to my senses and let myself discover that a little water, a stainless steel scrubby, and some elbow grease can clean up a medium sized gourd in a very short amount of time.





What a difference in the gourd's appearance once all the mold is scrubbed off! While I am scrubbing on the gourd I get acquainted with the gourds surface. Each gourd is unique and out of the same crop no two will ever be alike in size, thickness, texture, etc. I have been working with gourds since 2000 and over the course of 13 years I have developed what I call gourd sense. My gourd sense tells me a lot about the gourd including that I can pretty much predict how thick the shell will be. Also during the cleaning process it is a time of discovery. I discover cracks, pits, warts, and stains all of which impact the design, the burning, and the paint.



 Gourds are so crazy wonderful! In the above picture gourd # 4 is receiving its design. I have decided to make a bowl which is not unique. What makes my gourd bowls unique is that no two are ever alike because I create a new composition for each gourd I work with. When I first touched this gourd I thought that I would be channeling Lalique because I kept seeing Lalique style patterns in my mind's eye. When it came time to actually draw on the gourd everything changed! Still inspired by Art Nouveau the design I began to see was less Lalique and more me! My husband had recently gifted me with a beautiful Art Nouveau stylized tray with the most beautiful leaves and those leaves came to life in my head and just would not stop dancing around until I transferred them onto the gourd.





Cutting the top off a gourd can be tricky, and even more tricky when the path the jigsaw is to follow is a curvy one! Before any jigsawing can begin it is necessary to pierce the gourd's body with an awl. The size of the awl is important because the hole created by the awl needs to accommodate my micro jigsaw blade. Once the blade is inserted then the fun begins! The challenge is to retrace the drawn design with an oscillating saw and not accidentally lop off a leaves lobe! With the top successfully removed the gourd can then be cleaned out. Cleaning the inside of a gourd involves the removal of the seeds and the ribs that hold the seeds. Once that is done then I scrape out the gourds remaining contents until I reach the inner wall and then the inner walls need to be scraped until they are as smooth as possible. For detailing the edges I use metal files. Cleaning the inside of a gourd is a very messy job but with the right music playing it is an enjoyable experience!





 In the photo above you can see the irregular cut that follows the flow of the leaves and also you can see just how thick a gourd can be! The thicker the gourd's shell is the better.



If you have not noticed, I love working on my gourds! I love creating unique pieces and if I can create something that makes the bowl uniquely a particular person's it makes the process all the more enjoyable. On this bowl, I have part of a poem partially hidden by the bowl's leaves. The poem I borrowed a line from is one by Rumi and the stanza behind the leaves reads; The garden of love is green without limit. I felt the verse went well with the leaf design and reflected the bowl's future owner's heart.





Sometimes I enlist the assistance of my husband to help me with my gourds. When I do ask for his help it is only when I have other obligations that take me away from my work on my gourds. My husband is always happy to help me and how lucky am I that my husband just happens to be an Art Professor! So, after I completed all the burns on this gourd my husband lent his expertise and helped with the painting ... while I chased a 3 year old grandson around the yard!





Another view showing the words of Rumi peeking out from under the leaves. The gourd is now ready for the inside to be painted and then to be sealed. This particular gourd has a 1000 + mile journey ahead. I believe this gourd bowl turned out beautifully! Yes, I am proud of this gourd and as the first picture in this blog showed, the recipient was very pleased with the gourd bowl too.








One last picture before packing up the bowl for its trip across country to its new home. One last gourd to do, and the Great Gourd Giveaway will be fulfilled and my heart bank will be full of smiles. How lucky am I? Very lucky.
Now, for gourd # 5.

M

all photos in this blog were taken by and owned by Maryanne Mesplé 





Friday, February 15, 2013

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ gourd # 3

     For my third gourd gifting adventure I did not have to look far for a particular gourd that was to embody my creativity. Nope, I did not need to look far because when I cut the top off the gourd I used for my second gourd gifting I set that gourd's neck next to my violets waiting to be planted. That is when I saw a flower vase gourd! So, I picked up the gourd top, spun it around trying to figure out just how to craft it into a flower holding vessel when the thought came to me to drill a hole and make a vase that would hang from twine or copper wire! I drilled the hole and my vision was confirmed! 

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd
      I recreated the accidental and perhaps subconsciously intentional setting that inspired me so you can see how it was actually hard to not see the next gourd project!  I kept my little gourd top near me as I finished the moon bowl; mentally working on an image that would grace the gourd vessel. Once I was officially done with the moon I paused for a day to clean up my work area. I am happier and more productive in a clean and organized work space. All refreshed and with a clean environment around me I then picked up a pencil and the gourd top. Taking in a deep breath I then let the new design flow like water from my fingers onto the vase and within 20 minutes I was already ready to burn! I love it when stuff just happens! Once I  began the physical transformation of the gourd top I already knew what this piece was going to look like when done.
     

 Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I have a passion for drawing intricately woven branches and vines and sometimes just unending pathways of intersecting lines. For this gourd piece my starting place was the top of the gourd neck that is now the bottom of the container :-) I then let my pencil just go and weave lines under and over and through  creating a network of vines weaving themselves around the gourd.

 
 Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     In my enthusiasm on the day that I drew out the design and burned it into the gourd I completely forgot to capture the burning process via photographs! Oh darn, but then that is perfectly natural to get all caught up in fun.


Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     This image and the the images below show the gourd vase completed. Painted, and sealed, the gourd is ready to ship! I tested the inside of the gourd for its ability to hold water and the vase passed the test! I hope that as time goes by having water on the inside does not make the paint on the outside bubble and peel off but that is what I cannot know before creating something like this vase. The only way I will know if the paint on the outside of the vase is adversely impacted by water from the inside is if the new owner reports on the life of their new object :-) Below is a series of photos showing the completed gourd and the differing sides of the vase.


Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd
 
Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I have to admit that the placement of the gourd vase is visually funny! If you will look at the vessels mouth you will see that it appears as if the woman in the piece of art on the wall is perched atop the gourd and pointing or reaching inside! How funny! I liked it so much I left it!



Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I love looking at my finished pieces. I do. I love the thought that my gourds will make someone happy and that makes the whole adventure so worth every minute. And now, you already know if you have been following my Great Gourd Giveaway that I have already been working in my head on gourd number 4 .. yep, I have!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 2


     Outside of art classes in high school I've never faced a deadline for completion of any of my artsy or crafty adventures. Like many artist (dare I call myself an artist?), but anyway, like many artist I  work at my own pace which can at times be no pace at all for long periods of time. Obligating myself to 5 people with a promise to create something homemade for them was the best creative boost I've ever experienced! I unleashed my creative bug and before finishing the first gourd in the Great Gourd Giveaway I was already working on the next gourd in my head!

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd


      Working on a gourd in my head first involves staring at the gourd. Yep, I fill up my eyes with long stares of the gourd in waiting. I also get a physical feel for the gourd. Each gourd has a unique texture and thickness which will influence all the work done on it so I run my fingers all around the gourd getting to know its texture. As I put the last dabs of paint and sealer onto the gourd I am finishing, the next gourd is close by whispering images into the air that I breathe in and digest. The gourd in the photo above is cleaned up and now awaits my next encounter with it which will involve a pencil.



Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

      When I know a little bit about the gourd's soon to be owner I use that information in guiding my ideas. I will ask about favorite colors and plants and places and poets to open up a path of communication. It is in the communication that I often get my inspiration but that inspiration is not from knowing someone's favorite color is purple or green but rather the inspiration flows in how the information exchange happens. You can get to know a lot about a person in how they talk about themselves more than what they say about themselves. The photo above shows the image that was persistent in my head each time I touched the gourd and or talked with JB. The gourd was to be a moon gourd! I love the moon :-) The moon is an iconic symbol that is loved by many people, revered by many cultures, and our Earth's moon is loved and honored by the owner of this beauty, so I was not surprised when I kept seeing a moon when I touched the gourd and hearing the words La Luna.



Photo by Maryanne Mesplé  JB gourd

     You can see where I have sketched out the basic moon shape and will do more detailed work once I have cut the top off the gourd.


Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd
     
      In this photo you see where I have used a jigsaw to top the gourd creating a bowl! With the gourd cut I scrape out the insides which are comprised of seeds and gourd fluff that is somewhat like styrofoam and flaky skin! Drawing the design in more detail is very relaxing for me. Although I am relaxed while drawing I have to be very cautious that my fingers to not erase what I draw! I discovered the hard way that graphite rubs off the gourd's body easily if I am not careful.



Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

     I love the smell of the burning tool searing the gourds shell! In the photo above you can see I have begun to burn in the moon. This is when the design is set and cannot be changed because burn lines cannot be erased or rubbed out and even if painted over there is still the depression from the burn line. Burn is burn and there is no such thing (or word!) as un-burning! Part of the thrill, for me, while working with my gourds is knowing I have to be accepting of my work for there is no changing it once I begin using the pyrography tools.


Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd
     The recipient of this gourd is a beautiful soul who is a visual artist and poet. I had noticed in one of JB's blogs a beautiful poem they wrote so I used the poem as part of the gourds expression.



Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

    Done! La Luna completed and sealed. Like all my gourds I let them air out a small while before shipping them to their new home. La Luna is now living in the Pacific North West and hopefully creating smiles upon all the hearts that touch her. I was very happy making La Luna and before finishing, of course I already had another gourd in waiting :-) 

Now, for gourd # 3