Here is a great little article on gourd art the you can apply to gourd birdhouses. The video gives some great tips on painting your bird house gourds.

Look at some of these unique designs:

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If you’ve never heard of it, gourd art is the practice of creating works of art on dried gourd shells. This art is based on a technique called pointillism. It’s a very interesting and creative type of work and I’ve have the fortunate experience of meeting a gourd artist.

In gourd art, the surface of the gourd may be burned, sanded, carved, dyed or polished to create a different look as well as to be able to paint and otherwise decorate the gourd. If you don’t want to prepare them yourself, you can purchase those that are already cleaned, smoothed and prepared for creating fine art gourds.

This is similar to or a type of pyrography. Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks. These burn marks are done intentionally with a hot object such as a poker. You may have also heard of it called pokerwork or wood burning.

When it comes to decorating gourds, there is no end to what can be created. There are as many types of artists as there are types of gourds and what they do with this craft is astounding. Gourd art is no longer considered just a craft but an actual art form that is featured in museums across the world.

In addition to the actual art and design that is made on the gourd itself, people are also stretching their imaginations and doing many other great things with gourd art. For example, they are making bird houses, bird feeders and many other creative things from gourds.

The best part about of using gourds for art is that anyone can do it. Even if you didn’t know what a gourd was before this, you can decorate your own special creation.

Author: Lisa A Mason

Lisa Mason is a freelance writer with a specialty in Internet content and SEO articles. She has written thousands of articles, hundreds of ebooks and thousands of website pages and related content. She has also authored her own books and works as a consultant to other writers, Internet marketers and Internet businesses.

Lisa Mason, Professional wordsmith for hire: gamer, wife, mother, entrepreneur, published poet, co-owner of game guides company, public speaker and Internet business consultant. You can learn more or follow Lisa’s blog from her website: http://www.freelancewriter4hire.com. You can see more articles like this at: http://giftsanddecor.wordpress.com/

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Can Art be Taught?

Birdhouses, unbelievable birdhouses, macabre dolls hanging dead from trees, gourd art with faces wearing hats of tin and dangling glass earrings, tacky popsicle stick lamps, painted chairs, tables, benches that defied explanation. 

Rossville Lady Is Award-Winning Gourd Artist

Birdhouses were the first of her gourd creations, and she branched out from there. "I never held a paintbrush until 2000," Delaina said. She thought she might like gourd art, so in 1995 she grew her first gourds.

Gourd Birdhouse Art – Making Gourd …

Would you like to enjoy the enchantment of birds in your backyard? Then why not make them a gourd-geous birdhouse? Working with hard-shell gourds is an ancient art that is becoming increasingly popular as a contemporary art form.

Preparing A Birdhouse Gourd

I’m going to keep trying, though, because I want to do gourd art and birdhouses. Helen. Reply dar, on June 4th, 2009 at 3:08 pm Said: awesome …we have these out at the camp and have purple martins everywhere

Vegetable Art Starts With A Gourd Idea

“I had grown some birdhouse gourds, so I had this box of nasty-looking gourds taking up space in my shed,” Hosch recalled. “Faced with the option of either tossing them out or doing something fun with them, I chose the latter.

10 Things to do with a Gourd

Gourd pyrography is the art of creating burned designs on the outside of a gourd. Provided the gourd is dry the shell can be scarred with burning or pa fef inted with food dyes or ochre paints. These can be turned into objet d’arts to adorn.

Birdhouse Gourd Art

Birdhouse Gourd Art. Look what you can do with the Bottle Gourds! I found these on Flickr, and asked the artist if I could post some of her creations on my blog, and she, sure. Thanks Hope. I am so in love with the Flamingo.

The Art Of Woodburning

I love the idea of using birdhouse gourds to woodburn on. I planted them last year, and I have oodles of them in the basement just waiting for something to be done with them. Maybe I will give my dad a few of those to get creative with!

Gourd Art: Paint An Autumn Bowl

Dried gourds are often used for birdhouse. Today we are going to focus on making bowls. Both are great and can be given as gifts for the holidays. Once dry they are very durable and accept paint and shellac easily.

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A decorative gourd is one that is unique and artistic. Along with creating unique gourd birdhouses there are many different types of gourd crafts you can do. This article will give you several ideas to keep you busy.

Here are some examples of bird houses made from gourds to get your imagination going:

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First of all: What is a gourd? The simple answer is that a gourd is a vegetable related to pumpkins and squash and when dried has a shell that is dense and hard.

You are probably wondering why you would want to do anything with a gourd anyway. Another simple answer: Because it is so much fun!

The extensive varieties and different shapes available allow for endless possibilities for the crafter to unleash their creativity.

Gourds can be useful, decorative, or both. They can be compared to a wood product, and the same type of tools, hardware and stains or finishes used for wood can be applied to gourds. Crafters also experiment with about everything under the sun to see what all they can use successfully on gourds, and then they love to share the results with all their fellow gourd crafting friends.

Here are just a few ideas: Cut, carve, burn, paint, dye, or stain them. Join pieces together, add embellishments, weave, coil, wrap and so much more that I can’t list them all. Mix and match to create an endless list of possibilities. In fact, many gourd crafters have such long lists of ideas they feel they can never get them all finished. Before they get very far down the list they have added a multitude of new ideas to it.

But gourds aren’t just for crafting. Many artists take a beautifully shaped gourd and use it as their canvas to create amazing works of art. There are some that sell for top dollar.

For ideas and information on how to get into the fun of gourds you can start by going to the website of the American Gourd Society. http://americangourdsociety.org

Author: Martha Bloom

Martha Bloom: grower and crafter of gourds. Find gourds, ready to craft when they arrive at your door. http://marthasgourds.com

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10 Things To Do With A Gourd

A fairy candle placed inside illuminates the gourd and while it may be most expected of a pumpkin, candles are quite a decorative use of gourds and their different shapes and sizes lend very well to this.

Good Gourd!

Not to mention, it puts those colorful, decorative gourds you bought around Halloween to a good and practical use. I used a combination of butternut, acorn, and carnival squash.

Gourd – Small Warted Mix

Gourd small warted mix. This decorative mixture contains a pleasing variety of shapes and color combinations. Some have solid colors while others are multicolored in either random or striped patterns. All are small and very warted.

Decorative Gourd Art & Crafts Ideas : Tips for Drawing on Gourds

Learn how to draw on gourds for decorative gourd art in this free online video arts and crafts lesson.

Decorative Gourd Art

Arizona artists Jim and Evelyn Schupp use natural materials, such as feathers, stone, wood and leather, to create their beautiful embellished gourds. 

Grow Your Own Natural Crafting Supplies

Fall Harvest Decorations–I’m thinking decorative gourds, miniature pumpkins, and Indian corn here. Cornhusk dolls would also be pretty awesome, in a retro way. Hmmm…What would you grow in your crafty garden?

Prepare Gourds for Fall Decoration

Small decorative gourds are as much a part of the fall decoration as pumpkins and fef Indian corn. The small gourds have a fairly thick flesh, and must be hardened properly so they will not deteriorate while still in the fall decorations.

Quick & Easy Gourd Crafts

Carve, burn, wax, varnish, and color gourds with all kinds of paints, dyes, oils, and markers to work their smooth, three-dimensional surfaces. Make toys, planters, boxes, birdhouses, lamps, holiday items, and more.

Making Gourd-geous Birdhouses

Since gourds come in many different shapes and sizes, they can be used to make numerous decorative artifacts. Unlike the small, thin-skinned decorative gourds, hard-shell ones – once dried – harden and last forever.

Preparing A Birdhouse Gourd

So this post is for them and anyone else who may be interested in birdhouse gourds. These are birdhouse gourds, after drying over the winter.

Birdhouse And Bowl Gourds

Gourd-filled tepee is an impressive sight, believe me, and once the gourds have been harvested, dried (i hung mine in the attic for a long, new england winter) and scrubbed clean they can be turned into decorative bowls.

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