Ahhh... the gourds!

If you're a subscriber to The Essential Herbal, or have been following along in the blog, you already know that we had a bumper crop of gourds this year and we've been dying to play with them.
We finally got around to it this weekend. We pulled out all of our paints, stains, lacing, micas, and rub-on, and went to town. We found out that it is true what you read... they really DO tell you how to work with them. Each gourd brought out a different style, a different medium. We had a ball. And there are at least 100 more just waiting to be worked on. Some will become birdhouses, some rattles, and even the tops that we cut off are most likely going to be fashioned into windchimes. My brother-in-law grows bamboo, too, so that would go well with the gourd tops. I love the ba-lonk, ba-lonk of bamboo windchimes.

The first one on the top is hard to photograph as it is so subtle, but it is layer upon layer of leaves. It reminded us of how leaves look underwater in the autumn.

It was a nice respite from the incredible amount of soap we've been making lately. The shelves are starting to groan, and we've only begun. Most likely we'll be installing shelving in my basement - which will then be known as the soap studio "annex".