Wintery Cold

How can a gourd keep a person warm in the winter?  This is how it's done here in Crackledland -- a gourd scrap crotcheted into a hat. Let the power of gourd enter your head and all things are possible -- from shoveling the new two-car wide driveway (when it was only wide enough for one car last summer) to sorting out the garage to make room for a great gathering of gourd friends who want to work on a new project together. This is the kind of hat that will help get the job done!

This hat uses a cut piece from the bottom of a gourd. It has been shaped into a round-ish circle with holes drilled along the edges (see below). Using a crotchet hook, the yarn is drawn through the holes. A hole is drilled into the stem end, and seed beads are added. It would have been better if only I had varnished some gourd seeds and strung them!  As it is, I had these so they are what I used....until the next great gourd hat!




Stay cracklin' warm my dear gourd friends!
CAM

Wooden Heart Parody, Where to Start?

A likable Elvis Presley song is Wooden Heart. The sing-song melody makes it a natural for parody, certainly for gourd parody! Here's the original song:

...and now the gourdy version!

Can't you see
I've a gourd
that has been
sadly ignored
It could be adored
But I just don't know where to start.

If I wash
and prepare
the surface for
a little flair
I'd still be unprepared
'Cause I just don't know where to start.

There are classes to take to learn new stuff
But I always forget what to do.

Gouge some lines

Brush some paint

A crack appears, oh this just ain’t

going well, it ain’t!

‘Cause this gourd’s ‘bout to come apart.

Grab the glue,
and some wire
Don't back down
and don't get tired
This gourd will be admired
Even though I'm not sure what to do!

Draw some lines,
and repaint.
Have no pause and no restraint
An artist this I ain't
But no longer need I be blue.

There are classes to take to learn new stuff
And I think I'm learning what to do.

Thank the Lord
that my gourd
is going places
not just stored
'cause now I know just what to do!

A mighty cracklin' gourd song!
CAM

Another Parody, WonderGourd!

Remember Underdog?  Remember the opening song to the show?

Got the song in your head?  Here's the gourd parody....

When times are tough and you are bored
Look in the shed behind the door
Check out the shapes piled in your horde
A perfect one that has been stored
A WonderGourd, WonderGourd, WonderGourd, WonderGourd!

Scrub the surface, fill the pitholes
Make this orb a special gourd bowl
WonderGourd. WonderGourd! ah-wooo, ah-wooo…..

The art’s been drawn, the plan’s in place,
Woodburn the lines, add paint with grace
The time ticks on, pick up the pace,
I need a bigger gourding space
for WonderGourd, WonderGourd, WonderGourd, WonderGourd!

Now the gourd’s done, it’s a wonder,
Time to go on, find another

WonderGourd. o oooo oooo ooo WonderGourd! WonderGourd!

Oh MY, what a cracklin' gourd time!

CAM

That's a Gourd, eh?

Rhyme Zone is an online tool for finding rhyming words. In a recent discussion with my musical buddies about the gourd ukelele I've been building, we got into a laughing jag by making up lyrics (a parody) about gourds to the tune of a Frank Sinatra song. It made me wonder what other songs could be made into parodies, and frankly what makes a good parody in the first place?

By using the Rhyme Zone tool I found many, MANY rhyming words for gourd: 1-8 syllable words! In music, only one or two syllable words would be worth pursing but it was interesting to see the possibilities. Mostly, parodies capitalize on a word that sounds like another...I'm rhyming gourd with amore, as in "it's a gourd, eh?" instead of "that's amore!" For example, let's parody the lyrics of Dean Martin's song, That's Amore. Here's the original song:

....and here's the parody!

Here locally, where gourds are king
When craft meets art
Here’s what folks sing:

When the seed hits the ground,
if you look, what is found...That's a gourd, eh?
When it dries on the vine,
and awaits fine design...That's a gourd, eh?

Clean it up, scrub a dub dub, scrub a dub dub
And you'll sing "Gourda bella"
Spruce it up, lots of color play,
seal it with a spray, A fancy Cucurbeta!

Lucky fella!!!

When the shapes make you drool
with ideas so cool...That's a gourd, eh?
When you happen to meet
other gourds on the street, you’re in love.

When the gourd is still green,
dry it fast by green cleaning Senorie
'Scusa me, but you see around here locally
that’s a gourd, eh!

Keep a cracklin' gourd song in your heart!

CAM

Art technique: Shadowing

There are many ways to put an image on a gourd, or any surface for that matter. We'll explore several traditional techniques I learned at the School of Design at North Carolina State University under the tutelage of George Bireline. George was a thoughtful and wizened artist who, not only produced intense pieces of visual commentaries of everyday and traumatic events, would answer questions with questions, demanding critical thinking on my part. I hated it at the time because all I wanted was an answer to my question so I could move on with my work, but in the end self-reflection and exploration has made me a better researcher and innovator.

As the first technique for getting an image to live, let's explore shadowing. [This is different from showing shadow or highlights.] Shadowing is following a previous line with an neighboring line, again and again and again. With each line, the subtle differences and changes will produce a natural pulse to the overall image. For this example, we'll use a feather.

Feathers have regimented vanes, as is shown by this drawing from the University of Waikato. There is a shaft and vanes that extend from it like marched soldiers. They would have to be sturdy against bending in order for a bird to stay awind. Flexible feathers would be too floppy for bird to maintain altitude. However in art, movement is critical and producing movement with line and color is how artists convey action.



In this simple sketch of a feather, the shaft is curved, and the vanes are certainly not regimented. However, as a stand-alone image, it moves! In fact, it appears to be waving in the current of multiple directions. That effect is done with shadowing! Begin with a main curved line, making an elongated triangle at one end. Once the shaft is determined, make several curved lines extended from it that move from the end to the tip.

Once there are several secondary lines in place, the vanes, all the rest is nothing more than filling in with additional lines. DO THIS: begin at one vane, make a second line that tries to mimic the first vane line, but not so completely that it becomes a mirror image. It will basically follow the vane line, but dance to it's own drummer (so to speak). The handout at the right illustrates the process.

There will be times when space runs out between vanes, and those areas are filled in with short lines and become part of the diversity that make the magic. If this is a woodburned image, a rounded tip produces a primitive line whereas a chisel tip offers a more refined line. My advice for artists using a chisel tip: work the lines from the shaft outward since it is much easier to start dark at the shaft and lift the tip toward the end to make a lighter burn mark at the ends of the vane.

In this image I use a round tip which tends to make lines that look the same coming and going, and it is apparent I do not use a high-end woodburner. I generally encourage people to test new concepts on the low end at first until it becomes plain that better tools are worth the effort. Try this technique on a scrap first, as I did. Then move on to a whole gourd as the I did with the feathers on the gourd bowl.

Picture of the finished bowl to come!

Keep it Crackin' by dear Apples,
cam

Tea in a Gourd?

My sister shops at a natural products/fair trade store in an adjoining town. Yesterday she came home with a surkrize (a family word for surprise), a Fire Gourd.  "Really," says I, "What do you mean?" She brings her hands from around her back and presents me with a small, mug-sized, gourd with interesting dark hued images on the outside surface under the finishing sealant. It is an organic and fair trade Fire Gourd from EcoTeas, made in Argentina,


Reading the tag that came with the gourd, I saw that this was indeed intended for drinking once it has been cured with yerba mate, an herbal tea 'packed with antioxidants."  I think this must mean once the instead is cleaned out according to their process which is 1) filling the gourd halfway with yerba mate and top off with boiling water, 2) soak for 24 hours, 3) remove herb and scrape gourd pulp from inside, 4) repeat the process a second time, and 5) give it a final hot water rinse.

The process relieved my mind a bit because when I looked inside, Yikes! This wasn't just white gourd pith, it was colored and musty/sooty. However, if an antioxidant herb is soaking in boiling water inside the gourd for 24 hours, twice, I can see how that would not only separate the lining from the wall of the gourd, but perhaps imbue the wall with fungus-fighting properties?

Caring for the gourd between uses is the regular gourd procedure: 1) dump grounds out [don't let anything sit inside for periods of time], 2) clean with water, no soap, 3) dry upside down [so moisture doesn't puddle at the bottom], and 4) store in dry, well ventilated location [so moisture doesn't settle, surely].

I think what I have questions about is the last line which states "It is natural for the gourd to sweat through its pores during use." Through the surface sealant?  I needed further information. I went to YouTube and found a demonstration - this made sense. Further, if the gourd is used and then cleaned and dried I can see how it could be used for tea.  Makes me want to try it...maybe.

Thank you sister of mine!  

You cracked my point of view and let me see beyond 

what I thought I knew!

CAM