There are so many ways to rim the top of a gourd vase or bowl to give it a finished look: sea grass, rope, leather, leaves. Most involve tying or wrapping a material to the rim with a string or thread. In our newest exploration, we look at embroidery floss and beads. We use a whip stitch and a running stitch, catching beads between the holes as desired. All who participated achieved a favorable result, even those with NO sewing or gourd experience.
We started with a small gourd that was previously cleaned and gutted. Holes were drilled around the rim and then the sewing began. Initially, put glue on the floss before pulling the last bit through the hole. That secures it as you move around the rim. If you use up the thread, glue the last bit of thread before pulling it through the hole and begin with another thread through the same hole. There will be tails of threads hanging inside and outside, but those can be trimmed off at the end.
One tip that made a difference was using a looped flossing threader (for teeth, not an embroidery product). This was good because the embroidery floss slips right through a tight hole and the threader worked with bead holes of all sizes. Another product one of the members found, and brought, was a metal threader. This picture from Yarnplayer's Tatting Blog shows the differences. The metal versions can jam through tight holes easier than the plastic tooth flosser, but also experience metal fatigue after a while and break at the loop tip. Either way, it made doing small gourd bowls easier than using a regular needle that was too stiff to negotiate a small area.
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| a close up of the bowl to the left |
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| this one is using seashells |
Another day, another project -- it just gets better and better!
Keep those ideas Cracklin'!
