Gourd Book of Days

This semester I am working on a book of days for the research lessons I teach. There are 8 packets with several handouts each of the information a researcher needs to know to do more than a retrieval project.

The first couple months of 2014 was spent locating origins of book of days, their authors and purposes. Being a gourd Crackled Apple, I naturally thought of using a gourd. This was initially inspired by a gourd book I found online at the The Center of Book Arts. It appears to be a canteen gourd with a string that links one end of the gourd to the other. The strings carries round disks of paper with Asemic text. Creator Diane deCreeft followed the theme of book as a container of knowledge. Read the article; it's worth the time!

For my 44 lessons divided into 8 packets, I wanted to use a system of paper circles that, much like a vegetable steamer, fold on themselves. See how the individual flaps interlace and close upon themselves? If I use binder rings like the ones at Hobby Lobby (which we now have in this area!), there are color coded sets of circles for the packets' handout information....the bare minimum per circle of course, but still carrying the vital knowledge.

With the rings positioned through the gourd, around the rim, the sets of handouts can be folded in and out as needed.

To cut 44 circles of poster board, I used a die cutter from school. The circle die is the rubber/metal ring block leaning at the right side of the cutter. It sits on top of the paper and slid under the handle before the handle is brought down on the block to cut into the paper. Now to make the packet label and lesson circles!

 That will keep me crackled for a few days!
CAMohr






May 28, 2014
While working on the lessons, the project continued with an apple gourd because as stated in the Smithsonian article Why Students Give Teachers Apples and More From the Fruit's Juicy Past: "Held up as the paragon of moral fastidiousness, teachers, particularly on the frontier, frequently received sustenance from their pupils." 

Apples were the sustenance! Even after agricultural ways had been left behind by most families, apples remained as the gift and, thereafter, a symbol of getting into the teacher's good graces. This information makes the choice of an apple gourd for the research book of days a good choice.

The apple gourd below has no stem.
I want to find an R to use as a stem/handle.

The gourd interior is rough with bits of dehydrated
pith and debris still clinging to the sides.

After a rough gutting with a grapefruit spoon and sanding sponge,
it is ready for the decoupage treatment using references
from encyclopedia books, in APA format of course!

I scavenged a couple scholarly tomes that were meant for the discard pile
in the dumpster and tore out the reference pages.
Using these citations, I decoupaged the interior of the
gourd to reflect the need for citing sources correctly
-- a lesson in Packet 7 about Plagiarism.

I'll get back soon so...

Stay Crackled everyone!

CA Mohr

July 21, 2014
I'm back with progress on the gourd Research Book of Days!  After finishing the interior, I produced the 8 packets of lessons. Each set has a cover with the title of the packet, along with a circle for each lesson within the packet. Sets were put onto rings in preparation of attaching to the gourd 'book'. Each set of information has a different color. The 7th Packet - Plagiarism is photographed separately below to show more of the individual pieces of information. The handouts were distilled to present the bottom-line pieces of information necessary to complete a successful research project.


The exterior of the gourd book has been decorated with various terms associated with research and the lessons found within. Obviously, this process would work for any book of days...or a novel. The ringed set of circles could be chapters of a book!

Now, on to making the holes to attached the Packets and finding the R knob for the lid handle. Where would I find something like that anyway?  MmmmMmmmm.....

Almost done...Better get crackin'!  
I want to get going with the gourd fairy house and the summer clock is ticking.
CAMohr


August 24, 2014 - final installment to the gourd book post
Like any gourd project, the ending seems so close and yet so far. I made 8 marks along the rim for the lessons rings. Hobby Lobby had 12 rings for a couple bucks. I used a 1/4" drill bit to make holes and  looped the lesson units through the rings and then the holes. To make the holes align better with the lid notches, I leaned all the rings to the right. That one decision nestled the lid tighter to the book bowl.

The lessons are ringed and overlapped as the leaves
on a steamer overlap, with the first lesson packet on top.
Notice how the rings all lean to one side -- that ended up
making sure the lid was stable once the notches were cut.

The gourd was sprayed with several coats of poly acrylic. Usually I brush on spar varnish or some other durable sealant, but since this book will be used indoors and probably just kept on a shelf, three coats of spray is enough. The handle ended up being a tree charm I purchased at a flea market. I decided to go with the 'tree of knowledge' metaphor. I believe this book of days is a fine ending to a semester of thinking! I am encouraged to try other gourd books.

A crackin good time!
CAMohr
GourdGal

Gourd Fairyhouses

May 30, 2014 
There are some interesting gourd fairyhouses happening right now by amazing artists: Vidya, Anne at A Little Fur in the Paint, and my current favorite by Dianne Lordan which is a labeled drawing of a gourd house. These, and MANY more, inspire me to try my hand at making a house. I have begun with a base which is a kettle gourd I initially painted white, but I think the decoupage with the rose giftwrap paper will be the way I continue in addition to attaching an attic and side rooms.

oH NO!!  Another work in progress!  The studio just moves on, a little bit here and a little bit there.

We keep crackin' here in the Crackled Apples Gourd Patch!

A collection of gourd rooms attached to a gourd
great room with a series of stairs and doors. 

CA Mohr



August 24, 2014
It's been exciting to begin this fairyhouse project. Initially, the gourd shape concerned me since I was working with a preconceived idea of what a gourd house would like. It took a while to step away from what I have seen, and go toward what would evolve with the materials at hand. With that in mind, this is what I'm thinking:

This gourd fairyhouse would be a community of rooms attached together. An inspiration for this comes from the
Montezuma Castle in Arizona -- a 20 room dwelling. The drawing shows 5 gourds attached to each other by a series
of doors and stairs.

Front/side

Back

I began with a great room which was a large kettle gourd with an open front, windows on the sides and decoupaged with the rose giftwrap to maintain the girlie-fairyhouse feel. I suspect the other rooms will be variations of this design: windows and a floral/fauna decoupaged exterior to be different and yet work together visually. I made it a point to eyeball the windows instead of measuring a precision-ed grid of squares. By drilling four small holes in each of the window corners, I could get my jigsaw blades into the window space to cut out the shape. FYI: this is especially helpful when the gourd wall is thick.

Now, to choose the gourds for the extra rooms and snake gourds for the stairs!

Hmmm...this may take some crackin' powerful thinking....
CAMohr

   

Some Gourd Jokes

One kettle gourd consoles another,
"Don't waste your time -- She's for the birds."

                       

       

A snake gourd at the bar is told,
"No more buddy, you can't hold your liquor."

Two bushel gourds walk into a bar.

Trying the Woodburner

I've added a couple woodburning apples to sidebar links for beginner tips and techniques as newbies test the waters. Overall, nothing beats repetition -- so, just doing it a lot should be the goal.

The Sue Walters video quilt project is a good way to test the versatility of the tips that come with whatever woodburner is purchased. I say this because not everyone is going to invest in a gourd pyrographing set-up right off the bat. BUT, all woodburning devices come with a couple tips, or at the very least with one that screws on and off.

Explore all the possible options is the way to get the most out of what is at hand!

CA Mohr

Growing a Gourd House

Meadowbrook Gourd Farm has an interesting video that shows the lifespan of gourd plants as they grow over a shed to make "a gourd house".

Quick Woodburning Tips

Pyrography Online offers several handy tips for woodburing...many would apply to gourds as well as wood. The biggest #1 tip is the fact that the slower the burning tip is move the darker and deeper the line. That sound obvious, doesn't it?  But in many instances a gourder will forget that and move too quickly. A remedy to that of course is using a burner that burns at a higher temperature.

The color reflects the frequency of use!

I use a lower end model of woodburner from my local big box store. It come with basic tips, one of which I use regularly -- the rounded tip. Burning gourds will find this time accumulating sticky gourd debris. To keep it clean, and therefore burning as efficiently as possible, I keep a wad of steel wool handy to rub it against. As long as there is no layer separating the metal from the gourd surface, the job gets done.

Why do I go with inexpensive? I have an established look to my work that would not be possible with the sleekness of a high-end tool. Many people have lovely pieces of burning equipment and do FABulous work! With the lower end, I can buy several, hang them at the workbench with a different tip and move from one to another with ease.