Falling in Love with Gourds...

Sometimes I just have to go out to the Shed and have some seasonal fun...I hope you are too!  Welcome to Crackled Apples, a gourd patch of the Virginia Lovers' Gourd Society.

Aligning with the Museum

  

In a previous post, we said this year's VA Gourd Show will once again align its member challenge with the current exhibit at our host venue, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. The exhibit is Marvelocity: the Art of Alex Ross and our challenge is MarvelGourd! - combining gourds with marveliousness of action figures!  Here are 2 ideas so far:

👈 One idea is a long-necked bottle gourd, hands on hips, head titled back in a proud stance of being Rose. Long-handled dipper gourds will provide the curved limps of arms and legs and paper roses as ornament, rose tattoos as body decoration, and rose fabric as tights and hair clasp.

The other idea is the Super Gourder with the tool belt and a bunch of mini gourd projects, electric cords, paint brushes and tools hanging from a belt wrapped around the belly of a masked bottleneck gourd.👉        

Join us for the VA Gourd Show! It's a great place for holiday gifts, raw gourds for your own projects, and meet experts who can offer some advice! There's always more than one way to make your way around an idea.

Member Challenge, 2023!

 

Here we are moving into another new season without the legal responsibility of justification. What we enjoyed doing still persists: children's programs, school educational visits, quarterly chapter meetings with a project, and our annual show held at a museum. This year's Member Challenge at our VA Gourd Show in Winchester, VA is in alignment with the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley's traveling exhibit about Alex Ross, the artist behind the Marvel comics superheroes.  MarvelGourd! will be a challenge and an exciting opportunity to see what marvels we can come up with! 

Votive Candles, Safely

It's so surprising how the contrast of light and dark can be so transforming!  This gourd is open at the top and the bottom to be placed over a tea light which was not as luminous and as a candle's flame. However, because gourds will burn, it is vital NOT to put a candle in a gourd where can have contact with the gourd wall.  Cutting the top and bottom open allows the shell to be placed over a votive without fear of the candle burning to the nub and catching the gourd on fire. The design is done with Sharpies with various-sized holes made with a variety of drill bits.

Using the Dollar Tree Night Light

In a previous post, two night lights were shown as potential options for a gourd luminary. This luminary example is made with a piece of gourd and wire twisted together to make a Tree of Life. The lumination is made with a Dollar Tree night light that glows blue. By day it shows up as a blue light but by night it looks like a Halloween decoration, right?  The separation fabric between the light fixture itself and the gourd with the tree is a mesh.  Further investigation is needed as you can imagine!