Gourd Crafts

Gourds are great for decorative painting.

Gourds can be found in all parts of the United States. Your local market usually carries smaller sized gourds, but for really interesting shapes and sizes, look for gourd growers in your area. Many people will grow them as a hobby and to sell. Or if you are feeling adventurous, grow gourds yourself. They're no harder to grow than a pumpkin, and any nursery will be able to help get you started.

Things you should know about gourds:

Gourds are mostly water at the time of harvest. Once picked, the water begins to evaporate and the gourd will often develop mold on the outside. Don't fret—this is natural. You can tell when the gourd is ready to be painted, carved, etc. when the water is totally gone. Just shake the gourd and you should hear dried seeds rattling around.

Once you've determined the gourd has dried out, get ready to craft by cleaning the gourd. We've learned of a couple of ways to do this. The first is to place the gourds in a tub of bleach water and let soak for a few hours. Use a copper scrubber to gently scrub the mold away. The second way is to wash the gourd in warm, soapy water, let it air dry and then wipe down the outside surface with rubbing alcohol. Additionally, before decorating the gourd you may want to empty the inside contents. To do this, carve a hole relative to the size gourd you have and empty.

The gourd is now ready to decorate. Use your imagination. Sometimes a gourd might look like a whale and then while painting, it could turn into an airplane. You just never know!

Hosts' Gourd Gallery

Our hosts are multi-talented! Just take a look at these spectacular gourds they were given to decorate.

The HGTV host panel—Edye Ellis, Walter Muellenhagen, Nik Manojlovich, Carol Duvall, Pat Simpson and Jodi Marks—went wild decorating dried basketball gourds. They drilled 'em, painted 'em, carved 'em, glued 'em...you name it, they did it. Because gourds are brittle when dry, traditional pumpkin-carving tools wouldn't work. Instead, the HGTV hosts used everything from drills and Dremel power tools to leather-dye, paint and lug nuts.

The Golden Gourd

Carol Duvall - The Golden Gourd and Mr. Toothpick Head
The gourds produced by some of the creative minds behind The Carol Duvall Show demonstrate the range of what can be done with a little imagination. Producer Linda Watson went the elegant route. She painted her gourd with metallic acrylic paint, drilled holes around the area to be cut out and used a Dremel for carving. She created decorative bunches of grapes using Carved Magic, a clay-like substance softened with steam.

Mr. Toothpick Head

Since pumpkin (or gourd) carving is a family affair, Carol Duvall asked her daughter-in-law Rita to help design the face for Mr. Toothpick Head and her son Michael to help carve it. When the three of them put their heads together, they came up with a gourd head that's a combination of Salvador Dali (the mustache) and a visitor from outer space. They penciled a design on the gourd, drilled a perforated outline and "carved" using a Dremel. The Duvall team also carved a hole in the back of the gourd so a candle can light Mr. Toothpick Head from within.

The Peace Gourd

Edye Ellis - The Peace Gourd
The gourd by Edye Ellis, host of Today at Home, is a work of art that can be displayed year-round. Inspired by Native American and African cultures, Ellis treated her gourd with leather dye, giving it a smooth finish. She encircled the gourd with the molded leather spirit faces and embellished them with feathers and other ornamentation.

Blowin' in the Wind

Nik Manojilovich - Blowin' in the Wind Gourd
"I call mine Damp Pumpkin After Rolling Down a Leaf-Covered Hill, in case it ever makes its way to the Metropolitan Museum," says Nik Manojilovich of about his dried gourd. After spraying his gourd orange and painting yellow lines on it to add dimension, he glued preserved fall leaves--purchased from a floral shop--all over the gourd. Manojilovich, the host of Savoir Faire, suggests making several in a variety of sizes and lining them up on the front porch or arranging as a centerpiece.

'I'm Better Than a Fruit Bowl'

Pat Simpson and Jodi Marks -The 'I'm Better Than a Fruit Bowl' Gourd
Pat Simpson and Jodi Marks, hosts of Fix It Up!, created the perfect autumnal centerpiece or a front-porch decoration. They placed it in an artificial fall wreath and topped it off with fruit and leaves.

Woolly Man

Walter Muellenhagen - Woolly Man
Walter Muellenhagen of Hands On looked to his tool box to get his creative juices flowing. His gourd as Woolly Man came to life thanks to a bottle of glue and cool stuff including washers, lug nuts and, of course, steel wool. Since no carving is involved, this project would be appropriate for children.

For the traditionalists--Amy Campbell's sophisticated white pumpkins

Pumpkin Primer
Amy Campbell created her sophisticated glowing orbs with just a few tools--a sharp melon scooper, a skinny paring knife and a clay tool called a "loop" (you can get one at an art-supply store). Her canvas? White pumpkins.

The trick to this treat is to let enough light out of the pumpkin to ward off the evil spirits without blinding innocent passersby. To create the subtle glow, Campbell punched out round holes and other shapes with the end of her paring knife and scooped and looped out spirals that don't cut all the way through the pumpkin skin. She made a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin for removing pulp and for the candle. The effect is translucent and beautiful and more than a little eerie.