{"id":345,"date":"2024-09-23T04:40:04","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T04:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/?page_id=345"},"modified":"2025-02-03T04:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T04:42:22","slug":"about-gourds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/?page_id=345","title":{"rendered":"About gourds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gourds have been used by humans since 13,000 BCE. One of the first cultivated plants, hard-shelled gourds were initially just tools but as with most of our tools, started to be decorated so that they were both functional and beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been carving and dying gourds since COVID. I was too distracted to keep doing batik in those intense first years, but I needed to keep my hands busy. I love the irregularity of gourds, both shape and coloration. I love how smooth they are and how crisply they carve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I begin with natural gourds from a gourd farm. To create a vessel, I cut the top off. The inside is filled with desiccated pulp and seeds, which must be scraped out. Then, I sand the inside and top edge. Next, the inside gets a dark dye bath. Sometimes, I’ll also add a resin layer to the inside of gourd, to protect it and add more weight to the finished project and sometimes I’ll leave it untreated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the exterior gets dye applied. Because of how hard the shell is, I use a leather dye and apply it with cotton balls; it’s very strong. I like the look of darker dyes, because then the carved image has more contrast. After the dye has dried, I pencil on the design and begin carving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the carving is complete, I’ll apply a varnish to the gourd, and drill holes around the rim to weave a finished edge with waxed linen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My gourds have been taking a nautical theme lately, with images of octopus and patterns reminiscent of sea urchin shells. Occasionally, I’ve applied gold leaf that I antiqued with India ink. I would say that I am evolving my vision with this medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither treated nor untreated gourds should hold liquid or be used for food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gourds have been used by humans since 13,000 BCE. One of the first cultivated plants, hard-shelled gourds were initially just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-345","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/345\/revisions\/397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batikandfiber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}