January is my month to start creating gourd artwork once again. I tend to work in one medium and forget the other. The last ten months I’ve been so wrapped up in my assemblage art work that my gourd tools have just stared at me from their lonely work station. One of my goals for 2017? Create assemblage art and gourd art at the same time!

What better way to reboot my gourd line than spending time with my dear friend and gourd artist (who inspired it all) Dani Montoya of Yellow Cottage Studios in Poteau, Ok. I was so fortunate to discover Dani – a gourd artist who also excels as a teacher. I’ve spent hours in her studio cutting, drilling, staining, burning, and carving gourds since 2015.

The lesson I chose for our time together? Weaving the edges of gourds. I learned several weaving methods in gourd classes during 2015 but it just didn’t stick. And I usually made a mess of it causing Dani to laughingly ask more than once, “How did this get all tangled up like this?!” We’d look over at my Aunt Don or sister Mary who would be just weaving away (and almost finished) and Dani would patiently advise me to start over once she’d untangled everything. 🙂

I had in hand three practice gourds from Welburn Gourd Farm. Welburn is the supplier I use for gourds despite their California location. One of the items you’ll find for sale is a box of practice gourds and pieces. That means you’ll receive gourds that may be cracked or have a hole on the bottom or even half a gourd but all that makes for great practicing. I don’t go to the trouble of cleaning out and painting the inside of the gourd.

After I weave the edges of these three practice gourds, I’ll then use them to test stains, practice carving and insetting cabochons, and (the hardest for me) burning designs.

It’s always wonderful to visit with Dani and we talked about more than just gourds. Dani now concentrates on creating her pottery designs and sells in her Poteau shop as well as in her Etsy and Amazon Handmade shops. So, we talked (and I learned) about the mysterious (and laborious) steps one must take to sell on those two online sites. It’s far more difficult than just turning out lovely artwork. And it’s more than just learning what it takes to have Etsy and Amazon Handmade pull your creations up on a search. It’s all about Google! There are algorithms and such to learn and follow if you want folks seeing your artwork.

I did spend time actually weaving and I’ll return later this month to have a refresher course on pine needle weaving. Also planned are times for me to work on carving and burning under Dani’s direction while she creates her pottery (you need to check it out!)

Thanks Dani!

Vicky