Hi, I have painted some really beautiful birdhouse gourds. I asked a friend to cut the hole in them for me, but although I got many seeds out for next year's planting, there is still a lot of material on the inside. Any tips on getting all that stuff out?
Kate
Hi Kate,
After pulling out all the pulp you can by hand, clean the rest with whatever tools seem best suited. If the interior of your crafted gourd will not be seen, you don’t need to be too meticulous.
Common household items such as an old kitchen spoon, grapefruit spoon, ice cream scoop or melon baller (for small gourds or small openings) serve well.
Long narrow jeweler’s files are good for narrow-necked gourds as well as for smoothing rough edges.
Clay scraping tools designed for shaping clay are good for scraping away the pulp. The wire brush attachment for a power drill can be used on thick-skinned gourds.
I’ve written a longer article on the subject of Preparing and Cleaning Gourds which you might find helpful as well.
Regards,
Eileen
Kate kindly shared these photos in return for my help. Aren't they lovely? Crafters are just the nicest people!
Tags: gourd crafts, cleaning gourds, birdhouse gourds, painting gourds, gourd cleaning tools, curing gourds, gourd figurines
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Tools for Cleaning Out Gourds before Painting or Carving
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3 comments:
Hi Eileen! Whenever I'm making a birdhouse from a gourd, I only clean out what is easily reached. The birds will use the remainder of the pulp in their nests. Hope that tip helps.
Hugs XX
Barbara
Thanks for adding that, Barbara.
That will save Kate some time, except on the birdhouse gourds which are purely decorative, like that cute penguin in the photo.
Beautiful project, Kate! And very helpful tips on cleaning these out. Never done this so it's good info. (I always learn something new from my crafting buddies:)
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