Friday, April 22, 2016

Spring Blooms!

Today I posted a little tutorial over on the Tiny Tool Time Blog on how to make some pretty Spring flowers from small gourds. Please hop on over there to get your dose of gourd!

And leave me a little love.

Barbara

Friday, April 8, 2016

A Card Holder made from an Apple Gourd

If you read this within the first couple of days of my posting this, then I will be at the Missouri Gourd Festival in Springfield, MO. While getting ready for this wonderful festival, I thought it might be fun to make a special piece to put my business cards in, as I have a booth and sell some supplies.

Items needed for this project: 

An Apple Gourd
A simple card holder
Glue
Apple Red Paint
Jacaranda Pod
Spray Sealer

I started out this project by first drawing a line around the card holder onto the top of the gourd and then cutting out the shape, using the Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E.
Here's what the gourd looked like after the gourd was opened. See all the gourd pulp inside?
The card holder sitting beside the gourd is the one that was used. Then I took the Proxxon Belt Sander BS/E and sanded all of the edges smooth. I was also trying out the fit if you will of the card holder as I worked. The hole looked so smooth and really fit the card holder well.







Once all was sanded smooth and the card holder fit, I painted the gourd, glued on the jacaranda pod, sealed the gourd with a good sealer and inserted the holder and glued it in. This is the final result.

This really is a nice piece and looks just like a big 'ole apple holding some business cards!! I know I'm going to get a lot of comments on this one from the people going through my booth. What do you think? Do you have any questions about the tools that I've been using? Just ask and if I don't know I'm sure Proxxon Will!

Barbara