“I’m just about done with the scarf project, and so I’m moving on to my next requested work: a decorated gourd.
My first step was to head out to the stash in my shed, and pick out a dried gourd.
I brought it inside a couple of days ago, to give it time to adjust from the baking desert heat out in the shed to the cool and somewhat more humid air in the house.
A raw gourd has a waxy coating on the outside of it, which needs to be removed so the dye can get to the rind of the gourd. I scrub the coating off with a copper kitchen scrubbie and some water.
Sometimes you need to soak the gourd for a bit to loosen the coating. But you need to be careful not to soak too long, as the dry rind will swell and perhaps crack…”
