Scratch Engraved Gourds

Decorating Green Gourds

Most gourd crafts are created using fully-cured and cleaned gourds. Scratch-engraving is a lovely exception. The purse pictured was carved by gourd artist Lily Evans of Jamaica.

You will need a green gourd, pencil, stencil cutter, rubber or plastic gloves, wood stain, soft cotton cloth and a table knife.

Soon after harvest, the green gourd's epidermal layer will start to lighten and turn color. This indicates that the epidermal layer is beginning to loosen.

To make sure your green gourd is at the proper stage, use your fingernail to try and scrape a tiny piece from an area you don't plan to use in your design - near the stem perhaps.

When the gourd is ready, draw you design in pencil. With the stencil cutter, trace over the design taking care to cut through the soft epidermal layer only and not into the shell beneath.

Put on rubber or plastic gloves.

Dip soft cloth in wood stain and rub over the areas you have engraved. Let stain dry thoroughly. Scrape off the remaining soft epidermal layer with the table knife.

Just like a wax resist used in silk painting, the gourd's waxy epidermal layer kept the stain from reaching the areas beneath it.

Only the engraved design is stained.

Options

Rather than scraping off the soft epidermis after carving, you can set the gourd aside and allow it to finish curing naturally.

Then clean off the mold in the usual manner. Not only will you have the design you engraved but also the unique coloration and shading left by the mold.

Leather dye can be used in place of wood stain.

The wide variety of colored wood stains available gives you a lot of design options.

You can even do a multi-colored scratch-engraving. After completing the first color design, let the stain or dye dry thoroughly.

Then melt candle wax over the engraved areas, smoothing it with your fingertips to completely fill the first part of the design. Draw and scratch-engrave your second color. And so on ...

You'll find more examples of scratch-engraved gourds in The Complete Book of Gourd Craft by Ginger Summit and Jim Widess.