Merhaba and Happy Valentine’s Day
Wednesday was a busy day! In the afternoon we all celebrated Gwen’s birthday! In the morning we had our art group. Sune returned with more knot training for folks. And we also had a special presentation! Jane from the boat Hideaway came to Wednesday Group to share with us the decorated gourd she had made. We all thought it was wonderful. We were even more impressed as it was her first ever and she pretty much had taught herself after seeing the decorated gourd display at the Art and Culture Center. Jane mentioned an American gourd organization website which had been helpful and hopefully this is the correct one. http://www.americangourdsociety.org/tutorials.html seems a useful site and did have some instructions. Thanks Jane!
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Jane with her finished gourd. Notice the rows of very tiny dots along the neck. Jane drilled those and filled them with tiny beads that allow light to pass through. “Make sure you ask to see all of the gourds so you can pick the perfect one, “ was her advice. They come already dry; if you shake them you can hear the seeds inside. You do have to cut open the bottom and scrape clean the insides. And drill all of the holes too. And find the beads and buttons than fit and let light shine through. I might need to have a gourd before we leave Turkey…but not one made by me as I’m still knitting the second plain square that will be the back side of my vest. Jane said this took her about 30 hours. Hers really is quite lovely. |
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Bridget holding the gourd so I can photograph the inside. She is wearing one of the beautiful sweaters she knits. Such creative folks at our Wednesday Group! And all the experts willing to patiently help the beginners. |
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Crystal balls and plastic blue buttons were inserted into holes that Jane drilled. I liked the gold painted around the holes too. |
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Those are the very tiny holes with tiny beads inserted…. Unfortunately there was no really dark place in Sailor’s Point for us to test the light effect but you can get some idea. |
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Kerstin and Sune brought wine and chocolate for Valentine’s Day! |
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Some info about a Turkish Gourd Artist with examples of his work. |
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http://www.northerndipper.com/news34.php talks about Turkish artist Nurettin Taskaya. “Seven years ago, a gardener gave Nurettin a bag of gourds with which he created a few lamps for his terrace. That got the ball rolling, and now Nurettin’s gourd lamps are showing up throughout Turkey and in other countries around the world!” http://www.turkishculture.org/whoiswho/applied-arts/others/nurettin-taskaya-1209.htm also talks about Nurettin Taskaya. |
