The Gourd Basket

 

This is what I did yesterday. It was time for another Basket Class with my friend Jo Evans and for this class, we decided to make Gourd baskets. We cut and cleaned out our gourds ahead of time and started class by staining or dyeing the outside. I rubbed mine with Decorator's Gilt in a couple of different colors to give it some depth. I had also previously collaged the inside with rusted rice paper. When our gourds were dry, we went on to drill the holes and apply the pine needles. I was weaving along rather sedately, when I suddenly decided to jump across the space with a "rope" of Pine Needles. I like that a lot and wish I had done it more than once. Last night, I added some stones between the pine needles and the gourd, but I didn't really like that and so took them off this morning. Remember, I have to tear something up at least once before I like it! I don't know if this is finished or not. I like the simplicity of it but I may play around with it a bit. I have another Gourd basket in work as well..