March Meeting
The program featured gourd art teacher and author, Catherine Devine. See her work here. We are fortunate to have Catherine in SOBG.
Guild member, Edy wrote:
I must admit that I really didn’t know what to expect with this workshop. I’d seen pictures of gourd works of art but it remained a mystery to me until Catherine Devine’s introduction to coiling. What a great class! I learned so much. Once I had the base row completed the rest seemed to fall into place. I had a lot of “a-ha” moments when it came to joining rows and connecting rows together to get the shaping. With a little bit of luck and Catherine's patience, somehow my gourd was completed.
Waxed linen seemed to be quite easy to work with until a knot reared its ugly head. Most knots were worked out with a little patience and a good needle. The hardest part was picking out the colours because the options were endless. Every gourd in the class had a colour combination that I wished I had picked out for myself but in the end, I was quite happy with the final outcome. Catherine’s method of using a hair dryer to heat the wax really brought out the shine made the project even more successful.
I’m secretly sourcing out waxed linen for another project. I also have Catherine’s book. It’s a valuable reference, too. It was kind of neat to be able to look at the book again afterwards and have more things click into place.
The camaraderie of the group makes these workshops so much fun. For those who were unable to attend…you missed a great workshop. I hope Catherine can do another in the future!
Guild member, Edy wrote:
I must admit that I really didn’t know what to expect with this workshop. I’d seen pictures of gourd works of art but it remained a mystery to me until Catherine Devine’s introduction to coiling. What a great class! I learned so much. Once I had the base row completed the rest seemed to fall into place. I had a lot of “a-ha” moments when it came to joining rows and connecting rows together to get the shaping. With a little bit of luck and Catherine's patience, somehow my gourd was completed.
Waxed linen seemed to be quite easy to work with until a knot reared its ugly head. Most knots were worked out with a little patience and a good needle. The hardest part was picking out the colours because the options were endless. Every gourd in the class had a colour combination that I wished I had picked out for myself but in the end, I was quite happy with the final outcome. Catherine’s method of using a hair dryer to heat the wax really brought out the shine made the project even more successful.
I’m secretly sourcing out waxed linen for another project. I also have Catherine’s book. It’s a valuable reference, too. It was kind of neat to be able to look at the book again afterwards and have more things click into place.
The camaraderie of the group makes these workshops so much fun. For those who were unable to attend…you missed a great workshop. I hope Catherine can do another in the future!
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