How can Gourd Art Talk help you learn about gourd Art?

As an expert guide, I will inspire you to try new techniques and products. I will use my tips and video instruction to make it easy for you to improve your skills and learn more about gourd art as an art form. Visit this instructional website often. My online studio is always open.

Hello, I am Bettie Lake and I want to welcome you to my virtual gourd studio.

I have been teaching at festivals and around my home state of Arizona for several years. I have specialized in wood burning. One of my more popular classes has been my Woodburning 101 class for beginners where I explain everything you need to know about the tools and techniques. But there never was enough time to cover everything and to have any elaborate conversations about what we were doing. In other words, it never seemed like the best way to learn about gourd art.

I am also a tangler. I like creating and using geometric patterns on my gourds and have developed a special method that allows me to use the tool and a special tip to add shading to my patterns. After teaching this technique so many times, I developed patterns for gourds and published three books on the topic. Fortunately,these are are now available on this studio site. You can find them here.

I also specialize in tangling gourd jewelry and for the past 15, I have sold them at the Wuertz Gourd Festivals. Now I have them here in my Gorgeous Gourd Jewelry Store. Check out my work and consider wearing one of my necklaces or giving it as a gift. Gift cards are available.

My Blog will help you learn about gourd art

The blog is going to serve as my teaching vehicle. Think of it as the demonstration portion of a gourd patch meeting.

Each month I will post reviews of gourd products, gourd tools, and different gourd techniques. I will share my preferences and experience and offer many tips. Plus, I will have videos to help you understand concepts.

I will show you how your gourd journey can be made easier by using resources on Social Media and the Internet. The Blog is allows you to talk to me and others visiting the blog page through a Facebook group page. Each week I post a question about the information in the post or ask you to share tips and pictures of your work that relate to the post topic. Think of the group as the Show -and -Tell portion of a patch meeting!

Go to the group at any time, by clicking on the Facebook icon at the bottom of the page. Why not join now Gourd Art Talk Facebook Group now?

Through this media, you can connect with gourd artists all over the world. I will guide you the entire way. Beginners are encouraged as well as master gourd artists who are willing to share their own experiences and want to learn more about gourd art.

Gourd Art Talk will help you learn about gourd art with a different kind of class

I am not going to provide you with videos on how I create my work. Instead, I have created an ongoing classroom platform that will review, explain, and define all aspects of how to get a gourd from the field to the art show.

Many festival classes focus on gourd products or how to master gourd techniques that will allow you to reproduce a gourd design. Many of them are now priced at $100 for a four-hour class. But you often end up with an unfinished gourd and you do not remember what the teacher said months later when you try to finish the gourd. I never felt that was a comprehensive way to learn about gourd art.

I will focus more on what the technique or product should look like and how to use it more creatively. As an art instructor, I can give information about design and composition rules and explain how the masters make an impact with how they construct their patterns and images. There will be something here for you to learn no matter what your gourd skills. And there is no cost to you!

Here is what I will provide for you through the blog.

Reviews of tools, products, and special gourd processes
Explain various gourd techniques with an emphasis on best practices using free videos and my tips from my own experiences.
Suggest ways to make your gourd journey, economical, profitable, and awarding
Provide you with inspirational gourd examples and suggest more creative and different approaches to your gourd art
Educate your eye to recognize a “master gourd artist “and the expectations of gallery-quality work.
Provide you with a “Show and Tell” online
Show you how to create reference folders on Pinterest to keep gourd images for inspiration and examination and critique.
A platform on Facebook to share your work and your learning tips with all of us.
Provide extra information on topics with short picture tutorials, checklists, and e-books both free and at a low price. ($2-$15.)

If you are a Pinterest user you can help promote this site with the pins I create located on the main page. Just place these Blog pin on your boards so other gourd viewers can find them. If you are on Facebook, recommend this site and our Facebook group page.

How you can support this site

This sounds like a fun challenge for me and I look forward to interacting with you. I do enjoy conversations about gourds! But this is not a membership site. With that in mind, I have created a few ways for you to help me pay the bills.

For one thing, you can donate to the site and you can also place an ad on the blog page. Advertise a class, a tutorial or your gourd store on Etsy or Shopify.

Together, I hope to make this place a popular place and I would love your support and look forward to you participation.

The library offers some of the longer and more detailed post available as PDF which you can download for just a few dollars. The store has personale products I like to use, so look at those.

Please look around and explore my site and keep in mind this site is just beginning. Please send me your thoughts on my blog structure and send along any topic you might want me to talk about. I will need your input to make it work for you.

If you are interested in hearing about my plans for the site each month and a preview of comming post,please join my email list for my montly newsletter.