After teaching this topic at festivals and in my studio, I have decided to stay home and interact with you online. No travel or class expenses for me or you! I will still offer you my favorite supplies and will link you to great places to buy resources.

You can agree or disagree with my opinion in the comment section below or tell me about it on our Facebook Group page.

No matter where on the planet you live, they sell wood burning tools and artists like you are discovering the world of gourd art.

I hope you will enjoy your time here and tell your gourd friends about this page.

Learning Gourd Pyrography

Above are the links to posts with videos that walk you through the basics of burning on gourds. Some offer simple projects; others will suggest exercises to help you learn how the pen moves and turns on the gourd and how to use the wood burning tips. There are also more tips and links at the bottom of the page. These pages are created for the beginner, so join me as we talk about wood burning on gourds.

Getting Help from Others Using this Website

There are many brands of wood burning tools and different ways to attach the tips and achieving the correct temperature. Most American brands have videos that can help you learn to operate your burner and how to attach the tips. A search on UTube should be helpful. You can ask me questions at end of the post or Join our Facebook Group Page.

They are over 1500 gourd artists that would be glad to offer you answers to your questions.

Before you begin….

Set Yourself Up for Safety, Safety, Safety, Safety

Work in an area with an open window or use a fan to direct smoke away from you. Many of us like working outside when we can. If you have breathing issues, then you do need to wear a mask that will catch the burning carbon particles. If you have questions, you should begin by reading the post

Many will tell you that if they are outside and/or are burning at a low temperature a mask is not necessary. You have to consider the risks posed to you and make your judgment call. Many artists have found themselves suddenly sick with lung problems after a few years of wood burning.

Work at a table that is at the correct height for you. And find a comfortable chair! Don’t leave the table with the burner turned on. Always SWITCH IT OFF.

Shards

The First Gourd you Work on Should be a Shard!

You have to make your own!

Here is my process.

I buy large cracked or broken gourds. Farmers usually burn these, so they usually sell them cheaply. I then clean them as well as I can. Read my post, for more information.

I then wrap a bath towel around the gourd and start hitting it with a hammer until I have pieces the correct size. To get them smaller, use a handsaw or band saw. Next, I sand the corners off so they don’t become weapons in my hand! Then you must sand them with 240 grit sandpaper. Stronger than that will scratch the skin. Get every white dot off!

The cleaner the gourd, the easier it is to burn.

Shards are Your Work Horse!

These shards are vital to gourd artists. I keep one near my handle to test the heat of the tip before I begin burning. Practice learning to use each tip on a shard, not a gourd. Try new products on a shard before you go to a good gourd. As a jewelry maker, I spend days preparing shards for my pendants and necklace sets. I have a drawer for small ones and a drawer for large ones.

Create an Inspiration Gourd folders on Pinterest

The Best way to learn a skill is to spend time practicing and getting to know what the finished product should look like. This is where the Internet will save you tons of money on buying books!

I suggest that you Join Pinterest. A personal, open site. The site has a free and easy start-up process! Once your account is set up, next create a board called, Inspiration Wood burned Gourds. This folder will hold images that might inspire a future project idea. Consider Pinterest a big folder of gourd pictures. Think thousands! Now your goal is to gather the photos that represent what you want your work to look like. For example, the Outline technique is first on my list. You can save these to the board I mention above or create one called Outline Technique.

Next, start finding gourds by going to the search box line near the top of the page. Look for the magnifying glass. Type in,” wood burned gourds”. A long list of images will appear! Find one you want to save to this board. If you click on the image it will go to a new page and become larger. Right-click on the image and a list of your boards will come up. Click on the right board and it will be saved there. There will be other people with the same board title. You can go to their board to see their favorites and choose them for your board. They can come to your board and do the same.

This kind of search will result in better gourds than using Google or Bing. But all three will show you wonderful examples. You can later add a Pinterest link to your browser so you can save any images on the Internet to your boards. Including the images on this website.

Once you have your boards populated, they can be used to inspire subject matter, technique examples for you to study, and will help you decide what you want to learn next with wood burning. You can also find wood-burning images to copy on your gourd. What about a board with shading Techniques and examples. They will let you have over 100 boards for free. Start a board for your favorite Gourd Artists. Pinterest can become your file cabinet of gourds that will inspire project ideas and help you know what wood burning on gourds should look like!