Wow, I love your house, so rustic and gorgeous!! The floorboards look great! I loved looking at the birdhouses too so thanks for starting this post. I picked up a cute little angel birdhouse yesterday, it's at the top of my steps leading to the front door and it says "Every birdie welcome" Not sure if you're into pretty shabby chic or mosaics but I made a couple of them. I also have a collection of birdhouses in my kitchen that I use to buy from a lady that painted them and sold them at our local market. I'll post a pic of them all for you. Sorry about the sizes. I kept resizing them on photobucket but they seem to be still be big when I paste the html tag. Please ignore cob webs in my kitchen lol, obviously I've been doing way too much mosaicing and no cleaning lol.

Harbor freight has them on sale now $7.88 or so--called an engraving tool. But you still have to buy the engraving bits separately at $2 to $4 each-frm Lowes. I also only use a snap-off blade knife for cutting open the lidded bowls that I make, or the holes in birdhouses. I think the power saws are important only if you are making a ton of gourds to sell. I use the engraving tool to cut the design into the outside of the gourd. Have you seen the show at gourd TV--interesting products-ink dies that don't fade and good wood filler. I just use acrylic paints and wood stain, and cheap spray sealer on the outside. I use some liquid water based poly. on the inside (left over from a recent wood floor refinishing project) or glue in scrap booking paper/pieces of brown paper bags. I got, as a gift, a wall-mart wood burner $15, but you need a temperature controller/regulator--otherwise it burns too hot and then not hot enough--so no wood burning for me, since I don't want to build my own (have directions for a homemade unit for $10) and the good ones are $180. have fun, good luck.

I don't grow gourd either because of not having much sun. I do plan on growing some in containers next year. Looks to me like your first attempt at growing gourds has been very succesful. You gourd looks like a strawberry gourd to me although you did say the package said apple gourd, right. In my favorite book "The Complete Book of Gourd Crafts" it says that by pushing at the base of the stem and the gourd feels firm and solid to the touch it should be mature and should have a waxy skin on it. It should stay on the vine until the vine has dried up and has turned brown. Then you can either leave it outside or bring in inside to a well ventilated place and store off the ground. You can prevent mold from occuring on a freshly harvested gourd by frequently wiping with a mild solution of disinfectant during the long drying process. To hasten the drying process watch to see when the gourd turns from green to a cream white and starts to loosen. But, it will mold faster and you need to watch it and wipe frequently with water and disinfectant. If you decide that this is something you really want to get into, I definitely suggest the "The Complete Book of Gourd Crafts" by Jim Widess and Ginger Summit. The are very well known in the gourd world and the book tells you everything you need to know from putting seeds in the ground up thru decorating. Lillie, your photos of your gourds are very good. Post some new ones when you get them. Nonnie

When I first started working with gourds I had no idea about the molds and respiratory problems they can cause. I was cutting and sanding and scraping like crazy,having a good old time! After a few days I started having headaches daily,something out of the ordinary for me.I ended up getting a whopper of a sinus infection,but had no idea why.After about a month of working on the gourds and having the ongoing sinus infection and daily headaches,I accidently ran across an article about the safety measures one should take when working on gourds.I now wear a mask when cutting and cleaning and when possible do the work outside. I use acrylics and a sealer on my gourds also.Some gourds have a waxy coating on them and paint will not adhere to that.So far all but a few of the small ones that I have worked on haven't had that coating.If they do soak them for 20-30 minutes in warm water with a little dish detergent added and scrape them with a knife. You can also use colored pencils(map colors)for a more subtle color,pastels and many different dyes.You can order the dyes off the internet.You can do a Google search and find lots of information.Be prepared,gourds are addictive! Happy gourding!!!.................Lillie Here is a link that might be useful: Gourd supplies