Author: Kelly Gentry

Brand new items at Gentry Gourds:

 

Gourd Purses! Featuring gourd bottoms, brocade bodies, beautiful fringe and  satin ribbon drawstring closures.

 

Handmade gourd rattles filled with hard corn and trimmed with glass beads.

 

 

Gourd Head Dolls!!   Hand made soft bodies with gourd heads, and Colonial style clothing. These are a few of the dozen or so I’ve made.  I just love dressing up these little ladies in  petticoats, apron, kerchief  and mob caps. I hand draw the faces onto the gourds after they are attached to the bodies, then add the caps for the final touch.

We received word last week that we have been accepted for the Mississenewa 1812 festival in nearby Marion, IN on October 12-14, 2012. Of course, we had to order different clothes to fit the time period.

This will be different for us because we will be camping at the event, rather than sleeping in our nice warm, comfortable house.  We will take plenty of sleeping bags and blankets.

Hope to see you there!

It was a little wet at the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon, but we still had a great time. Plenty of people came by our tent and browsed the merchandise, and asked some great questions.

The rain on Saturday morning, and especially on Saturday night/Sunday morning made for soggy conditions in the park. Tow trucks were called in on Sunday to pull vehicles out of the mud in the pasture parking lot. The Sunday crowds were much smaller than Saturday’s.

Our new tent worked wonderfully! With the detachable sides, it was easy to open and close, and to change the configuration. Plus, it looked pretty sharp. With the rain keeping the canvas pretty damp, we have setup the tent in our front yard to dry.

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

Hope to see you all next year!

Did I mention that we have a new tent for this year’s Feast? After several years of using the rectangular marquee model, we ordered a new square marquee from Tentsmiths. The only problem we had with the old tent was that the sides are attached. This means we had to wrangle a large and heavy roll of canvas during setup and tear down. It weighs 90 lbs! Detachable sides will make setup easier, and allow more options in the configuration. As a bonus, it comes with fancy scalloping along the top edge.

Unfortunately, our existing tent poles are not tall enough for the new tent. So we have spent much time and effort making new ones. We are not woodworkers, so there has been a lot of learning along the way. As shown here, the poles ended up with a very nice octagonal profile.

Come see our new setup at the Feast this weekend!

My new Feast dress arrived the other day. Can’t wait to show it off!

Little gourd ornaments – varnished and drying.

The goatskin head has been stretched across the gourd, and the precut neck has been oiled.

Here are the parts temporarily assembled.

Next is the application of shellac and the mounting of the hardware. Not sure yet how to slot the nut and bridge.

Been working with leather dye and varnish. This is the drying stage.

Found this chart the other day on The Gourd Reserve.  Many people have asked us about the types of gourds that we use, and these illustrations are a good tool to help identify the different shapes and varieties.

Digital Gourd chart © Dan Dunkin 2003
This chart is used courtesy The Gourd Reserve