Previous pieces of gourd art

Here's a photo of some earlier gourds I have woodburned. The front gourd's subject has a rabbit in the foreground with a coyote in the distance. The gourd in the back left deals with male turkeys and the one on the right has gray foxes woodburned on it. These gourds were woodburned in 2007 and sold at area craft fairs. All my gourds are designed and woodburned from all sides. I also made the wooden display bases which are stained included with the gourd.

The photo above is of the gray fox gourd. The photo below is my first turkey gourd.

Squirrel & owl gourd

Here are two photos of the squirrel & owl gourd. I'll have more photos to post in the future of some of the others qourds I've done.

Wildife Gourd Art - my story

My start in using gourds in my artwork really happened by accident in 2006. A co-worker brought a bag of old gourds she had found in her father’s basement to work and was looking for someone to take them to use in some way. I told her I would take them and try to do something with them, not having a clue what it might be. Now most gourds I have seen at craft/art shows usually involved painting the gourd with a Christmas theme or making it into a bird house. I wanted to do something different. I decided to try using my woodburning tool that Debbie had given me as gift some years ago. My first woodburning was done on a short handled dipper gourd. On one side I burned a squirrel with the handle section serving as the tail and on the other side was a screech owl looking out a hole in the side of a tree. For my first attempt at using a gourd as a “canvas”, it didn’t look too bad. My division at work always sponsored what was called “the Boo Bazaar” in which craft/art items, centering around a Halloween theme, would be part of a silent auction for charity. I submitted the squirrel gourd along with a "penguin" gourd. On the penguin gourd I woodburned a skull that had a deer mouse looking out of one of the eye sockets. I also woodburned a bobcat on one side and a cardinal on the other side of the gourd, that was basically about half the size of a basketball with a very short neck. The gourds were one of the highest bid items and were very unique for the bazaar. I received many positive compliments which inspired me to continue experimenting. Since then, I have been woodburning mostly wildlife images on various gourds and selling them at craft/art fairs, with Debbie selling her baskets. I have pictures of the squirrel/owl gourd which I’ll post in the near future. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures, or at least good pictures, of all the gourds I have done and sold. I'm going to make a concerted effort to take more and better photos in the future.

Step Basket

Debbie's step baskets are 20” tall to the handle, with the woven part measuring 14” tall and fits a standard step. The baskets pictured are stained golden oak, with examples of a band of accent color woven in and without color accent. Basket can be stained in either golden oak or antique walnut. If a band of accent color is desired, the choice of navy, burgundy or hunter green are available. Your basket will be woven at the time you place your order and shipped within 2 weeks. Contact Debbie at basketdbky@aol.com for more info on placing an order.
Retail cost for the Step Basket is $45 + shipping/handling.

Wine Basket

The wine basket is another basket Debbie weaves. They measures five inches in diameter, 12 inches deep, with a wooden base and have leather handles. They can hold a 1.5 liter bottle of wine as long as it doesn't measure over 4 inches in diameter. However, the basket can woven in any diameter and height to accomadate any size wine bottle.

Quail Basket

This is an example of my artwork, which is woodburned on a round base, combined with my wife's basket weaving. The basket measures 12 inches in diameter and is 4.5 inches deep with ceramic handles. We are going to be placing this basket on e-bay possibly in the future to see how many bids it receives. Let us know what you think about this basket.

Debbie's Basket Shop

Hello, this is my beautiful wife, Debbie. She's a great basket weaver. She has been designing, weaving and selling her baskets since 1998. Her baskets are made of top quality split reed and have either oak or ash handles, leather strap handles or stoneware handles. She also weaves baskets with a solid wood base and others with antique potato mashers or rolling pins as handles. Unlike many mass produced baskets on the market, Debbie never uses a mold to shape her baskets and never use glue, nails or staples to finish a basket. I will be posting pictures of her baskets in future post.

Welcome to basketsandgourds

Welcome to basketsandgourds. This web site/blog was created to test the waters, so to speak, concerning having a web presence for my wife's baskets and my wildlife gourd art. We are new to blogging but hope it opens up new opportunities for our work. I realize this will take a lot of work, as well as patience, but in the end it will prove to be fun and profitable. In the near future, I will be posting photos of baskets and gourds. Stay tune. I will also be looking into using my own domain name - www.basketsandgourds.com