Chris

In the early 1990’s a friend of mine convinced me that we should start to sell our work at craft shows to make a little money. All these years later and I am still doing shows. I started out working in recycled paper making old world Santa’s and snowmen. However with the ever evolving world in the mid to late 1990s,

venturing out on my own I decided I needed to expand into more non-seasonal work. This is when I decided to go back to working with hard shell gourds. Part of this desire to start working with gourds was due to coming from a long line of Carpenters, sawdust is in my blood, more like gourd dust these days! I openly

admit I have a hard time looking at a block of wood and seeing something, but look at a gourd and the possibilities seem endless. I have to say the response at the first few shows I took my gourd to was unbelievable.

A friend of mine told me the local school adult education program was looking for people with unusual hobbies and skills to teach new classes. I contacted the school and the rest is history. As Ann stated the first class only had two students. I did receive a phone call from the school asking if I wanted to cancel

and I said if they are willing so am I.

I also looked into the AGS and joined looking and hoping to contact members in Michigan.  Well it wasn’t long before I was at my fist meeting, then a second, where we became a chapter of the AGS and I was selected to be Membership Secretary.

In 2007 I entered my first gourd show in Ohio. I was nervous and wanted to see how I would stand with all these other people working on gourds. I took 18 pieces and came home with 16 ribbons. My second show in Indiana I took 26 pieces and came home with 25 ribbons and 15 of them were first place. Since those first shows I have continued to win in competition and in a years time have won best of show and taken second in points. One of the reasons I like working with gourds is because you can make just about anything. Working on gourds with a very good group of people makes it even better.

I guess the biggest thing that amazes me is we all work on gourds but how they are all different because

we add a part of our selves to them.

See Chris's work on her site The Decorative Gourd.

Click the gourd to go back to Members page

Gourd Guild