I followed my "Creative Voice" from the gourd telling me what it should be, and this is what the result is, a Navajo woman making a pot to put some of the harvest in during the "Harvest Moon" you see over her head.
The "Harvest Moon" is cut from Iridescent Mother of Pearl and inlaid into the gourd, ground and sanded flush with the gourds surface and polished.
I also cut 6 star shapes out of Turquoise and inlaid them into the gourd,ground and sanded flush with the gourd and polished, then a boarder drawn on and wood burned in and filled with Brown leather dye.
The back side of the gourd is a young Native man with his fire and seeing a Thunder bird rising from the fire. The Thunder bird I made by cutting 8 pieces of Turquoise and inlaying them,sanding and flushing to the gourd and polishing.
I used a very light yellow inside the gourd to light it up a little, and with the top off it appears as if a nice warm fire was burning within to light the evening.
All designs are first drawn on with pencil, then wood burned into the gourd and color added with leather dyes and some paint, even the boarders are wood burned in and colored with leather dyes.
You may click on any of the photographs to enlarge for a better view.
Front View of the Gourd Art
Front view with top off
Close up of the Navajo Woman
Back side of Gourd with Native man and Thunder Bird
Close up of Thunder Bird made of Turquoise
Close up of one of the 6 Turquoise Stars on the topNote: Several of the Turquoise Stars have flecks of Gold in the Turquoise.
