How to Cut a Gourd

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, my name is Karen LoCasale and I am here to tell you about crafting with gourds; how to cut your gourd. Okay, the first thing we need to decide is what you want the gourd to look like. Are we making a bowl? Are we doing an abstract design where you are going to have cuts all over it? Or is it going to be something more like a mask where you are going to need to cut it longways? So that is your first decision is what it is you're going to do with the gourd. A lot of concerns and questions is if you are making something like a bowl, how do I get an even line on my bowl? One of the tools that I use is a handy dandy little tool that my husband made for me and it holds my pencil and I just hold it up to my gourd and turn. So you just make your pencil rest on the gourd and then you can just turn it and you will get a line that will give you a even cut on the top of your bowl. Another easy way to do it if you don't have the tool like this, which most of us wouldn't have at home, is just use a stack of either, you can use books or pieces of wood, anything that can be adjustable to give you the height that you need. Rest your pencil on the book or the wood and again same concept, you would just rest that pencil right against your gourd and again you would get a nice clean even mark on your gourd to where you want to cut it and a cheap simple way of doing that. "