Carved Gourds - The Perfect Fall Decoration

I absolutely love our carved gourd and especially like to feature it in our home during the Fall season. It looks like a fancy wooden version of a pumpkin and has carvings, paint, and burnt etchings that give the gourd all the beautiful fall colors. It is great for having keep sakes in it, you can make a centerpiece out of it and have fall leaves scattered around with a cute Halloween or Thanksgiving character sticking out, display them with small candles inside, there are even carved gourd lamps, the possibilities are really endless. Carved gourds will add the perfect autumn touch to your home and are great conversation pieces.

Gourds are large fruit that grow on vines and have a very hard skin. They are the "extended family" of pumpkins, but you would not want to eat this fruit as it usually does not have a good taste. Decorative gourds are generally used as ornaments or gifts, but have also been used to store food, make bird houses and feeders, as musical instruments, for trading, story telling, and more. They really are diamonds in the rough; at first glance you would not think this plain looking fruit could be transformed into wonderful works of art, but the results are pleasantly surprising!

We had bought our gourd in a little art and gifts shop and when I realized the company name was on the bottom of my gourd I wanted to find out more about where it came from and who made it. As it turns out, a large number of families work solely on carving gourds in Peru and not just for this company. The way this particular company works is that they have design artists that give those layouts to the carvers. If these were being created by the Peruvian people themselves they might tell a story with their carvings much like Native Americans did with petroglyphs (pictures engraved on rock). It has been tradition in many families to pass the trade on from generation to generation. If you are lucky enough to have an authentic piece of work you may have a small part of history from this culture right in your own home.

www.lucuma.com - Lucuma Gourds

This is somewhat of a long video, but if you skip two minutes in and only watch even a few minutes, it is really amazing to see the craftsmanship that goes into creating these masterpieces!

While gourd decorating is widely known throughout Peru, it is not the only culture that has this tradition. People from the Pacific Islands, China, Poland, to Africa and other various parts of the world have practiced gourd carving. While not all cultures are doing it for the same reason or using the same method, they are still amazing works of art. In fact, gourd art has become a very popular decor trend.

More about the history of gourd carving found in the following book:

Whether it is a lamp, candy dish, center piece, part of the general fall decor, or placed randomly throughout the house, a carved gourd is a beautiful way to decorate for Fall. A lot of artistic work goes into making these amazing creations. You will impress and fascinate others and if you do a little research on your pieces then you will be able to wow them with your knowledge as well. Have an amazingly sweet autumn season!

Photo is a product of gourdshop.com

Do you already have a carved, painted, and/or burnt gourd? Which were some of your favorites from this article?