Beaded Gourd Purse

Voted best dressed in high school, Chie Turk of Santa Monica, Calif., has always been into style, fashion and designing. But she credits her fiancé's mom for introducing her to the world of gourds. However, she put her own fun and hip twist on a traditional piece resulting in a unique gourd purse painted with a stylish lady's face. She also creates fun "doggy" bags for her dog, Zoe, to wear when they go for walks. The brightly colored bags conveniently store a key, a little cash and a waste bag.

Materials:

clean and dry gourd
150 beads
white acrylic paint
multi-color pack of Sharpies
gourd scrapper
towel
cotton swabs
leather stain
fabric
small round mirror
compass
drill with a small bit
goggles
scissors
karge sewing needle
spray lacquer
elastic cord
drywall handsaw
embellishments – hair, beads, fur, 18 large accessory beads
pencil
dust mask
sandpaper
electric belt sander
small paintbrush
prism markers
Power Pro 30 lb.
hot glue gun

1. Pick a clean canteen gourd. Wipe it down with a dry cloth.

2. Draw a circle on the top of the gourd with a compass. Make sure it is large enough to fit your hand through (figure A).

3. Put on your mask and eye protectors. With the drywall blade, pierce the gourd and cut along the drawn circle at an angle (figure B).

4. Gut the inside of the gourd; remove all seeds and contents from the inside of the gourd. Scrape out all of the contents with your gourd scraper. Using sandpaper, sand the inside of the gourd and discard the residue.

5. Take the gourd lid to the electric sand belt and smooth it down.

6. Wipe the gourd's inside and out with a damp cloth and then a dry one.

7. Determine which side will be the face, then on the opposite side of the face (the back of the head) find the center point and make a dot with your pencil about one inch from the rim and another dot one inch from the base.

8. About 3 inches from the back dot on the base make another dot and another three inches from that.

9. Repeat this on the other side.

10. If your gourd does not have a stem on the lid, draw two dots about 1 inch apart in the center.

12. Check that the dots are balanced to the face.

13. If your hair barrette is a large bead that cannot be hot glued on you must pick a spot on the base that you want it and draw another dot.

14. When happy with the balance, drill holes where you drew the dots. Wipe it down one last time.