The past couple nights I have fallen asleep while reading the posts so haven't posted. (my roommate says I snore!
I never knew that, but I guess Lola didn't care to tell me!
)
Yesterday I spent the day with Gloria at her class, helping her get set up and passing out instructions, etc. Luckily, we were under a roof near the barns (this is at a county fair grounds) so we were in the shade all day. I guess in previous years they were in the sun all day. Several classes were going on around us as well.
I had a small gourd to use for the project which was good since I didn't have as much work to do. I have not wood burned on a gourd before or carved, so was nervous about doing that. i did OK with the wood burning for the outline of the design (fall leaves) but had the wrong burning tip. I couldn't find my set of extra tips at home so only had one but it worked good enough. Then we started on the carving. I didn't have the right tips for that either so I was able to borrow some from Gloria to use. I did OK with them but it felt a little awkward at first. I guess I need to practice to get the feel for it. However, Gloria and the other ladies all said I was doing really well for being my first time! I will post pics. We didn't have time to finish the carving or the painting so I will work on it when I get home. I am wondering tho how I will do the carving at home. The carver is super loud and sounds like a dentists drill. I doubt my neighbors will appreciate me using that on a regular basis (or even for an hour or so at a time!). I know there is a wood carving group where I live that meets once a week. I will have to find out where they do their carving.
It was a long day so we just stopped for fast food on the way back to the motel. Both of us crashed just after 8pm.
She has a booth set up in one of the main buildings to sell her gourds, along with a lot of other gourd artists. Before I went there this morning to check all that out, I went to the Casa Grande Ruins Nat'l Monument which isn't far from the fair grounds. That was really cool to see! Amazing that it is still standing after 700 years!
Went back to the festival after that, to check out all the gourd art. Wow! Just amazing what can be done with gourds! I was able to take lots of photos and ask a ton of questions of the artists. I learned a lot! Gloria's gourd art is amazing! I told a few of the other artists, that I was helping Gloria out and they all said I was very lucky to be working with her. She is well-known and admired around here. I had a great day looking at everything!
Gloria sold quite a lot of her gourds. I bought a few things, mostly accessories to use on gourd projects. I did buy a tiny gourd from Gloria that was really pretty!
Tomorrow morning I have my thunder gourd class! That should be really fun! No wood burning or carving required. Everything is provided too. That class is only 4 hours long so I will have the afternoon to do some more perusing of gourd art and check out the entries and winners of the gourd competition. I also want to buy some more gourds for future projects. The festival is put on by a local gourd farm so they have thousands of gourds in bins there to pick from.
So I am in gourd heaven right now!
Need to go thru all my photos tonight. My regular camera wasn't focusing very well so I finally gave up on that and used my phone camera instead.
BJ, I had a really nice doctor once, years ago. One day I went in to see him and he snapped at me and was really rude to me. I came out of there practically in tears. I never went back to him. I know they can have bad days but there is no excuse for unprofessional and rude behavior and attitude.
Have a good night!