A Head in the Hand

This is a bizarre happenstance piece of crafting. I began by imagining what it would be like to fashion a hand out of gourd. Inside that hand, I imagined I would place a small orb with a face, placing it as if it were pearing out through the fingers - sort of a gothic fantasy appearance.

The plan was to measure carefully and cut the inner face orb into small pieces then reassemble once inside the hand, so assembly cracks on the orb were invisible and the visitor the page would wonder 'How did she get that orb inside those fingers?' Sort of like a ship in a bottle scenario.

However, something even more bizarre and wonderful occured in the process of putting reality to my imaginative project. Last night, August 2, 2001, when I cut away the surrounding area where the fingers were supposed to be in the selected gourd, the inner seed fiber revealed itself as a face! I sat there in my chair last night, stunned, not believing what I saw. The inner feature of the work had already been provided for by the gourd itself -- complete with a mouth!
Excitedly, I applied a dab of glue top and bottom to the seed fiber to keep it face forward, then coated it all with Mod Podge to keep the delicate fiber more durable for the long haul. Then I carefully pyroengraved the edges of the face so the eyes and mouth would be more visible. I finished by adding the nail and finger creases on the hand.

This is one of the most bizarre things I've ever had happen to me while gourding.

(Gourd measure 4 x 3 inches. Gourd provided by my own garden a few years ago. The background image to this page is what I sketched and planned to do. Compare that to the image the gourd provided.)

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2001 Gourd Art Gallery by Kasin Hunter?

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