If you've never heard of it, gourd art is the practice of creating works of art on dried gourd shells.
This art is based on a technique called pointillism.
It's a very interesting and creative type of work and I've have the fortunate experience of meeting a gourd artist.
In gourd art, the surface of the gourd may be burned, sanded, carved, dyed or polished to create a different look as well as to be able to paint and otherwise decorate the gourd.
If you don't want to prepare them yourself, you can purchase those that are already cleaned, smoothed and prepared for creating fine art gourds.
This is similar to or a type of pyrography.
Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks.
These burn marks are done intentionally with a hot object such as a poker.
You may have also heard of it called pokerwork or wood burning.
When it comes to decorating gourds, there is no end to what can be created.
There are as many types of artists as there are types of gourds and what they do with this craft is astounding.
Gourd art is no longer considered just a craft but an actual art form that is featured in museums across the world.
In addition to the actual art and design that is made on the gourd itself, people are also stretching their imaginations and doing many other great things with gourd art.
For example, they are making bird houses, bird feeders and many other creative things from gourds.
The best part about of using gourds for art is that anyone can do it.
Even if you didn't know what a gourd was before this, you can decorate your own special creation.