Coyote Christmas Ornaments; great DIY gifts.
These
Christmas ornaments make beautiful gifts. Each
ornament is one of a kind. They
are made out of gourds, coyote melons, Cucurbita
palmata.
Curcurbita foetidissima, which grows a gourd that has a much thinner wall.
If I want six ornaments I start with about nine, because a few of them do not make it.
I think the paint adheres a little
better if I give it a light sanding.
I drill a 3/16 to ¼ inch hole in one
end of the gourd. The end that has a larger spot is easier to drill
through.
I need a line to follow as I cut out
the window hole. The lid of a spray paint works best for tracing a
line.
I use a Dremel with a cutting bit to
cut along the line. I firmly pinch the Dremel between the base of the
thumb and first finger so that I the tips of the thumb and finger are
braced against the gourd as I twist it with the other hand.
After cutting, I pry off the lid and
clean out the seeds with a little tool I created, but something like
a spoon will work.
Once it is cleaned out, time to paint
the outside.
Once the paint is dry I glue a “floor”
inside the gourd. Cardboard, like the kind cereal boxes are made of,
works. I cut it into a square then trim off the corners until it is
a circle. I test fit the floor several times and trim it until I get
the fit I'm looking for. I want it to be just large enough to fill
the gourd just below the inside of the hole.
Next I drip white glue all along the
the edge of the cardboard.
Then I use a strip of cardboard to
push and spread the glue up against the wall of the gourd.
Once the floor is dry I cut a quarter
of a pipe cleaner (chenille stick) and bend it into a loop and twist
it at the bottom.
The ends are pushed through the hole in the top,
and then are spread and hot glued. I use white paint on the floor and
couple of inches inside the window hole.
I have a collection of old Christmas
cards I cut out to act as the background.
Background cards
It usually takes several trimming and fitting sessions to get it right.
I glue the right and left edges and the top to the inside of the gourd.
A piece of felt or some sort of cover
is cut and glued to the floor. I use a good amount of glue.
Then I glue in the characters; this
one gets a cat and two gifts. I use white glue to hold the character
in the ornament,
and I use hot glue to hold the character in as the white glue dries.
Character Cards
Some of the Christmas cards can be
used as background and characters.
I carefully cut out around each character
leaving a base that I will be able to
bend and
glue to the floor.
Once they are dry I cover the floor
with glue and:
saw dust, tiny Styrofoam beads, or glitter.
The next to last step is to trim the
edge of the window hole. My wife actually created this part. She
uses pipe cleaners, beads, ribbons or string. Usually two of these
are twisted together hot glued around the edge. She hardly ever
start at the dead top center.
Now a small “flat-backed” element
is glued where the two ends meet. To make sure it stays a little bit
of white glue is put along the trim and the outer part of the gourd
to keep it in place.
I'll usually paint elements or apply
glitter to the outside, spray it with shinny clear coat. Last I sign
it and glue a small label against the top inside. The label has the
year and ornament number on it.
Merry Christmas!