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. 

The gourds from a plant with five pointed leaves works better than the the plant with long narrow leaves,







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!

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