: Make A Shakere :  

: Navigation :
Make a Shakere Home

Make a Red Gourd Shakere
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6

Make a “Snake” with Cowrie Shells Gourd Shekere

  1. Put an Image on the Gourd

  2. Drill the Cowrie Shell Beads

  3. Knot on Shell Beads (Noise makers)

  4. Cut Bottom Hole Add Knots, Perform Winter Solstice Rituals

  5. Add Feathers

  6. It Flies


A Foraged Fox Tail
 : Gourd Shakere Making : Coloring the Gourd

How did this gourd shakere become red?
a finished gourd with beads shakere
Coloring the Gourd
This gourd was colored with leather dye. There are a variety of other options for coloring your gourd, including just about any kind of paint. The similarities in the organic structure of the gourd, compared to leather, make leather dye one good choice, and one often recommended by better gourd craftsmen than I.

Ingredients
You will need
your clean gourd
leather dye (I chose red)

other items: plastic/latex gloves, paint brushes or dye applicators, newspaper or other cover for your work surface

Coloring the Gourd
Leather dye is a thin, petrochemical dye. It penetrates leather and gourd tisseu deeply because of its thinness, and, I assume, the small size of the particles of in the tint. Because it is petro-based, please color your gourd outside or in a very well ventilated area.

If you use the applicator, dauber, you may experience running. If you are coloring the gourd the same color all over, this is no big deal, but if you are using several colors you should probably select paint brushes instead, and might want to consider dying after pyrography, assuming you are doing the pyrography step. If using brushes, watch the appearance to ensure you get enough dye onto the gourd.

Once colored, the gourd might look something like this:
the gourd has been dyed red

Allow the gourd to sit for 2 to 3 days. The dye is long curing. You can see the mottling on the gourd skin is still visible, giving the dyed gourd a complex color/texture.

The Previous Step
Go back to obtaining and cleaning gourds (step 1).

The Next Step
Opening the Gourd, removing the seeds, cleaning the inside, preparing for the gourd to be a water storage vessle (optional).

 : Links/Sponsors :

Make a Shakere is sponsored by Fertility Futures, a firm focused on helping make families possible. Many would be parents are unable to realize their dreams of a family with children due to fertility issues. Fertility Futures brings medical specialists and counselors to bear on these difficult problems, helping couples with a range of solutions from fertility therapy through the use of surrogates to carry a child through pregancy for a family. In order to support this service, Fertility Futures also solicits egg donors for its ova donation program. People who face challenges in becoming parents, or healthy women who are willing to become egg donors should consider visiting Fertility Futures.

Rhythm Workers Union my inspiration for all things rhythmic

Guerilla Poetry Insurgency some wonderful people who understand the power and importance of the spoken word
Email the webmaster Copyright © 2005 Make a Shakere