Day 160 of 365

Shakere

Months ago I asked my mother to help me find a gourd. I know it sounds strange but I had a very specific plan for it. When she asked me why, I was mysterious about answering and told her it was a 365 experience and I couldn't give any clues.

She supported this adventure and found the perfect gourd for me. She even invited me to a gourd event so I could learn more but I was already obligated to do my glassblowing adventure.

On day 160 I made a shakere.

I'll bet you are wondering what this is and I'm about to explain. A shakere is a percussion instrument usually "shaken" during a musical performance.

This challenge seemed like it would be incredibly difficult but it turned out to be easier than the weaving experience on day 59.

I rinsed the gourd off. I measured sixteen lengths of string two meters long. I tied one piece around the gourd to act as my anchor. The rest of the strings were looped around the first one. The rest of the experience was all about knots and creating a pattern with beads. I chose wood to give it a natural look.

I was pretty happy with the final result until I studied a few images on the internet. I noticed the golden color and really wanted mine to look like that. This would require starting from scratch and using a lot of elbow grease. I spent about 90 minutes scrubbing this gourd with plastic pan cleaners, bristle brushes and steel wool but that sucker looks so awesome.

I beaded that gourd one more time and I think you'll agree the color really looks amazing.

Day 160 sounds amazing.

Love & Light