Members of Spirit of the Desert gourd patch will be returning this month from all over the United States and Canada. Our monthly meetings will resume on the third Thursday of the month at 4:00 p.m. in the SLCC Arts and Crafts room. It’s always a fun time to see each other again. About half of our members take the summer off from gourds and leave all their supplies and equipment in Arizona. About half find new time and inspiration over the summer and have lots to share.

Our patch (or club) will have a table at each of the three open houses – Cottonwood Palo Verde on October 8, Oakwood on October 15 and SLCC on October 29. At each of these open houses you can meet some of our members and see examples of gourds that are unfinished, and then finished. Learning about how to work safely with gourds is a big reason to join our patch.

Gourds have a lot to offer for crafters and artists looking for a new medium. Gourds are nature’s canvas! It’s hard to think of a technique that isn’t applicable on gourds. They are dyed, stained, painted and penciled. And you don’t have to be an artist to accomplish beautiful colorings. They can be wood burned, carved with dremel tools, and cut into intricate shapes. But these relatively soft gourds require a gentle touch and small hand tools – not a big intimidating shop full of equipment. And embossing, sculpting, beading, weaving, coiling and decoupage techniques all add to gourds for finished projects.

When you join our patch you will have access to our monthly business meetings, as well as our weekly workshops and a personal mentor if desired. As with any club, the more time you put into it, the more you will get out of it. We do have a very accomplished and sharing membership. There is always someone available for help with an opinion, a lesson on a new technique or a recommendation on what product would be best. It makes trying (and succeeding) very easy!

Dues for our club are only $25 per year and you do not need to be a resident of Sun Lakes. We are a registered patch of the Arizona Gourd Society – in fact we are one of the largest in the state with about 50 members.

Take a look at our website spiritdesertgourds.com to find out more about us. This site is new for the fall and we hope to get all members’ personal pages completed soon. It’s a great way to meet our members and see some of the incredible work created by them.

We hope to see you at one of the open houses, or come to our next monthly meeting on October 20 at 4:00 p.m. in the SLCC Arts and Crafts Room and learn more about our patch and members. Creating art is fun – doing it with friends is memorable.