Washington State Gourd Society

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We are the Mu Chapter of the American Gourd Society

The Artistry of Sally Favors

Sally's Story: As I was perusing the decorative painting books at Michael's one day, I came across "Gourd Gathering" by Margaret Hanson-Maddox, which had the cutest patterns for painted gourds. I immediately bought the book and then started hunting for gourds on eBay. For the next couple of months, almost every other day the mailman brought a box of gourds I had won. Pretty soon, I probably had over 300 gourds to paint and a lot less money in my savings account!

I paint gourds mostly for my enjoyment and to donate for sale at my church bazaar. At first I only used book patterns but now I'm getting more adventurous and designing my own. I've created painted giraffes, quail, turtles, buffalo, guinea pigs, hedgehog, flying pigs, bees, turkeys, hot air balloons, snowmen, Christmas carolers, reindeer, Cupids, leprechauns, baby mobiles (jungle, fish, and barnyard animals), and Nativity sets. I've also done gourd purses with various designs (shelties, chili peppers, flowers and swinging girl, music notes, and Santa with reindeer). People stop me wherever I go to ask about my gourd purse since most have never seen one.

My husband, Bob, and I have been married since 1976. He enjoys carving and woodburning gourds, and we've had fun putting our skills together to create gourd art. Besides gourds, our other passion is adopting "rescue" shelties, and we're lucky to now have Swinger and Duke as part of our family. We live in Federal Way but plan to retire to our five acres in Onalaska in two years where we can continue the fun pastime of gourding together.

Sally Favors - go4gourds@aol.com