Do-it-yourself wonderful crafts from Lagenaria
Lagenaria is a vegetable culture that is very popular among the people, which has been used by humans for food since ancient times, for creating utensils, decorating the interior and yard landscape. From this publication, you will learn what you can do with your own hands from Lagenaria with step-by-step instructions for making them.
Application methods
You should know that only green (unripe) fruits of the Lagenaria varieties are used for food: Bottles, Cobra, Colebassa, Lucertola.
Crafts from gourd gourds are made from fully ripe and dried fruits. Most often these are dishes and household items:
- buckets;
- vases and bowls;
- boxes;
- toys;
- souvenirs.
Very often containers made from the fruits of this pumpkin are used as containers for storing water, milk, bulk products. The pumpkin jugs are highly durable, lightweight and completely waterproof. Milk is stored in such a natural container several times longer than in glass containers.
Fruit preparation
Do-it-yourself preparation of the fruit for creating crafts from lagenaria should be started at the harvesting stage.
Vegetables that are soft, immature, damaged, with traces of mold and rot are not suitable for drying and making crafts.
We harvest the pumpkin correctly:
- Choose healthy, medium-sized pumpkins that are uniform in color and distinctive shape.
- Use a sharp knife to cut off the fruit. The section of the whip plays a vital role in the removal of moisture and can be used in further crafts.
- Dry the pumpkin.
Before drying, fruits should be thoroughly washed with soap to remove bacteria that can cause rotting. It is necessary to dry the lagenaria in a ventilated area so that direct sunlight does not fall on the fruits. This process usually takes from 3 to 6 months, so making crafts from Lagenaria in one season will not work.
The drying speed of pumpkin depends on its size, the thickness of the crust and the temperature and humidity characteristics of the room. However, this process can also be accelerated. For this, special dehydrating dryers are used for vegetables and fruits. When ready to work, the fruits become light and empty inside. When shaken, completely dried pumpkin will rattle like a rattle.
You should know that another method of drying is practiced - directly on the lashes. Ripe and healthy fruits perfectly tolerate frosts and 2-3 thawing processes.
We give the pumpkin a presentation
Before making dishes or any other products out of pumpkin, the blanks must be brought into "marketable condition." Experienced craftsmen do it as follows:
- Pour boiling water over the pumpkins and cover with a damp towel for 5-15 minutes.
- Remove the top layer from the fruit with a scraper or metal "sponge" or fine sandpaper.
As a result of this process, the fruits will have a clean and even surface, ideal for further creation of products from lagenaria.
Now you should delete all seed and leftover pulp from the fruit. It is not difficult to do this by sawing off the necessary part of the pumpkin with a hacksaw, then remove the contents with a spoon and carefully clean the inner surface.
Masters recommend: after removing the contents, disinfect the inner surface of the future product with alcohol or an aqueous solution of bleach in a ratio of 1: 9
If you decide to make a jar of lagenaria pumpkin, it is better to saw off the narrow part of the fruit (together with the attachment with the stalk). In this case, it will be easier to remove the "insides" from the workpiece with a curved steel wire. The main thing is to do all the operations as efficiently as possible without damaging the shell of the "vessel".
Decorative pumpkin decoration technique
Hand-made crafts from decorative pumpkin suggest the presence of decoration on its surface. How can you decorate Lagenaria? Properly dried and prepared, fruits can be processed and decorated like any wood.
In other words, the surface of the workpieces can be:
- saw with a jigsaw;
- drill;
- cut;
- cover with stain and varnish.
Drawings and ornaments made using the burning technique look wonderful on decorative pumpkin souvenirs, which practically does not differ from similar woodwork.
You can make a real work of art out of a pumpkin by mastering the technique of carving or openwork wood carving. Decorating blanks made in decoupage style, using napkins, paper or fabric with a selected pattern as a material, is very popular among home craftsmen. You can easily make a vase from the fruits by decorating it with an applique made from scrap materials. Such a product will perfectly fit into the design of a private house or city apartment. The easiest way to decorate pumpkin dishes with your own hands is to paint with permanent markers. After application, the product must be coated with acrylic varnish.
Bottle pumpkin: crafts, decor options
Homemade Lagenaria pumpkin decorations look great as a garden decor. The dried fruit can simply be hung on a hedge or vine arch. You can go a more complicated way - make original lighting to decorate your garden.
Lamp
We start manufacturing the lamp:
- Take a small pumpkin.
- Remove the narrow section and the stem where the diameter matches the bulb holder.
- Saw off the opposite section of the pumpkin, making a shade-shaped blank.
- Remove all seeds and pulp.
- Draw a pattern on the surface of the fruit and cut it out with a jigsaw.
- Connect an electrical cable of the required section with a plug to the socket.
- Insert one part of the chuck into the narrow hole and fix it with the other part from the inside.
It remains only to screw in a light bulb and connect lamp to the mains. In a similar way, you can easily make a table lamp or an original night light.
All work with electricity must be carried out in compliance with safety measures and only with a de-energized electrical system. It is better to entrust the work on connecting the products to the household power supply to a qualified electrician.
Bird feeders
It is very popular among gardeners to make birdhouses from lagenaria and bird feeder... Making them is not difficult at all: drill a hole of the required diameter in the side of the pumpkin, carefully clean it of the contents and fix the product on a stump or tree. For the best effect, the pumpkin should be primed with front water-based paint, and then paint the birdhouse to your liking.
Wineglass
Do-it-yourself pumpkin dishes will adorn the interior of a modern kitchen decorated in ECO or Provence style. To make a glass from lagenaria, follow the instructions:
- Choose a small pear-shaped fruit with a long (and possibly even) narrow end.
- Sand the surface thoroughly by removing the outer layer with a wire brush or sandpaper.
- Saw off a part of the pumpkin, having previously marked the cut.
- Remove the "guts" and chamfer the inside of the cut with a file.
- Sand the edges with sandpaper.
- Connect the two workpieces with a screw or hot melt glue, as shown in the figure.
You can use any technique to decorate the product: decoupage, painting with acrylics, burning.
Toys
A very interesting idea is to make matryoshka dolls out of bottle pumpkin:
- Pick up several fruits of the same shape, differing from each other only in size.
- Remove the stalk and cut the fruit crosswise (except the smallest) into two pieces of the same size.
- Thoroughly peel the contents of the halves.
It remains only to color the nesting dolls. The narrow part is the doll's head; the thickening will be her torso.
From this publication, you learned what handicrafts can be made from the lagenaria with your own hands, familiarized yourself with the options for harvesting, decorating the product and decorating the pumpkin at home. As you can see, everything is quite simple. The main thing is to show creative thinking and creativity.