Whimsical Goose Centerpiece from Gourds

Pretty Goose Centerpiece

Years ago before we adopted our two daughters from Korea, I needed something to love so I thought it would be nice to have some ducks. We took a trip to a farm in upper Connecticut and looked at some pretty cute ducklings, 5 of them. Then the farmer asked if we wanted some geese and then he showed us some pretty cute goslings. We were SOLD.

A few minutes later we were on our way home with 5 baby ducks and 2 baby geese, a male and a female. The ducks are too hard to sex at that age so we just took our chances.

I made a place for them in the basement in a cardboard box lined with newspaper. I thought they were the cutest things EVER!! I marveled at them when I opened the box and they marveled at me! They popped their heads up and "talked" to me in their little ducky goosey language.

I now had something to love - 7 somethings.

Of course there's a lot more to this story like... I was the only person that the geese liked. I called the male Goosey Loosey and the female's name was Honey. They were inseparable. If they heard my voice inside the house they would go honking all over the backyard. I let them drink out of my orange juice glass - no I didn't drink out of it afterward. Lol They were just a lot of fun.

I really like ducks and especially geese and when I saw a little picture in a magazine showing a goose made from, of all things, a gourd, I was hooked. I had to make it. So here they are - a mother goose and her baby goslings.

The first thing I needed was to find some gourds that looked like geese. Perfect time of year for that... Fall with all it's harvest. A local farm store had them. Yay. They had some really nice looking gourds. Here is the one I picked out. And some little gourds for the babies but I don't have pictures of them.

I painted them with ordinary flat wall paint from Home Depot, believe it or not. The color? Chalk. Oh, there's my camera in the picture. Duh. I hate when that happens.

I thought it would be hard to get the beak right but it was really no problem at all. I had a golden yellow color that was perfect. I drew it on with a pencil first and then filled in with the acrylic paint. I didn't try to make it perfect but just so that with a quick glance a person would "believe" that it is a beak. It's called "impressionism". It's the "impression" one gets with a quick glance.... that is from my art teacher. Lol.
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I had an old vine wreath that I took apart and put some flowers on with hot glue. I needed to make the wreath part pretty. Then I glued some flowers on the little goose gourds to hide their imperfection and then glued them onto the wreath. The big goose gourd sits in the middle of the wreath.

I think I could have done something more with the eyes but I wanted to keep them simple. I drew them with pencil first and then used a black marker.

I have a glass dining table and I love it because it was my mother's but taking pictures of anything on it is hard because of all the reflections.

The beaks of the small gourds are the cut off stems and I just painted them the same color as the big gourd's beak.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial

Happy Fall!!

I've done lots of fun pumpkin animals including piggie pumpkins,

cow pumpkins, and a very cute owl pumpkin. I've made a mother goose and her babies and

I'm in the process of making a hen and a rooster pumpkins- maybe tonight...

I was featured at:

500th Party Celebration of Friendship Friday on Create With Joy Blog

27 comments

Lisa10/14/2019 8:38 AM
Wow!This is absolutely beautiful!
Anonymous10/14/2019 10:10 AM
Linda,
These are so adorable! Who knew a gourd could be turned into a goose!
Michelle10/16/2019 10:00 AM
These are beautiful!!! I never thought of turning gourds into geese, but I love this!!
Fluster Buster10/16/2019 3:15 PM
What a fun idea! Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us at the Creative Muster. Looking forward to seeing what you'll be sharing next week. Pinning!
Robin😊
Beverly @Across the Blvd10/16/2019 6:55 PM
Linda, these are adorable! I love the combination of large and small ones. What a fun decor piece!
Theresa @ Shoestring Elegance10/17/2019 3:39 PM
Love these!!
Anna10/18/2019 5:08 AM
Clever and so adorable !!!!
Anna
Dee | GrammysGrid.com10/19/2019 12:31 AM
Oh my goodness, look at those goose shaped gourds!! You did a great job on these!! Thanks so much for linking up at the #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 5. Shared.
Clearissa10/19/2019 7:11 PM
I just love these. Creative as all get out!!! I love, love these. Thanks for sharing with #omhgww. Socialized.
Gail @Purple Hues and Me10/20/2019 8:57 AM
What a sweet story about your family of baby ducks! And what a lovely, sentimental "tribute" to them with this awesome creation! It is truly amazing and artistic what you created with gourds!
thepaintedapron.com10/20/2019 3:56 PM
How adorable and clever!! Love love it!
Jenna
Karren~OMHGWW Linky Party10/20/2019 5:09 PM
I love how just seeing a small picture you created such a darling centerpiece with gourds! Thank you for sharing on #omhgww last week! Pinned for sharing! Be sure to stop by next week to share again!
Our Hopeful Home10/21/2019 5:44 PM
That large gourd you found was perfect! They all look so cute with the wreath. Thanks for sharing with Vintage Charm. xo Kathleen
Nikki10/21/2019 8:02 PM
Totally adorable! I absolutely love them. And never would have thought to make a centerpiece out of them.
:) gwingal
Eclectic Red Barn10/23/2019 9:16 PM
Linda,
These geese are just too precious. Congratulations, you are my feature at Thursday Favorite Things. https://www.eclecticredbarn.com/2019/10/thursday-favorite-things_23.html
Hugs,
Bev
Kerryanne @ Shabby Art Boutique10/24/2019 6:16 AM
What a clever and cute idea Linda. I bet they are a great conversation starter too!
Thank you for sharing this project at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I'm delighted to be featuring your goose gourdes at tomorrow's party and pinning too.
Hugs,
Kerryanne
Liz@ HomeandGardeningWithLiz10/28/2019 9:57 AM
Wow that’s brilliant and very cute!
Beaj10/28/2019 11:00 AM
Awesome, Thanks for sharing..:)
Michelle11/09/2019 1:41 AM
That is totally awesome! When I first saw the photo of your gourd geese (before I began reading). I would have sworn they were ceramic. What fun!
French Ethereal11/13/2019 8:01 PM
Linda, thank you so much for coming over and sharing your sweet geese centerpiece at Share Your Style #231. Happy to feature your fun creation at SYS #232 this week! <3 Really adorable and so clever!!

Happy fall to you,
Barb :)
Lydia C. Lee10/07/2021 10:31 PM
These are so fab! I want to make one. I don't know where I get a gourd tho?? #Friendshipfriday
Amy10/31/2021 12:50 AM
I love your story of how you fell in love with your geese. These gourd geese turned out fabulous!