Gourds in Art by Miranjo

About Us

MIRANJO is an acronym for Mike, Randy, and Jo, my family.
My son Randy has cerebral palsy. We love to garden and paint, so we started this crafting to help him improve his motor skills. We plant each spring and wait impatiently for the vines to produce. Each gourd seed is individually pollinated from the year before, and bees go from plant to plant to fertilize the flowers, therefore what fruit it produces is a surprise.
But the best surprise is "what do we make of this one?"

After a season of growing, the gourds will dry in 3-6 months into the hard shelled canvases we love to work with.
The Coyote or Buffalo gourd grow wild in our local desert. Randy loves to go out in the fall and collect them something like an Easter Egg hunt. These will be our canvases for the ornament collections .
We clean, sand, carve, paint and decorate our gourds with designs from the ancient indian tribes of the Southwestern United States. The indians used these hollowed out gourds for pitchers, ceremonial bowls , food preparation, storage, decoration, water dippers, and carryalls.
Our favorite is the dream vessels, decorated with the fetishes and wishes of the ancient peoples.
We have traveled throughout the Southwest, visiting historic sites and ancient ruins. We are always finding new designs and new uses of the gourd. Please visit the gallery to view these labors of love.

Randy also makes cloth necklaces and wooden plaques and magnets. We started this project to help control his palsy, and it works! These necklaces are cloth (self belts) he and I sew together. He strings a pony bead on the cloth then adds a marble inside, then another bead and so on, until there is a chain or 10-12 beads. Sometimes we add conchos or other ornaments to really dress them up. These necklaces can be tied around the neck or even used as a belt.

The wooden plaques and magnets are Southwest designs, such as cactus pots and sunset deserts. He cuts, sands and paints these woodcrafts (with a little help from me and Dad) and then it's off to the local craft shows. This is where Randy shines. He is a great salesman! Of course he gets all the profit from the necklace and wood sales, so he has motivation.
As you can tell we love what we make and sell. It has been very therapeutic for the whole family. So check out our galleries and I hope you enjoy!

Please sign our Guestbook by clicking on the link below and let us know what you think or would like to see us make in the future. We can be contacted at the link below or write e-mail to miranjo @aol.com .

Satisfaction Guaranteed! If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your merchandise from Gourds and Gourd Art by Miranjo, please let us know within 30 days. We will make things right or your money back.
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Page created by Miranjo Last updated April 2003