How to Decorate a Gourd Like a Black Cat Bird House
- 1). Dry your gourd in a cool and dry location like your basement for at least one winter. Shake the gourd and listen for the seeds rattling inside. If you don't hear the rattling, your gourd isn't dried inside; wait several more months.
- 2). Lightly sand your gourd to clean it and wipe it clean with a tack cloth.
- 3). Drill a pilot hole in the top of your gourd and insert an eye-bolt so you can hang your birdhouse when it's completed. Caulk around the eye-bolt to seal the hole and help secure the eye-bolt to the gourd.
- 4). Cut a hole in the center of the gourd with a sharp knife. Make the hole about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, adjusting the size slightly depending on the size of your gourd. Shake out the seeds inside the gourd. Lightly sand the edges of the hole to smooth them.
- 5). Spray paint the gourds with glossy black spray paint. Cover the entire gourd, including the eye-bolt, and allow the gourd to dry for at least two hours. Spray another coat and allow it to dry. Continue this process until the gourd is fully covered and the only color you see is the black, glossy paint.
- 6). Use permanent markers or paint pens and draw the features of your cat onto the gourd. Add eyes, a pink nose, white whiskers and a red mouth. Create any other details you'd like such as a leash or a ribbon and paws or make several zigzag lines in rows to create a fur pattern. Let your paint dry overnight.
- 7). Spray the gourd with an acrylic sealer to seal the artwork. Let the sealer dry overnight and apply a second coat. Let the second coat dry overnight and hang your gourd from a tree or a hook on your house, using a decorative chain.
