Our stunning, museum-quality gourd carvings are truly exceptional. Tiny, intricate patterns, remarkable color juxtapositions, and lifelike folk art designs bring a breath of fresh, high-altitude Andean air from Peru directly to you! Fair-trade...
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Our stunning, museum-quality gourd carvings are truly exceptional. Tiny, intricate patterns, remarkable color juxtapositions, and lifelike folk art designs bring a breath of fresh, high-altitude Andean air from Peru directly to you! Fair-trade imported so you can rest assured the artisans were fairly paid for their work. Creating a carved gourd of this complexity is a time-consuming process. First the outer green skin is cut away, and the gourd is cleaned and dried in the sun. Next a design is drawn onto the gourd, and a carving tool called a buril is used to remove small pieces of the surface. To create the dark brown colors, burning pieces of Quinal wood are pressed into the gourd's surface. To create black backgrounds, a mixture of oil and straw charcoal is used. Finally, the gourd is washed and any remaining details are added. These gourds were created by families working in the artisan workshop of Artesanias Rojas, owned by artist Raquel Sabastian Rojas, in Cochas Chico, a... See less