Abstract:
A process is described for making gourd molds useful in the production of decorative ceramic and other articles which bear the textures of the gourd interior. Articles produced may also serve as models for use in the manufacture of production molds. Steps in making the gourd molds include selection, cutting, and removal of pulp; steps in using the gourd molds include treating with a release agent, casting, and removal of the gourd mold from the molded article.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS—NOT APPLICABLE  
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
         [0001]    NOT APPLICABLE  
         REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX—NOT APPLICABLE  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The art of making molds with which to produce ceramic articles has been known since ancient times. One method of making such molds which has been used since ancient times is to form the mold-making material, traditionally plaster, around a natural object such as a fruit or vegetable. Such methods utilize the outside surface of the natural object to form the inside surface of the mold and thus the product made from the mold has the shape of the original object. In contrast thereto, the present invention utilizes the veined and textured inside surface of a naturally occurring hollow object commonly known as a gourd either as the mold face, or to form the mold face. Thus the outside surfaces of the present products have the texture as well as the shape of the inside of such naturally occurring object.  
           [0003]    A second field of the present invention is gourd artistry, which has also been known since ancient times. The woody fruits commonly known as gourds have been used in most parts of the world as food and water containers, musical instruments, floats, and to fill countless other human needs; in some cultures the decoration of gourds remains a respected and elaborate art form. However, there is no evidence whatsoever of gourds having been used as molds to produce objects from other materials such as clay; thus the present invention represents a new and unobvious use for a naturally-occurring thing.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The present invention relates to a method of making unique gourd molds suited to the production of ceramic and other articles and most practically to the production of models useful in making traditional production molds for ceramic and other arts, and to a method of making articles using such molds. The articles produced by the present molds have an organic appearance, the veins and textures looking somewhat like plant fossils. Each gourd mold embodies patterns which are unique in the way that a human fingerprint is unique. Thus the textures and shapes produced by the present invention are unique, random, and substantially infinite.  
           [0005]    Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention are: to provide a novel method for forming aesthetically pleasing shapes and textures in ceramics; to provide a new method for capturing textures from nature which would be impossible for a human being to create; to provide a new method for capturing shapes from nature; and to provide a product which people may use in their everyday lives which connects them with the natural world and in particular with gourds, which were provided by nature as the original dishes and containers used by humans. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 is a perspective drawing showing an example of a dry, uncut gourd which is ready to be made into a mold. Lines  15  and  17  represent two examples of ways in which the gourd may be cut at the widest points vertically or horizontally depending upon the intended product to be molded.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is a perspective drawing showing the same gourd which has been cut along line  17 , and cleaned revealing the veins and textures  19 .  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a perspective drawing showing a clay bowl which has been molded in the bottom part of the gourd mold shown in FIG. 2. The textures  21  are impressions of the gourd mold face. The indentation  23  has resulted from a natural convex curve at the blossom end  13  of the gourd mold.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is an additional perspective drawing of the bowl shown in FIG. 3.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     The Gourd Mold  
       [0010]    The naturally occurring products most useful in the present invention are fruits of the gourd family, an example of which is shown in FIG. 1. In general, these fruits are woody and basically hollow when dried, having shells from about ⅛ inch to about ½ inch thick. They grow in an infinite variety of sizes, up to about 20 inches in diameter. The shapes vary widely as well and include forms unique to gourds as well as shapes mimicking many other fruits such as squash, grapefruit, or pears.  
         [0011]    Eminently useful in the present invention are the lagenaria, or hard-shell gourd and the cucurbita, or ornamental gourd. While the outside of the useful fruit is relatively hard, the inside of the dried gourd is softer, more porous and textured with veins. These organic markings and the fact that the gourd is a porous natural container make it uniquely suited to use as a mold for the creation of objects or, more pragmatically, for the creation of models with which to create traditional molds.  
         [0012]    Initially the dried gourd is selected for the size and shape of the object to be made. For example, to mold a cup, the gourd selected might have roughly a round circumference with the diameter ranging from four inches to six inches. If the finished object is to be a bowl, the gourd that is selected has a larger circumference and may suitably be roughly round, oval or of various natural shapes. If the finished object is to be a vase, the choice of gourd size and shape is an aesthetic one.  
         [0013]    The gourd may then be cut using a keyhole saw, jig saw, sabre saw, band saw, or laser to provide access to the inside of the gourd for the removal of the seeds and pulp. The inventor&#39;s preferred tools are a miniature electric jig saw and a standard electric jig saw, the latter of which is commonly used for woodworking. If a simple shape, i.e., one which can be produced with a one-part mold, is desired, the initial cut to access cleaning may be made with the standard jig saw, which cuts fast but removes more of the shell than the miniature jig saw. The cut should be made around the circumference of the gourd along the widest part of the circumference  17  to facilitate removal of the seeds and pulp and later the removal of the finished molded item shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. To produce items such as cups or bowls, the gourd is typically cut horizontally, i.e., along a line running roughly perpendicular to the axis of the gourd connecting the stem end  11  to the blossom end  13 .  
         [0014]    To produce articles such as vases which have more complex shapes and will require production molds of two or more pieces, the gourd may be cut in various ways as the shape dictates for cleaning purposes and then glued back together after cleaning. Most commonly the gourd is cut vertically along a line  15  from stem end  11  to blossom end  13  of the gourd. Cutting for these items is done with a miniature jig saw so that a minimum amount of the gourd shell is lost, thus allowing the gourd to be reconstructed after cleaning.  
         [0015]    The initial step in the removal of the seeds and dried pulp is suitably done manually. After such manual removal the inside of the gourd will usually have portions of pulp clinging to the inside surface of the gourd. To remove such remaining material without damaging the natural markings or internal shape of the gourd, two preferred methods are used depending upon the nature of the pulp in a particular gourd: 1) water pressure from a garden hose or a pressure washer and 2) a fine wire brush attached to a flexible shaft and powered by an electric motor but applied manually in a delicate manner. The process of preparing the inside of the gourd may also be performed with air pressure, or by chemical means, provided that the inside markings and internal shape of the gourd are not damaged or destroyed. If the gourd has been cleaned with water pressure, it is air-dried for a period of two to three days before it is used as a mold.  
         [0016]    In the case of a two-or-more-part gourd mold, the parts of the gourd are glued back together after cleaning with the use of wood glue as both glue and caulk such that there are no cracks or leaks in the finished gourd mold. The parts of the mold are held together while the glue sets with strong tape, flexible clamps, or wide rubber bands such as are typically used to hold plaster molds together. After the gourd mold has been glued back together and the glue allowed to dry, a hole is then cut in the desired place for pouring the casting material into the gourd.  
       The Molding  
       [0017]    In the process of producing molded articles according to the present invention, the internal surfaces of the dried gourd are typically pre-treated with known external mold release agents, or mixtures thereof, depending upon the choice of material with which the mold will be cast. For example, the mold surface, or surfaces, may be treated with conventional external mold release agents such as talc, soaps, waxes, or any of a number of commercially manufactured mixtures available.  
         [0018]    The preferred release agent when the gourd mold is to be cast with clay slip, which is the inventor&#39;s preferred base material, is a mixture of talc and fine sand. The mixture is poured liberally into the gourd and moved around inside the gourd so that the mixture goes into all crevices and indentations; then the remaining mixture is poured back out of the gourd.  
         [0019]    The base casting materials useful in the present invention are those which will readily conform to the internal shape and texture of the gourd. Those useful include: clays, plasters, rubbers, plastics, resins, silicones or waxes. Using these various materials to make models of the inside of the gourd mold, such models may then be used to create molds from various materials for the production of clay, cement, wax, metal, resin, or other articles using this invention. The molding process may in these cases be appropriately selected from the prior art methods, depending on the base material that is utilized. If the preferred material is clay, the molded article may be produced by a press molding process as well as a slip-casting process.  
         [0020]    As stated, the inventor&#39;s preferred base material is clay slip or slurry. Such preference is a function of resources readily available to the inventor and the relative ease with which a plaster production mold may be made from a moist clay model. The slurry may be made or bought commercially. After the release agent has been applied to the inside of the gourd, a known process of slip-casting is used, the only difference between the present invention and the prior art of slip-casting in plaster molds being that the slip must remain in the gourd for a period of three to eight hours rather than the 20-40 minutes required for casting in a plaster mold. This long casting time is necessary to obtain a clay vessel wall which is thick enough to survive the shrinkage and release process and thick enough for use as a sturdy model for making a plaster mold.  
       The De-molding  
       [0021]    After the base material has been cast in the mold the material is allowed to dry slowly over a period of from two to ten days. During this drying period the formed article is released from the mold face and may be removed from the gourd mold. If the gourd mold has both convex and concave surfaces as in FIG. 1, the mold must be burned away or cut from the formed article, the latter being the preferred method. Suitably this is carefully done along line  17  or line  15  using a miniature cutting wheel on a high speed drill. The preferred tool has a diameter of about ½ inch so that the cut is about {fraction (3/16)} inch deep, allowing the cut to be made without damaging the formed article. Typically when a clay base material is used, the article has shrunk enough to leave an air space of about ⅛ inch between the gourd mold inner surface and the surface of the formed article.  
         [0022]    When plaster, rubber, or other model-making material has been used, shrinkage typically will not have taken place during the curing process. Thus the gourd shell must not be cut all the way through, which would damage the model, but must be deeply scored to allow the gourd to be carefully broken apart by hand. The scoring may be done with any of a variety of commercially available routing or carving bits on a high-speed drill.  
         [0023]    While the present invention has been described herein with reference to certain examples and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the concept of the invention, the scope of which is to be determined by reference to the following claims.