tutorial

Gaara's Gourd Tutorial

Interested in cosplaying as Gaara of the Desert from the popular anime series Naruto? Well, any well made Gaara has to have a gourd. And if you're not sure how to go about making one, here's the process that I used and found to work quite well, and was a nice change from messy paper meche..

Materials Needed:

- 2 giant bouncy balls, one slightly smaller then the other
- 2-3 rolls of duct tape
- white base paint
- 2-4 cups of craft sand or un refined sand
- sand coloured paint
- yellow and black acrylic paint
- 1 spongy paint brush
- 1 roller brush
- 2-3 different sized regular paint brushes

Using long strips of duct tape, place the tape vertically along both balls, taping the two together. Use several strips to ensure security. Don't worry about the inital space between the two bouncy balls, that will be taken care of soon.

Once you have the vertical skeletal structure complete (you should be able to lift the balls and not have them seperate) take more long strips and start wrapping them horizontally around the structure. Start with the center and work you're way up and down. Follow the curves of the balls, as it helps keep the tape smooth. Use as much ducttape as you feel you need to use. I used about 1-1/2 rolls. To get the lip for the cork, use the empty

roll from the ducttape and place it at the sop of the gourd. Using more ducttape, tape the lip in place, making sure the use tape to round off the top of the edge, giving it a more curved look, rather then a straight edge. When done with the ducttape, it should look something like this:

Once you have the gourd covered in ducttape, you need to find a place that's dry, somewhat warm, where paint will dry relatively quick.

Using the sand, take the white base paint (I used white latex paint) and mix in about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of sand. Make sure the sand doesn't sink all the way to the bottom. Stirr it up. You may have to mix the paint several timed during the base paint process.

Take the sponge paint brush and start covering the ducttape. This may take several coats, so be patient. Apply liberally. The sand will give the gourd a textured look, so it will actually appear you be made out of sand or earth.

When the gourd is completely coated and dry it should look something like this. None of the silver of the ducttape should show. Don't worry if you still see some ducttape lines, they just serve to give the gourd a cracked texture, a lot like Gaara's gourd.

After the white base is dry, take your sand coloured paint and use the roller brush to apply. Use several coats and coat evenly, until the entire thing is covered.

Once the sandy paint is dry use the yellow and black acrylic paint to paint on the seals. Put a piece of cork in the lip, and use some red fabric as a sash. The finished product should look something like this:

Hope this helped. If you have any questions, contact me at [email protected]

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