Peggy's Basic Stash of Stuff

An Exacto knife  is a must for all gourd tool boxes. This is used for cutting, trimming & cleaning, etc. These can be easily found at craft stores, Wal-Mart, hardware stores or online [ ya might want to have some band aids handy too :-)

Copper or stainless scrubber ..these are the cheap easy way to clean the skin of a gourd. The dollar store is a good source for these as they are cheaper there, but can be found in the house wares dept of any grocery store

Old paring knife .Doesn't even need to be sharp, cleans gourds skin off of a soaked gourd & use the tip to remove crud at the stem

Old stiff bristle tooth brush. Gets into nooks & crannies when cleaning your gourds & stems. Don't forget that if you have taken the time to keep the stem on & have cleaned your gourd well, the stem needs it too. [ can also be used when painting for fly specking...really ]

Mr. Clean eraser these get pencil as well as many other marks off the gourd way better than any thing else I have used [ don't forget to wet them first. guess how I found that one out...sigh..]. House wares department of just about any store carry them

Grapefruit spoon, oyster shell, canning jar inner lid, horse curry loop comb ..all good starting tools to clean the inside of your gourd.

Pencil [mechanical works better for me as I am impatient & tend to break a lot of lead] & a bendable ruler for marking patterns & measuring to mark for holes, etc. on you gourd

Large piece of Rubbermaid shelf liner this helps grip/hold your gourd in place while working whether, on a work top or your lap. Dollar store is a good place to find this

Painters tape used for many things; holding a pattern on while transferring, drawing straight lines, marking for cutting or sawing & many, many more. Available just about any place that sells paint. Drafters tape can also be used, but is way too expensive.

Masking tape so many uses from transferring a pattern to marking off areas of your work on your gourds.. To holding pieces together while the glue dries J  

Awl or very shape punch to help make or start holes

Hand drill or push drill & an assortment of drill bits. I have several, but one of my very favorites is the friskers one .They have it in with the sewing stuff at most Michael's stores

Press &n Seal my favorite way to transfer patterns. Can even be burned through!

Scissors that can cut about anything. My favorite are my Friskers kitchen or gardening scissors as I can re-sharpen them. I cut every thing from gourd shards to wire with them ;-) , but you can find the ones that are suppose to be able to cut through pennies at places like Harbor Freight.  BTW..if you do cut through a penny with them...they are ruined for anything else... my kids taught me that one....sigh....

Saw ..I started with a little hand saw by Exacto. It didn't't take me long to save up my pennies for a power mini jig saw. They saved my hands & many gourds !!!