The many virtues of the humble gourd have been recognized for centuries. Used throughout the ages as storage vessels, dishes, utensils, musical instruments, and decorative items, gourds are a favorite craft material nowadays, affording an ideal surface for painting, carving, wood burning, cutting, and otherwise embellishing. Ginger Summit's excellent directions, supplemented with clear, step-by-step photos, demonstrate all these techniques, in which you learn to transform various gourd shapes into masks, candleholders, bracelets, numerous containers, and many other items. The designs complement the medium perfectly and make for relatively simple projects. A resource page lists suppliers and contact information for tools and the dried gourds themselves. --Amy Handy