A Tale of White Pumpkins (Real White Pumpkins!)

A few weeks ago, my brother Matt text me this photo with the words "tangle anyone?" ~

He was shopping near his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and spied these glorious white pumpkins. I dismissed his offer to send some to me - just couldn't imagine what it would take to mail them nearly 1,000 miles to my home in Florida.


A few days later,  and much to my surprise, a UPS truck pulled up to the front of my house.  The driver delivered a huge and very heavy box.  "It could only be one thing", I thought as I tore open the carton.  The gourds looked like gold to me!  What a gift ~

I picked the roundest, whitest one and tangled it for Matt.  I used a glossy black paint pen with a broad nib and kept the tangles fairly large.

I cradled it carefully in some of the bubble wrap from Matt's packaging, gingerly packed it into a smaller box, and shipped it off to him.

A few days later, he sent this photo of it on his kitchen table.

While all of this was transpiring, I received an email from Annie Buckley in Colorado, a student and blog follower, about beautifully painted MacKenzie-Childs inspired pumpkins.  She sent me this link with photos on how to create these look a like masterpieces.

I raided my paint cabinet, found sumptuous shades of yellow, gold, and purple, and accented a pumpkin that I tangled in Knightsbridge.

CZT Sindy P is a fanatic for anything MacKenzie-Childs, so I delivered this to her:

A few days later, she sent this photo of it on her kitchen table ~

I never could have imagined what would come of that first photo Matt sent.  How fun!

After all that excitement, I tangled one for our kitchen table ~

I've got three more white beauties staring at me, begging for some pretty patterning.  Right now though, I am in the midst of getting ready for a December studio tour in our county. (More details will follow in future posts.)
I've moved on to the Christmas holiday already, but will most likely carve the last three just before Halloween.

With gratitude to my brother Matt, and to quote Annie in the closing sentence of her email, "Thanks again for starting this so-satisfying little odyssey!"