I have no idea what she's talking about either. Could you ask her to explain??

Jan

if you dry the gourd inside-(in the fall, green scrape it and then put it over a heat vent), the membrane does not deteriorate and pull away from the inside wall. It is soft and cushiony, fragile, and looks like mother of pearl. even though I put a sealer on it, I think it would still rip or dent if I put something in it. Sometimes it will still have a dark spot-but can be saved by glueing a nice pices from a different gourd onto it. but they do have different shades. I sure wish there was spell-check for these replies!

Chris, your spelling seems to be fine, but my thick skull isn't seeing mother-of-pearl in what you described. Is there a web site that might show this?

Jan

Before I checked my posts (sigh) I just cleaned out a birdhouse gourd. I was thinking wow this stuff inside is different? It was like hummmm...a thick soft paper and it had a shine to it. Unfortunately, I cleaned it out before knowing what I may have had? I couldn't see using anything to save it though. I am making a bird feeder so I just took everything out seeds and all.
I tried asking the lady what she was referring to but haven't gotten an answer yet. I will keep checking back here as well as doing a search. This really intrigues me!
Thanks everyone for you help and input.
Penny

Sorry, no web site or pictures. I always do try to correct my spelling, thanks for noticing. I don't have a link, but 2 years after finding my first lining intact, I read an article from a borrowed newsletter,"the Gourd" spring 2001 page 8, (Ohio gourd society) that talks about repairing damaged shining lining. Lynw Sack cured them indoors-then using Enviro-Tex 2 part epoxy, as a inside sealer, which she said dries rock hard. and crystal clear. When you open the gourd, the seed with it pockets are stuck to the walls and can be carefully, slowly removed leaving the membrane (soft and whitish) stuck to the inside. Try it next fall with 10 gourds, by drying some inside the house, and see what happens.

I think I might have found what the lady was talking about but I am not sure. The website is http://wikipedia.org/wiki/nacre hopefully this work.

Melissa

Here is a picture of some gourd "guts". I greww these last year and the insides were like m.o.p., except soft like styrofoam. The gourds were late, small, and thin walled, several of them busted while cleaning. They were just run of the mill bird house gourds. Its kind of tough to see the shininess in the pics, but I attributed it to poor quality due to their late start. I left them out on the vines till spring to dry.

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I LOVE opening up a gourd and finding that interior. If you have access to "The Complete Book of Gourd Crafting" by Ginger Summit and Jim Widdess you will find a picture of this interior on page 30. They describe it as satin-like. Sometimes this interior is attached completely and sometimes it attaches in spots. Also, some times it is so hard to get out.