Supplies: Colored Pencils, Blending Stump, Solvents, Kneaded Eraser.

There are three kinds of colored pencils; wax based which are bound with wax, oil based which are bound with vegetable oil and water soluble which are dryer and harder and the pigment dissolves with water.

Prismacolor is the most popular and has the softest lead of all the brands. It has excellent application to the surface of the gourd.  Derwent brand has three different series, studio, artists and water color.  Try using some of  each to find out which pencil works best for you.  All of them can be used together.  The Prismacolor soft lead is the best for burnishing and the Derwent studio is better for layering.  You will find your own favorite as you get familiar with them.  All of them can be bought individually for somewhere around $1.00 each so you can buy a couple of each to experiment with.  Sometimes you may get a Prismacolor pencil that will crumble and break every time you use it and this gets frustrating but it should not happen too often.  The cheaper sets of pencils such as Crayola or Prang are a good way to try the medium but they are very inferior pencils compared to the professional ones.

Prismacolor, Derwent's studio and artists series and the less expensive colored pencils are wax based.  Derwent's watercolor is obviously water based.  Walnut Hollow has a colored pencil that is sold with their woodburning supplies that is oil based.   Prismacolor also has a series of pencils called Verithin which has a thinner, harder more durable lead.  The Verithins are good for detail work or to clean up ragged edges.

Wax bloom is a build up of wax from the wax based pencils that creates a haze on the surface when you use pressure to blend the colors.  To remove this wax from your gourd wipe it off with a soft tissue or use a spray fixative which will prevent the wax from showing on the surface.  You may have a gourd that will be resistant to the color.  Sometimes it may just be a certain area on the gourd and the rest will be fine.  When this happens try a different pencil on that area, or lightly sand the area on the gourd that won't accept the color.  Spraying the surface with Krylon Workable Fixative is another way to help the pigment stick better to the gourd.

Solvents can be used to save time in the repetition of layering and burnishing.  A Colorless Blender or Colorless Marker (same thing) or Turpenoid (odorless turpentine) will break down the binder in the pencil lead and turn the color to liquid.  Apply Turpenoid with a Q-tip or a brush and it will give a similar effect to water color or a water soluble pencil wash. The Turpenoid dries quickly leaving an even application of color.  When using a colorless marker be sure to wipe the tip when switching to a different color.  Be aware that the solvents are toxic.  The colorless blender has a very strong order.  The odorless turpentine may not smell but it still is toxic so be sure to use good ventilation.  The solvents will change the look of the pencil drastically so experiment on something other than your gourd to be sure it is a look that you want.

A Kneaded Eraser is a wonderful tool to have to help eliminate a color pencil line that you don't want.  This as with all the other supplies can be bought at a Art Supply store, Michael's, A.C. Moore or your favorite on line art supplier.

There are three techniques to using colored pencils - layering, burnishing and underpainting.

LAYERING is simply adding one color on top of another color over and over again.  You can use as many colors as you want.  Start with the darkest value and use light pressure as you put the color on the gourd.  Us a back and forth or circular motion.   Do whatever feels right according to what you are creating.  You may end up with dozens of layers of color.  It definitely takes time to do this but the unique look you end up with is worth it.

 Cross hatching is a way to apply your pencils to the surface by putting a line over another line in a different direction.  The best way to know how to put the color down is simply by experimenting. When you have a few layers down you can use a torchon to blend these colors together.  The torchon is a blending stump which is paper rolled up tightly to form a point.  With experimenting you will know what size blending stump to use and how much pressure to use.  A small stump would be used for detail or small areas.  A larger, stronger stump would hold up better and cover more space on a larger area.  These blending stumps are also called torchons or tortillian.  Buy a few different sizes so you will have them on hand.  The pressure that you use with this blending forces the color into the surface and smoothes out the color.  This is when your work will start to look pretty good and all that layering will pay off.

BURNISHING: Another way to blend your colors together is by burnishing which is the layering of multiple colors and blending them together with a lighter color, usually white, then layering more colors and burnishing again.  Do your light areas first so that you do not drag any dark pigment where you don't want it.  When you begin your burnishing and see how beautifully the colors blend together you know that all the time you spend doing layer after layer of color was worth all your effort and your sore hand and fingers.  The colors fuse together giving a smooth, glazed look.  Because colored pencils are translucent the underlayers of color will show through giving a look that is different from any other medium.

UNDERPAINTING:  Dry watercolor pencils can be applied to the surface and liquefied with a wet brush to create a wash.  Wax pencils can be used for your underpainting then applied with a solvent to dissolve the pigment. Your gourd can be underpainted with watercolors, acrylics, washes, stains, etc.  If your color is not sticking to the underpainted surface, try sanding it lightly or spraying it with a fixative.

Your colored pencils should be sharpened often as sharp tip works best.  The exception is when you are burnishing as a dull tip works better for this.  A sharp knife is the best way to sharpen your pencil but in the interest of saving time I use an electric pencil sharpener.

As you are working on your gourd, to prevent rubbing off the color you worked so hard to put on, spray finished sections with a fixative so that it will not wipe off as you work on other areas.  You can always go back to rework an area after you spray.

Be sure to wipe off your wax bloom from your finished gourd.  I always spray mine with a sealer to protect the pencil from being rubbed off.

Highlights may seem difficult to achieve with the colored pencils.  On paper you would leave the area free of any color until you finished your work.  Then you would add your highlights at the end.  The gourd already has a color other than white on it so you have to use your light colored pencils to get your highlights.  Try using other light colors first like cream or flesh and save the white to use at the very end for the brightest highlight.  If you have too dark a color under the place where you want to highlight try using your kneaded eraser to remove some of the dark pigment.   Prismacolor has pencils in gray with value graduations making them very useful for shading.

Colored pencil hues are created by mixing the colors directly on your work  not on a palette as with other mediums.  You may want to plan your colors on a piece of paper before you paint your gourd.

The convenience of using color pencils is so wonderful that you can create finished gourds in places that you never could before.  All you need is your little plastic box or ziplock bag of pencils and a gourd.

If at first you get discouraged and think that your gourd looks like a first grader did it with a crayon do not give up.  It will take a little time to get used to the pencils.   When you see the beautiful art you can create with your colored pencils you will want to continue.