Here is an easy technique that gives an interesting effect to your gourd.
1. Paint a base coat of dye or acrylics on the gourd.
2. Thin an acrylic paint with water, not to watery. The metallics are nice for this project.
3. Paint the gourd with the watered down paint. Do this quickly. If you have a large gourd do it in sections.
4. Then take your hair dryer, set it on high, and allow the paint to move in random patterns. It's quick and the results are never the same.