Thought I would share my desire and interest in gourds as well as pine needles.  I also paint, carve, pyography gourds and make baskets out of them.  They make very unique baskets, and can be coiled on top of the cut out portion of the gourds very easily.  They are very attractive and create beautiful vessels to display and use with dried or silk flowers.

I use only the best quality gourd...and that to me is a gourd from California grown by Welbourn Gourd Farm.  They are well known all over the world, especially to the many gourd artists that use them because of their thickness for carving.  You can literally throw them around on the ground, they are that durable, although I do not do it.  They have little mold on them, so they are a joy to work with.  I have bought gourds from other places and been disappointed with the quality.  They are very uniform in size and make it easy to create a beautiful piece of art.  I use longleaf pine needles, (again what I consider the best kind of pine needle) atop them, to create one of a kind gourds.

I am writing this review mostly to offer my caution on buying gourds of inferior quality.  There are many gourd sellers on ebay who have good quality gourds, and some of them are the thicker variety.  I would write and ask them how thick they are before buying or bidding.  Make sure you get the best quality for your artwork.  Too many hours are spent for a gourd to break or crack because they weren't thick enough.