The Third method of cleaning a gourd is called rotting, and it is literally that. The shell and the seeds will not rot in this process, but the skin of the gourd as well as EVERYTHING attached to the inside of the gourd will rot, and rinse right off with no more than a little rubbing with your hands. The advantage to rotting a gourd are multiple, it cleans the inside of the gourd as well as the outside of the gourd, the final product will be a nice, light colored shell, without the mold markings, again great for Pyrography and light artwork, and last but not least, it is absolutely dust free!! The down side is, it is not odor free, and it takes a few weeks to complete the process.

Fig 6 - In this image, we have removed the top of a Kettle, with a cut that conforms to our crafting plans for this gourd. This will be placed in this 5 gallon bucket for 3 weeks, then repeated 2 more times between wiping and rinsing.