Once all the skin is removed, put in the oven at around 175 - 190 degrees F and wait for the gourd to finish drying. (Iy is important to learn your oven, and the right temperature and watch the gourd. Too high heat will burn the mold markings, a lighter temp will create a nice reddish color to the mold markings) The heat of the oven will actually bake the mold, and toast it, but the temperature will not be high enough to toast the green area’s of the shell. If you have the right type of mold growing on the gourd, you should end up with a rusty reddish finish where the mold once permeated the gourd shell. The oven not only dries out the gourd faster, but it bakes in a stain from the mold itself.

The process is quite simple, and there is room for creativity and experimentation with this process. You can use a light spray of bleach solution once at some point in the early stages of the molding process, and get a running or streaked effect of the mold, try dripping some bleach in an area, or use bleach in one particular spot to see if you can develop a reddish mottled gourd with a nice light colored area for the purpose of doing a wood burn or artistic picture. We have not tried everything there is possible to try, we’ve only laid the groundwork. So have some fun and be creative, and experiment a little, but remember, experimentation should not be done on your prize gourds.