Information on how to paint a gourd

I want to paint some pear gourds into santa faces and use for tree trimmings, so what do i have to do to accomplish this? do i use a certain paint ? Do I have too primer them first?
and mostly do they need to be dried first?
Thanks a bunch!!

Springsong...Yes, they have to be dried and cleaned. I then just use my craft paint...acrylic....there are some great sites on the web for this info....just put in Google...Painting gourds...

I have one posted here somewhere that I painted a snowman on a birdhouse gourd. Jo

Found it:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/368480/

This message was edited Aug 26, 2004 3:18 PM

Thanks Joann, so i must wait tille next year? when you say clean you mean wsh with soap and water? and let dry completely?

To FINALLY answer your question: When you wash it in soapy water...have some of those Chore Girl type brass kitchen scrubbers on hand...they really do a good job of removing the "outer skin" on gourds that might later peel off after painted. Jo