Moon Birds

From Peru comes this set of three dried mate gourd ornaments handmade by Daniel Vargas. On each of the ornaments, three different finely decorated birds are perched among tree branches. The ornaments are made from dried mate,/i>, a type of gourd which grows in the northern part of the country. The artisan creates the color on the gourd using natural red dye; he chisels the design by hand and also uses pyrography to create the beautiful dark shading.