Good Gourd, It's Ham!

The hams of the Green Eggs and Ham proved to be more of a test. At first, the pile of spinner gourds was used along with the entry holes cut from gourd birdhouse projects. The combination of too many pieces and size inconsistencies made a problem so, in the end, each and every piece would have had to be made individually. In addition, there would be a leap of faith the result was, in fact, ham-like.

Cutting off the end of a banana gourd offered a cleaner shape. Pieces of the book's hardcover worked as a cap for the large end which gave a more ham-ish shape. Little scraps added the appearance of a bone at either end, but the hams just looked long. In fact, they started to look like St. Patrick's Day cannoli, so to speak.

What else could be done to make the hams look like the hams in the book?

It turns out by cutting the gourd and removing a middle section, the end can be reinserted with glue to make it have a bit of a curve. In theory, a little joint compound at the ridged seam to smooth out the side should result in a truer ham shape.

The hardcover of the book was cut up with kitchen scissors to make oval platters the hams will sit upon for the game.

Now the question is will the joint compound give the desired result?