Iowa Woman Makes Watermelon Art

1991 - Volume #15, Issue #6, Page #31

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Muscatine, Iowa, is famous for its water-melons. Ann Moody, who lives in Muscatine, is fast becoming famous for her "watermelon art".
Moody makes a wide variety of wood crafts, all painted to look like watermelons. Some look like whole melons, others like melon wedges. There's a whole watermelon with removeable wedges. Some oval-shaped slices have checkerboards painted on them. Other pieces that look like melon slices are actually stackable boxes. For example, there's a stackable set of seven round boxes and a stackable set of three heart-shaped boxes. Other items include watermelon candle holders, thimbles, wreaths, napkin rings, heart pins, earrings, and watermelon slice necklaces. She even makes a water-melon yo-yo.
Moody works out of her home and does all of her own painting. She usually spends more than 8 hours a day at it. Yet she hasn't had an art class since junior high school.
"I think watermelons bring childhood memories back to people. The colors are fun," says Moody, who along with husband Chuck travels to craft shows around the country. People from all 50 states and Canada have bought her work. She's been featured in two national magazines and several newspapers. A story in the Des Moines Register last spring drew responses from over 700 people from across the U.S. and Canada.
It all started seven years ago when she saw a wooden watermelon in an antique and gift shop. "It didn't fit into my budget at the time so I went home and my dad cut out a bag full of wooden watermelons and I painted them. When my friends saw them they wanted to buy them." She quit her secretarial job to work full time on her crafts. Since then business has continued to grow every year. Her father continued to cut all the wood for her crafts until the workload became too great and she hired someone to do the cutting for her.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ann Moody, 110 E. 8th St., Muscatine, Iowa 52761 (ph 319 263-8564).

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Iowa Woman Makes Watermelon Art FARM HOME Novelty Items 15-6-31 Muscatine, Iowa, is famous for its water-melons. Ann Moody, who lives in Muscatine, is fast becoming famous for her "watermelon art". Moody makes a wide variety of wood crafts, all painted to look like watermelons. Some look like whole melons, others like melon wedges. There's a whole watermelon with removeable wedges. Some oval-shaped slices have checkerboards painted on them. Other pieces that look like melon slices are actually stackable boxes. For example, there's a stackable set of seven round boxes and a stackable set of three heart-shaped boxes. Other items include watermelon candle holders, thimbles, wreaths, napkin rings, heart pins, earrings, and watermelon slice necklaces. She even makes a water-melon yo-yo. Moody works out of her home and does all of her own painting. She usually spends more than 8 hours a day at it. Yet she hasn't had an art class since junior high school. "I think watermelons bring childhood memories back to people. The colors are fun," says Moody, who along with husband Chuck travels to craft shows around the country. People from all 50 states and Canada have bought her work. She's been featured in two national magazines and several newspapers. A story in the Des Moines Register last spring drew responses from over 700 people from across the U.S. and Canada. It all started seven years ago when she saw a wooden watermelon in an antique and gift shop. "It didn't fit into my budget at the time so I went home and my dad cut out a bag full of wooden watermelons and I painted them. When my friends saw them they wanted to buy them." She quit her secretarial job to work full time on her crafts. Since then business has continued to grow every year. Her father continued to cut all the wood for her crafts until the workload became too great and she hired someone to do the cutting for her. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ann Moody, 110 E. 8th St., Muscatine, Iowa 52761 (ph 319 263-8564).

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