This publication includes material drawn from two independent fiel research projects in Northern Nigeria separated by a ten-years interval. The majority of the gourds illustrated and discussed were collected by Barbar Rubin Hudson between 1969-1971. She conducted research among groups who still actively practiced this art and focused specifically on techniques, styles decorations and meanings of design systems. Marla Berns worked among many of the same groups; however, calabash decoration was the only component of a larger project aimed ad documenting the entire range of arts produced by the little-known groups living in the region.