Anyway. I found this bunch of hollow pears and baby gourds from Goodwill for only $5.05, so I brought it home and considered what to do. I had a little oil-based gilding paint left over from a previous project (just barely enough) and I decided to use it on the pears. Here's what happened.
1. Pears (and gourds) before:
For now, they're marching along my dining table, looking very fine indeed.
I still have three pears in their original condition, plus the gourds. Plus the metal stems, which seem too handy to toss. I wonder what I'll do with that stuff...