It sounds like you've got a cleaned gourd. Some folks will dip the cleaned gourd in a 10% bleach/water solution to slow further mold growth. I recommend it, but there will always be other opinions.
I've also found that a steel scrubber will sometimes leave a grayish finish on the gourd, but the copper scrubbers do not.
On this forum, deep in the vaults of past posts, you will find two other "Growing Gourds, Start to Finish". They may be listed as Numbers 1 and 2, I really don't remember.
Gourd Guy has done a great job with this tutorial and if you care to dig through the posts, you'll find good, practical answers to most of your questions.
You'll find the "growing gourds start to finish" on the current page.....I don't know how deep the other two are.

However, you'll usually find some good answers from any of the gourd folk who visit the forum and we're glad to have you here.

Jan

yes thank you, i am going to check that out. I have the copper scrubber and I may use the bleach because there are a few areas on them that still have the discoloration. I am not sure what i am going to do with them but it is fun to grow them!