Friday Egg

Aqua, purple and blue quilt design.  I've been doing this pattern a lot lately, haven't I?  I think I like it because of the combinations I can get between curves and straight lines.  It's rhythmic without being boring.  

I started with a brown egg, as you can see.  Etched it down to a lighter brown with a vinegar wash, then dyed it aqua, cobalt blue, and light blue.  I etched it again in vinegar, thinking that a light background would be nice, but the darker dyes kept leaking out of the pores of the eggshell after etching.  It sometimes happens that way.  If the egg is a commission and I need a certain combination of colors, I can combat it in a few ways.  I can etch it, dry it quickly and slap wax on it really quickly to try to keep the color from leaking out. This usually only works if there are small areas to cover.  The areas on this egg were too large for that to work.  Sometimes I can let an egg dry out thoroughly, then try to etch it again in vinegar.  That usually works the best, but is much more time consuming.  Since this was just for fun, I decided that a purple background would be perfectly fine. 

Happy Friday!