Friday Egg: Brown Chicken Egg Etched and Dyed

Brown Chicken Egg Etched and Dyed

I have more wildflower eggs, but I want to shake things up! Today's egg is a brown chicken egg etched and dyed with a traditional design and non-traditional colors.

I started by writing wax on the brown eggshell, then etched to a lighter tan color with a straight vinegar bath. I dyed the egg with Temple Orange and waxed that layer, then dyed Peacock Blue and waxed, then washed the Peacock Blue down with a quick rinse of water to achieve the lighter blue color. Finally, I etched the shell down to the white layer of the eggshell for the background color.  The combination of opposite colors orange and blue makes for a lively design that is pretty but not boring.

This is also a good egg to illustrate the pores in an eggshell. In the close-ups you can see tiny blue dots in the white areas.  These are the pores of the eggshell that allow air to pass in and out of the egg.  During the dyeing process, they fill with dye and become more visible.  This is especially apparent in an ostrich egg which has large and deep pores that are highly visible.

After etching the last color, I found a crack that had been invisible before which runs from the white background area through the orange and blue triangle and into the cross pattern in the band:

Cracked!

Oh, well.  It's still pretty.  What do you think?

Isn't she pretty?

Side view - a slightly imperfect eggshell leaves a little bump in the white area

"

Initialed on the bottom

Close up of design detail

Pretty orange flower

Happy Friday!