Katyegg Design

Cherrywood Art Fair Starts this weekend!

2011-12-08T21:02:00.000-06:00

I have been working hard on getting ready for my holiday shows this season! The first one Cherrywood Art Fair: Saturday, December 10th and Sunday, December 11th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. This is a sweet little art fair that is getting bigger every year, though it manages to stay sweet.

Come on out and say hello!

East Austin Studio Tour THIS WEEKEND! And Friday Egg

2011-11-11T11:57:00.000-06:00

Good morning! An extra special Friday Egg for you this week to mark the occasion: the East Austin Studio Tour starts tomorrow, November 12! It is both Saturday and Sunday this weekend and next weekend from 11 to 6 each day. Hundreds of East Austin artists are opening their studios to the public so you can see where the artwork is made, talk to the artists about the creative process, have a glass of wine or nibbles and buy buy buy beautiful artwork! For more information on the tour, go to the East Austin Studio Tour site. I am honored to be on the tour again this year and was excited to be picked by Wayne Alan Brenner of The Austin Chronicle as one of the top 25 stops on the tour! Check out the listing; I'm in pretty good company! I hope if you are in town that you can come this weekend or next to peruse some of my new work.

Onward! Today's Friday egg is an ostrich egg done in the traditional eight-pointed star design. This truly is one of my favorites: always a show-stopper! Halfway through I was enchanted by a lovely light blue that I got from washing down a darker blue and it ended up changing my entire color scheme from scarlet, orange and dark red to lovely blues. The last photo shows the ostrich egg next to a quarter so you can get an idea of how big it is. I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg: Halloween!

2011-10-29T22:17:00.003-05:00

No Friday Egg this week. I was asked by my friend Jen to do her makeup for her Halloween costume: a Roy Lichtenstein comic book character. I was a little nervous as I have never done makeup before but I think it turned out pretty well and had a blast doing it. If we had another six hours I would have made the dots a little smaller, but I think that we got the idea across pretty well. Trying to do the dots evenly over a three-dimensional surface was actually a lot like working on an egg. The last picture is of friend Stephen who was dressed as "Gigantic!" I loved both of the costumes and hope they win the costume contest. Happy Halloween!

Friday Egg: Tiny Little Beauties on Location

2011-10-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

This week I worked on doing a bunch of quail eggs to sell as ornaments at the various art shows I am doing this fall and the coming Christmas season. Quail eggs are simply adorable. So tiny and cute you can't help but want to pick one up and hold it. Just like a baby! They can be fragile because the smaller the egg the thinner the shell, and in this batch I lost two completed eggs being too rough with the paper towels rubbing the melted wax off. Once I get some varnish on them they will be stronger.

Most are simple traditional designs without too much detail, but there are a few that are more intricate and two lovely butterfly designs that I will have to replicate on larger eggs.

It was such a glorious day today that I took the quail eggs on a field trip! We shot on location in my front yard, in the grass and in some small nests I have for display and even found a pecan husk (that is surely not the correct word but I don't know what is) to use as a prop. I would love to see a whole tree of decorated quail eggs peeping out from the husks as they ripen. It would be so pretty and would save me so much time!

Happy Beautiful Friday!

Friday Egg: A Bigger Fish Fry!

2011-10-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

A goose egg for this Friday Egg. As with last week's egg, I really enjoy the interlocking patterns that make up this fish design, especially the fins. I took a lot of pictures, but I don't know if you can really get a sense of how these fish bodies interlock. I hope you can.

I started with a white goose egg, waxed all the areas that I wanted to stay white and then went through all colors light to dark. The hot pink and orange make me happy - it makes them look like exotic skeletal tropical glow-in-the-dark fish underwater at night. Or something like that. Each fish's inner body patterns are different, which makes it a lot more interesting for me to make since the same pattern four times can get boring.

Happy Friday!

Friday Fish Fry

2011-10-07T14:29:00.000-05:00

An oldie but goodie today! I love this traditional design from the Ukrainian Gift Shop's Design Book 2 and have recreated it many times. It is such a satisfying design because everything is interconnected, creating the fish design by interlocking shapes and small details, reminiscent of Escher. In the original, they use a brown egg, with yellow and brick dyes. I chose to use my current favorite Golden Wheat and Turquoise on a white chicken egg, with a final color of black.

I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg: Heraldic Shield

2011-09-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

This egg reminds me of a shield or coat of arms. I think it may be the diagonal element on the almond or shield shapes beneath. The colors are prefect for fall, which I hope will arrive soon because I am sick of 100 degree days.

I started with a white chicken egg, waxed all white lines, then dipped in Golden Wheat and waxed, Asparagus and waxed, then a final color of Dark Red

Happy Friday, my Lords and Ladies!

Friday Egg: Rainbow Brite!

2011-09-22T18:19:00.000-05:00

It's 1982 all over again with this rainbow-hued chicken egg. I started with with outlines but next time I think I will start with a red egg so I can do the true rainbow order of ROYGBIV.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Butterfly Tree

2011-09-16T13:10:00.000-05:00

A beautiful blue egg swathed in lacy tendrils - it's a butterfly tree.

I started with an egg dyed Asparagus and waxed in all the stems and leaves. After I washed it down to white with Ivory dish soap, I dyed the egg Golden Yellow for the leaves and the butterflies. There are two lighter yellow butterflies just for fun - maybe they aren't ripe yet? The final color is Peacock Blue.

Friday Egg: JoJo's Beautiful Creation

2011-09-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

My daughter JoJo and I were hanging out in my studio one lazy day. She was coloring her princess coloring pages and I was working on an egg. She grabbed a blank egg and scribbled on it with a pencil and proudly showed me her work. I thought it might be fun to "enhance" her work so a few days later I outlined all of her pencil marks with wax and then dyed and waxed in all the different colors. I think it is actually quite nice and I may try to incorporate the idea in a more organized fashion on some of my own eggs.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Captain America!

2011-09-01T23:09:00.000-05:00

Doesn't this look like I should be posting it on Independence Day? It's the egg that Captain America would have on his mantel if he collected eggs.

It is deceptively simple, but takes a lot of prep work with a pencil to make sure that the lines are parallel and even. One of these days I will do a tutorial on the pencil guidelines for each kind of egg so you can see what goes into it.

I was trying to use rich holiday colors, but was tired of the usual red and green. Not sure if I succeeded in making it a Christmas holiday egg, but if you need a Fourth of July egg this is it!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Cosmos on Blue

2011-08-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

Today's egg is a lovely blueish-purple color with my variation of the traditional sakvy design. Scarves of traditional diamonds are encircled by white and yellow cosmos.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: One of my all-time favorites

2011-08-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

Friday Egg today is one of my favorite designs. It is completely based on a chiyogami or yuzen Japanese printed paper pattern, so I take no credit for the lovely abstract wagon wheel design. I dyed a goose egg Gold, did the first layer of waxing and then washed the egg back down to white and waxed those areas that are white. After that I dyed and re-dyed the egg, layering up shades of gray and black while waxing between each different dye bath.

It has been a busy month for traveling, so no time for making new eggs these past couple of weeks. I hope to have a beautiful new egg for you by next Friday. Nose to the grindstone again next week: Christmas is approaching fast and I have to get busy making new and fabulous eggs to sell!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Ring Around the Rosie

2011-07-29T08:22:00.000-05:00

A new design today for Friday Egg. I came up with this when I was penciling in a traditional Sakvy (saddlebags) design. Instead of dividing the sections I just decided to let one flower bouquet lead into the next. A touch of gilding at the centers of the pink and white flowers adds a perky accent, especially against the black background.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: California Poppy

2011-07-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

I love California poppies. My mom has them in her spring garden and they are such an eye-catching neon orange that they are impossible to resist. The Friday Egg this week is a goose egg sized tribute. I did a little bit with gilding which I don't think adds too much to the egg, but you can tell me what you think.

Friday Egg: Dancing Scarlet Poppies

2011-07-08T19:39:00.001-05:00

I love poppies. I love playing with the shapes of the petals, their dancing stems, seed pods and leaves. Everything about them is fun for me to draw. I really like the loosely dancing poppy stems paired with the traditional stars at the bottom part of the egg. A nice pairing of formal and informal, static and moving.

If you are interested in this egg, take a look at it on Etsy!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Happy Owl

2011-07-01T19:44:00.000-05:00

A completely contemporary egg this week! I am jumping on the owl bandwagon with this owl on a leafy branch. He was a lot of fun to make, just stripes and dots, nets and bars in bright and happy colors. I am working with the gilding, so added some golden dots to the owl body as well as the dots in the background.

Hope you like him! Happy Friday

Friday Egg: Eight Poppies, Eight Ferns

2011-06-24T21:56:00.000-05:00

A new design this week! I was just doodling along with my usual divisions and came up with this design of skinny triangles. I thought it was perfect for single poppies, sort of like a series of bud vases. And then the ferns fit right in since they are so geometric. I will be doing more of this design in the future, so keep an eye out!

I started with a white egg for the basic division lines. I used a medium kistka for the triangles divisions and the star design at top and bottom. Next was Golden Wheat, a rich deep yellow that I really love right now. Again, I used a medium kistka to make the division lines on the star at top and bottom. The poppies were done with the XX fine point kistka, and the fern leaves were done with a fine kistka. The next color was green, then orange, scarlet and finally black.

I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg: Purple and Orange Traditional Rose

2011-06-17T20:26:00.002-05:00

Purple, orange, yellow and green on a black background. This traditional Pysanka is one of my favorite designs to create. There's something quite satisfying about the balance of a central medallion on each side encircled with an eternity band. Just feels right. And no matter what color combination I choose, it always comes out lovely and exactly right. I started with a white egg, as is traditional, then went through yellow, green, orange, and purple then dyed it black for the final color.

Because it is a traditional egg, there are many meaningful symbols including:

- Nets = Protection
- Crosses = Christianity or the four corners of the earth
- Spirals/Curls = Protection from evil
- Dots = Stars or Spring (they represent eggs!) or Mary's tears
- Rose = Love and caring
- Diamonds = Knowledge

The eternity band is also a protection from evil. Because it has no beginning or end, an evil spirit will become trapped in the egg.

It's on Etsy if you are interested: http://www.etsy.com/listing/76200914/traditional-ukrainian-egg-stylized-rose

I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg: Friday Fish Fry

2011-06-10T18:34:00.000-05:00

A traditional fish design done in some non-traditional colors. I started with a white egg, as tradition demands, then proceeded through gold, orange, turquoise and finished with the final color of purple.

A simple egg, but with such bright colors sometimes simple is best!

Friday Egg: Etched Brown Egg

2011-06-03T15:55:00.001-05:00

This is such an intricate little egg: I'm secretly tickled to make such an intricate and delicate design with a brown egg because they are so rustic and utilitarian that the rose design is doubly stunning.

I started my first layer on the brown egg, then etched the shell down to white using regular white vinegar full strength. It usually takes about 20 minutes for the shell to etch down to cream. After the etching bath I scrub it in running water with a baby toothbrush to clean it up and make sure all the dissolved shell is washed away. I dipped it in Avocado dye and drew in some details with wax, then dipped in Peacock Blue for the next layer of detail. Finally, I washed off as much of the blue dye as I could and then etched again to a creamy white. I listed it on Etsy today, so go visit if you are interested: http://www.etsy.com/listing/75338890/etched-and-dyed-brown-chicken-egg

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Colorful Exotic Bird

2011-05-27T10:59:00.000-05:00

This week's egg is a downcast exotic bird of some kind sitting on a fern-like tree. I like the repetition of horizontal elements: in the fern and in the eternity band encircling each bird. Everything is stretched out and elongated which gives a dynamic feel to the usually more static traditional elements. The colors are unusual for this one too: hot pink, red, green and a deep yellow on a brown background. It worked out nicely I think! I hope you like it!

Friday Egg: Gilding Again!

2011-05-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

After seeing the beautiful gilding on the illuminated manuscripts at the Harry Ransom Center and having a chat with a local sign painter and gilder (Gary Martin - check out his website and you will realize that you see something of his every time you get in your car in this town!), I realized that I never did follow up much with the gilding I was playing with last year. I had just forgotten about it in the rush up to the holidays and then never really got back to it, but it is time I start playing again. Only way to get better is to ruin a few eggs, right?

This is one of my favorite designs because it combines random design elements with the geometric precision of traditional pysanky design elements. I started with a goose egg dyed with regular Ukrainian Gift Shop gold for the base color, then washed it back down to white, then went through red, turquoise, wisteria, light green, black and golden wheat (not necessarily in the order.)

After I melted the wax off, I picked out a few highlights with the gold leaf and then varnished. At this point, what works best for me is tiny dots. The details are so small that I can't quite get precise enough with the adhesive if I try to draw triangles or other more linear design elements. I need to look around and see what other tools and adhesives are available for gilding.

I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Pink Polka Dotted Elephant

2011-05-13T17:16:00.002-05:00

A pink elephant with terra cotta polka dots comes to visit today! This was a pretty simple design, but it to f.o.r.e.v.e.r to finish because this is a duck egg, and duck eggs are very particular about what colors they want to be dyed. Duck eggs usually come with an oily sort of cuticle on the outside of the eggshell, which can be soaked off in a vinegar bath. Once that is off, the egg can be treated much like a chicken egg but sometimes for no reason that I can discern it just stops taking on dye. The only way to recharge to egg is to give it another long vinegar bath and let it dry for at least a day. But I got it done!

I started with a plain white duck egg, drew on the white design and then dyed the egg yellow several times but it never took, so I gave it a bath and a rest and tried again with Nutmeg, which ended up producing this lovely terra cotta color. next was Lily Rose (a bright Barbie pink) and then Peacock Blue and finally Black.

If you are interested in purchasing this egg, click on this link. If you are interested in looking at it, you can hang out here!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Unplanned vacation

2011-05-06T21:16:00.001-05:00

Sorry, but no Friday Egg today. This week I worked on three commissioned eggs and so had no extra time to spend on a Friday Egg. Also, I spent part of the day looking at some illuminated manuscripts like this:

and other amazing works of art at the Harry Ransom Center. If you ever have the chance to visit this amazing treasure trove you should. So full of amazing art, literature and objects associated with the artists and writers that you wouldn't be able to see it all in one lifetime.

I'm sorry there's no egg, but follow the link above and peruse their holdings for a while. You are sure to find something amazing!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Great Tragedy

2011-04-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

I post a lot of my successful efforts and a few of my "maybe" eggs, but I have never posted a complete disaster. I had one happen today so I thought I would take some photos so you could join me in my mourning over what would have been a lovely egg.

This egg cracked after I put it in the warm oven to melt the wax off to reveal the final design. This happens sometimes when I do too much etching of the shell, either through dyeing or straight vinegar etching. The shell simply gets too thin and the pressure of wiping melted wax off is enough to poke a hole right through. And this is what happened to this lovely blue poppy egg. I started with a brown chicken eggshell, etched it down to white, dyed and waxed through yellow, green, blue, jade green and then etched it again down to white. I think there may have been one other etching with vinegar somewhere in the middle because of blotchiness on the eggshell. Just too much eggshell removed and so this happened. It would have been pretty.

One interesting thing to note is the inner shell. You can see how the pores of the eggshell allowed the blue dye inside: look for the blue polka dots. This porosity can be a problem when working with lots of layers because the dye that is inside the eggshell sometimes can be pushed out the same pores when the eggshell is warmed in your hand. The only way I know how to prevent this is to let the eggshell dry out for at least a day before working on it again.

Interview on local station

2011-04-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

Did an interview this morning with Bettie Cross of KEYE-TV about Pysanky and here it is! I think it turned out okay. It was nerve wracking!

Good Friday Egg: and Earth Day, too!

2011-04-22T06:40:00.002-05:00

Happy Good Friday to everyone today! Looks like another busy Easter weekend for me: I have a TV interview with KEYE scheduled for 9 a.m. today (if you are in Austin, look for it on their 4 to 5 p.m. news show!), one demonstration today at the Neill-Cochran House for their annual Egg-Dye-O-Rama from noon to 4 p.m. and then my Artworks sale and demonstration on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. I hope that you can make it out to one or the other (or both!) And of course, family is coming from out of town and we are hosting Easter dinner at our house - lots of cleaning to do!

Friday Egg today is a red egg. Red eggs are an Eastern European Easter tradition. Here's my take:

If your are interested in buying this egg, I listed it in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72737290/stylized-flames-red-and-scarlet-pysanky

Happy Friday and Happy Easter!

Any plans for Good Friday?

2011-04-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

Here's where I will be:

Neill-Cochran House Museum for the Egg-Dye-O-Rama! It is a fun event (and free) - we spend the day decorating eggs in all kinds of ways and then they are all given to the kids staying at the Dell Children's Museum over Easter. They do ask that you call to make a reservation to ensure that there are enough eggshells for everyone.

And if you've never seen the house, it is just beautiful. Take a look at the flickr gallery.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Delish.com!

2011-04-19T15:13:00.000-05:00

One of my eggs is featured on Delish.com today!

But when do you put on the decal?

2011-04-18T10:10:00.000-05:00

My friend Lydia has seen pictures of these eggs for several months finally asked me, "Is it ink or paint?" When I am doing shows, many people ask me if these are stickers or decals or if I have a stencil I use to put the designs on. I realize that I should post a general idea of how these beautiful eggs are made. No ink or paint, no stencils or shortcuts, each one of these eggs are created using a batik process with beeswax and dyes. I prepared the following presentation for my Christmas show. It plays on continuous loop on an eframe. Sometimes it is easier to show than tell, and with this tutorial (which I borrowed from a tutorial I posted last year), I am able to explain the process with pictures. So without further ado: Here's how I make these eggs!

There is no step three! I mis-numbered these steps and skipped the number three, but I hope you can ignore my error and move right on to Step Four:

Friday Egg: Fiesta!

2011-04-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

I love this little egg! I rarely start with a white egg and end with a white background as I fear that the white outlines will not stand out against the background, but I took a chance here and I am so glad I did. The colors are bright, vibrant and playful: just about perfect for the Fiesta celebrations going on in San Antonio this week! And a nice segue into Easter week as well. I hope you like it as much as I do.

If you are interested in purchasing this egg, please visit my Etsy shop!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Stained Glass Quilt

2011-04-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

Friday egg today is a chicken egg done in a modified wedding ring quilt pattern. I love the muted colors here; it looks like a quilt that has been faded from years of use. I started with a gold dyed egg, then rinsed off and stepped through all the different colors and ended up with black for the final color. I missed filling in one square: can you find it?

The Easter Bunny is Coming! And boy is he pissed!

2011-04-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

Bones of prehistoric giant bunny found in Spain!

Friday Egg: Flower and Fern

2011-04-01T13:09:00.002-05:00

It's Friday! I'm working hard getting ready for my big April events. Just a reminder that I have my Sweet Charity show coming up next Thursday, April 7th (click on the link to the right for more information) and my only spring workshop on Saturday, April 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you want to learn how to make these wonderful eggs and create your own Easter tradition, please email to reserve your spot!

Friday Egg today is a sweet floral using that same skeleton that I am seemingly obsessed with! I always like the effect of the "fern" leaves. Graphic and organic at the same time! And they add so much movement to the design and your eye slides down them to the next design element. I hope you enjoy it.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Nice Skeleton! and April Events

2011-03-25T17:46:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! Lots of events and a workshop on offer. I think it is easiest just to list them:

First of all, I have a demonstration and sale at Sweet Charity Gift Shop at 1206 West 38th Street in the 26 Doors Shopping Center (512) 324-3399. The sale is on Thursday, April 7th from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Next, I am offering my spring workshop on April 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at my studio. Contact me by email if you are interested!
Finally, Saturday, April 23rd, the day before Easter, I am doing another demo and sale at Artworks Gallery at 1214 W. 6th Street, Austin, TX (512) 472-1550. This demo will go from 12:00 Noon to 4 p.m.

I hope that you can come to any or all of these events. They are going to be fun!

I have decided that this pattern is one of my all time favorites. I think of the basic pattern like a framework or skeleton that underlies the colors and patterns I choose that make each egg unique. This skeleton always works. I cannot remember a time when I finished an egg with this design and didn't think it was a success.

Today's egg is a chicken egg in a crisply defined pattern of turquoise, orange and olive green. This reminds me of a starched and ironed shirt, straight from the cleaners! I think it is the dark outlines that make it look so regimented. I am a fan of orange and turquoise together, and they are playing well with others here!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Giant Graphic Flower Attack!

2011-03-18T13:07:00.000-05:00

Today's egg is based on the idea of a spirograph. Do you remember those from childhood? I really loved making designs with my spirograph. I would love to play with one right now, as a matter of fact. It might help me come up with some cool designs. But I managed to come up with this design on my own. It is a very bright, very graphic flower on all four sides, top and bottom of the egg.

I love the orange in this flower! Orange is the most difficult color because for some reason the dyes are very short-lived. If I mix up a batch of Orange, Carrot or Pumpkin it will be bright and vibrant for maybe two weeks, but will sadly lose its potency. I mixed up some new dyes and have been using all my oranges while I can take advantage of them!

The color combination of pink and orange is a favorite of mine. It seems to evoke a feeling of fun, youth, joy and optimism.

I hope you enjoy your fun, youthful, joyous and optimistic Friday Egg!

Friday Egg: A favorite color combination

2011-03-11T22:41:00.001-06:00

The combination of purple, green and yellow just shouts "Spring!!!" My mother has an amazing iris bed in her garden that enchants me every spring when it teems with all shades of iris: purple, violet, lavender, blue, pale yellow. The mid-range green of the spiky leaves makes a perfect foil for all the bright colors. Last year's Easter dress for JoJo was a pastel yellow and the photos from Easter are among my favorites because the colors are so harmonious and at the same time stimulating. It just makes me happy to see all these colors living together.

This egg has traditional geometrics but non-traditional colors. I started with a turquoise blue egg, then worked through a lovely olive green, then violet and the last color is yellow. I really like that the background color is yellow. This is not a usual choice in pysanky eggs, but I like that it contributes to the "spring" feeling evoked by the rest of the colors. Imagine this egg with a white background and it would have a completely different meaning or feeling, wouldn't it?

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Purple Rose

2011-03-04T23:45:00.000-06:00

Friday Egg today is a traditional rose or star motif in purple and pink. I was hoping that the colors would be a bit more vibrant, but the eggshell was just not picking up the colors the way I would like. I have been needing to refresh my dyes for a while and this shows why. The colors lose vibrancy and get grainy looking and the coverage can be spotty and uneven. I usually can make my dyes last for a very long time by adding a dash of white vinegar when they start to lose strength, but there comes a time when that just won't cut it anymore. I have my distilled water, dyes and jars all ready to go, now I just need to find an extra hour in the day to mix them up. Maybe Saturday night (don't be jealous of my glamorous life).

Friday Egg: Odd Combination

2011-02-24T21:21:00.000-06:00

Today's egg is definitely an odd color combination. One of the interesting things about making Pysanky eggs is that you can never actually see what you are doing until you are all done. So it is easy to get odd, unusual or just plain ugly color combinations. The one that happens most for me is an egg that just doesn't work somehow. The colors are too similar in value or not complementary and so the design doesn't come alive as it should. I will let you look at the following egg and you can tell me if this egg was successful or not. I simply cannot decide!

Friday Egg: Purely Traditional Rose

2011-02-17T22:50:00.001-06:00

Friday Egg today is a traditional rose or star design executed on a goose egg. I love the color combination of scarlet and dark red. It doesn't sound like it would be very pretty, but it evokes a vintage elegance that makes me think of velvet couches and intricate Victorian knick-knacks. And this design is so rewarding. I love the variations I can get by altering each little row of squares or changing the color scheme. When I melt the wax off on these designs I am always enchanted by the final result.

I started with a white egg and following the traditional order, waxed from white through yellow, peach, green, scarlet, dark red and black. I think my favorite part of this egg is the "gift box" row. It is the eighth row back from the center white star and is a peach square bisected by two red ribbons with small sprouts growing from four sides. It is so blocky and big and balances with the more organic forms that are on the inner rows. If you are interested, this egg is listed on Etsy!

What a crazy week it has been! After a couple of weeks of JoJo's sniffly nose and coughing, I was dumbfounded by her doctor's diagnosis of pneumonia! I don't know why, but I always think of pneumonia in the same way I think of pleurisy, lumbago, or chilblains: something that Jane Eyre would get. Silly, I know. People get pneumonia all the time, but I just never expected to hear that diagnosis. Also, both ears are infected. Poor little JoJo was so sick, but the only way to tell was that she complained on Monday of being tired and then said "I want to go to bed." She never wants to go to bed, so I knew something was up. And she kept talking about getting french fries stuck in her ears. The doctor didn't mention finding any fried food of any kind in her ears, so that was a relief. So we hide out on the couch watching movies and playing games until she starts to feel better.

Happy Friday Egg!

Friday Egg: Aqua, Cream and Brown Traditional Pysanky

2011-02-11T10:08:00.002-06:00

Today's egg is an etched brown chicken egg. I love the dark brown of the eggshell. It really stands out against the cream of the undershell. The aqua is such a pretty retro color, and the combination of brown and blue is one of my favorites.

I started with a brown egg and waxed all the lines that show brown in the finished egg. After all the areas were waxed, I etched the egg in full-strength vinegar until I achieved a light cream color. I dipped the egg in aqua and waxed those areas. I think I would do a slightly lighter aqua next time, but it is so hard to tell color intensity when the brown is covered with wax. After I waxed the aqua areas, I dipped the egg in vinegar again to remove all traces of color and get to the lightest cream color.

Enjoy your Friday Egg!

Check out this amazing chunk of ice! We had a cup on the back porch that had a few inches of water in it and it froze last week. It looks like one of those beautiful glass paperweights with the encased design. Or a sea anemone under water. It was just gorgeous and I still have it in my freezer. I guess it will stay there until it sublimates.

No Friday Egg - Snow Day!

2011-02-04T20:47:00.000-06:00

Sorry, but no Friday egg today as I had my daughter home with me all day playing in the snow!

Friday Egg: Tippyloo Part Deux

2011-01-28T16:24:00.000-06:00

It's another round of Tippyloo eggs this Friday, two chicken eggs and one tiny quail egg done the same way but with brighter colors. I can't decide if I like one better than the other. I really like the earth tones of last week's egg, but the brights are a lot of fun too. Which one do you like?

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Does this look like a Tippyloo egg?

2011-01-21T21:51:00.000-06:00

It's still Friday right? I think I will be getting this done in time to still qualify for Friday egg.

This is a new design! I am really enjoying the freeform movement of the swirling colors. This design was inspired by my friend Julie. She has a nephew she adores and she is making up stories for him about a make-believe bird called a Tippyloo. She called me to ask whether I could create a Tippyloo egg to send him for Easter and this is what came to mind immediately. I am still playing with the design and colors - next week when I have a working camera (these photos were taken with my i-phone) I will post photos of a few more colorways I have explored with this design. It reminds of of those beautiful agate gemstones like this:

I started with a brown egg on this, waxed and then dyed yellow. Waxed the yellow layer and then etched it down to white and waxed that layer. Next I dipped in Brick very briefly to get the terra cotta color and waxed. Next I dipped in Asparagus for the dark green and once that layer was waxed, I washed the dye down to a lighter Asparagus color and waxed that layer.

I hope you like it, because you will definitely see more of this design.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Technical Difficulties

2011-01-21T17:34:00.000-06:00

Friday Egg is postponed for a bit as I can't find my camera battery charger. Argh.

Friday Egg: Lavender Iris

2011-01-14T17:17:00.001-06:00

Friday Egg this week is a restrained little and shy little thing that reveals its infinite charms only upon close examination.

I started with a brown chicken egg for my outlines. Once all the guidelines were drawn, I etched the egg in regular white vinegar until the eggshell was white. I dipped the egg in bright yellow for the polka dots surrounding the flowers and the yellow centers of the flowers. I did the nets and some tiny triangles in the eternity band in bright green as well as the leaves of the flowers. Next was orange for the band and then violet for the flowers and details in the band. For the final background color, I washed the purple dye down with just plain water until it achieved the pretty lavender color. One side shows two iris and the other side is a bloomed iris and a bud, each surrounded by spiky shoots.

Unusual color combination of purple and orange on this egg! I wonder how different this egg would have looked with a white egg instead of a brown egg. Probably a lot more showy and bright. I really like this sweet little guy, hiding his lights under a bushel.

If you are interested in purchasing this sweetheart, click here!

Hope you like it too. Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: First of 2011

2011-01-07T16:03:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

The first Friday egg of the year is a pretty little dark brown egg featuring a peacock on a tree. I really like the colors on this egg, especially the golden yellow. I am having a hard time getting back on schedule, so I don't have a lot of time to blog today. I need to go exercise - I started the Couch to 5K program yesterday and want to get a quick run in before I go to my kickbox class this evening.

Enjoy the egg!

Friday Egg: Traditional Scarlet Poppy

2010-12-10T10:52:00.000-06:00

I'm busily getting ready for the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, which starts next Wednesday. I have to be ready to load in by Monday, so I have only three days left to get everything sorted both for the booth.

So the Friday Egg today is short on words and long on pictures, but I think that's what you like anyway, right?

This poppy egg was started on a white goose egg and went through the traditional steps of light to dark. I really like the orange tips on the petals and scarlet inner petals. One mistake that turned out interesting was the black spots on the petals - that was me being in a hurry and not covering all the areas with wax so that the final dye bath of black got on those parts of the flower. I think it adds some interest and texture, so will have to figure out a way to incorporate that idea in future eggs.

The poppy is a popular motif in traditional pysanky. It is the national flower of the Ukraine. I personally enjoy it because it is fun to draw. The flowers has a definite structure, but within that structure I can make a lot of different choices. The petals can be ruffled or straight-edged. I can do one solid color or choose different colors like in this egg. I can do a straight-on view of a flat poppy or a side view. I also like playing with buds and seed pods.

Hope you enjoy it!

I will be taking the rest of the year off unless I get a wild hair and post another egg. Most likely I will be too busy with the Armadillo to get back to this until the new year

Friday Egg: ‎"the earth laughs in flowers." —e.e. cummings

2010-12-03T11:01:00.007-06:00

I saw this quote this morning from my friend Jackie on Facebook that I loved (Houston friends should visit her shop: Mariposa Flowers.) I thought it was totally appropriate to the subject of the Friday egg.

‎"the earth laughs in flowers." —e.e. cummings

Thanks for the great quote, Jackie!

Big Announcement today: I will be participating in the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar! I am very excited to be a part of this Austin tradition, while at the same time being completely freaked out by how big the show is! It is a 10-day art show at the Palmer Events Center in downtown Austin that goes from December 15 to Christmas Eve, December 24th and is open each day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Live music daily, food and drinks; it's going to be tremendous fun. You can check out the music schedule here. I have been busily getting my storefront set up for the show, and am really looking forward to being done with the preparations and getting on with the SHOW!

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for: FRIDAY EGG!

Today I want to show you how a simple change in color scheme can dramatically alter the mood and feel of a design. The first design was done starting with a white goose egg. I chose bright colors and a black background to make the flowers really pop. Next to the egg is a second egg I did where I started with a dyed-black goose egg, then washed it back down to white and proceeded with dyeing approximately the same colors as I did on the black background egg. When I was done, I etched the eggshell back down to white so that the outlines would stand out.

Isn't the contrast interesting? One is a sweet floral, the other is a 1960's hippie extravaganza (this descriptor came from a co-volunteer I work with at the Harry Ransom Center - thanks Lysa!)

Sweet Floral

1960's Hippie Extravaganza

Do you have one you prefer? I really like both of them for different reasons, so I am finding it hard to choose.

Happy Friday!

P.S. The Susan G. Komen Ostrich egg is up in the Holiday House Easter Room! And the Ebay auction is up and running, with all proceeds going to directly to the Susan Komen Foundation. Please take a look and bid for it!

Friday Egg: Cherry Blossoms with Red Outlines

2010-11-26T17:30:00.000-06:00

A simple little egg today for Friday, but making it wasn't as simple as it looks. I started with a locally farmed chicken egg with a blueish shell. It was a lovely color that I wanted to accent, so I decided to do an etched cherry blossom design. Because the colors between the etched and non-etched areas were so similar, I accented the edges of the etching by dipping the etched egg in red and then washing the dye off as completely as I could. Especially with red and pink colors, the edges of the etched areas soak up the dye and it is difficult to wash it off completely. On this egg, it becomes a very delicate red outline that makes the design stand out.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Donation to the Susan G. Komen Holiday House NYC

2010-11-19T10:46:00.002-06:00

Today's egg is currently winging its way to New York City to be a part of the Susan G. Komen Holiday House. My old friend Robin Wilson is a "green" designer of interiors and products and is a participating designer in the Holiday House. When she found out she was designing the Easter dining room, she knew who to call! We came up with a lovely design for an ostrich egg which will be a part of her display and will also be an auction item to raise money for breast cancer research. I am honored to be able to participate, and I can't wait to see photos of the display!

I started with an ostrich egg for this because Robin wanted something big, bold and eye-catching! After taking the shiny outer layer off with acid, I waxed the outlines of the pink ribbons, blue bands and floral motifs on top and bottom. Then I proceeded through the layers of waxing and dyeing. I had some difficulty with the darkest blue. The dye "took" but wasn't absorbed into the egg, so as soon as you touch it, the dye would wipe off. Very frustrating, especially after all that work! Sometimes an egg just gets exhausted and doesn't want to play anymore. Usually this happens when I do a lot of etching, which I did on this egg to make the designs really pop. I let it rest overnight, then gave it a vinegar bath to refresh the shell and was able to get one more good blue dye bath and finish the job.

As for the design, I think the interlocking pink ribbons work great as a communicator of the brand but also as a pretty design element. The robin's egg blue background is a perfect foil to the bright rose pink. My favorite part is something I added later in the process. As much as I like the floral garland around the top and bottom, I thought it needed some life so I added a few fluttering butterflies for interest. Love them! See if you can spot them as you look through the photos.

This egg is going to be a part of the auction, so if you are interested in it, please contact the Susan G. Komen NYC Chapter for more information. It's a great cause and a lovely egg, so bid high!

Friday Egg: Pygmalion! Etched and Dyed Brown Chicken Egg

2010-11-12T16:22:00.000-06:00

I am always delighted to see the humble brown chicken egg transformed through etching and dyeing into something gorgeous! Of course, I love the plain brown shell too with its freckles and speckles, but it's nice to see it dressed in party clothes.

Short post today as I am doing some last minute preparations for the East Austin Studio Tour. If you are in Austin, please come out and say hello this weekend and next weekend from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Search for studio #125 on the website for the location.

Happy Friday!

Line by Line in the New York Times

2010-11-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

Line by Line

I am loving this series! It is a series of drawing lessons that is actually quite helpful. My favorite is the lesson on how to draw plants, trees and flowers.

I would highly recommend that you take a look whether or not you are an artist. It is fascinating to see an artist work, how they work, the choices they make, all the things that go into creation.

Friday Egg: Protective Red Ram

2010-11-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

Red Ram on Black Background

I like the ram motif in traditional eggs. Spirals are traditionally seen as a protection symbol and the ram has it built right in! This egg has a lot of protection motifs: the "wolves teeth" that encircle the vertical eternity band as well as the tiny wolves teeth within the eternity band. I have always like the color combination of red and white. It is so strong and jaunty and cheerful with no doubts about itself.

Side view

Top View

Bottom View

Penny for scale

I hope you have a lovely Friday. The weather here is beautiful - sunny and in the 70's. I'm going to go have lunch with my husband and then come back and do a quick housecleaning for my daughter's birthday party tomorrow. We are very happy that Scottyroo and Christini are coming to entertain the 22 cupcake-and-juice-fueled three-year-olds who will be running amok in our house tomorrow.

Friday Egg: Flying Turtle in Space!

2010-10-29T12:36:00.000-05:00

A whimsical Friday Egg today! It is a turtle with a traditional star design shell flying through a flower and dot filled space with his upside-down buddy on the other side. The brightness of the colors against the black background remind me of folk art embroidery.

I started the regular way with a white eggshell, then just kept adding new colors. I washed the eggshell back down to white several times to ensure that the colors were bright and clear. Sometimes the colors can get a bit muddy and dark if you do too many successive layers of dye without washing back to white as a background again.

Enjoy your sci-fi traditional zoological space exploration egg!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg - Peacocks and Poppies!

2010-10-22T16:48:00.001-05:00

Poppies and Peacocks!

Friday almost got away from me! Lots of big things in the works, and I am starting to ramp up for the holidays. One thing I can announce today is my participation in the East Austin Studio Tour. This year it is two weekends, Saturday and Sunday, November 13th and 14th and Saturday and Sunday, November 20th and 21st. The hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and I will open up my studio and be demonstrating most of each day. We will have refreshments and beverages on offer. We had a great time last year and I am looking forward to doing it again. I hope you all can come out and say hello and take a look at some of my new creations. Speaking of which...

I made a beautiful blue Friday egg with orange poppies and peacocks. I started with a white egg and measured out a figure-eight design to frame the poppies in the inner circles and create frames for the peacocks out of the outside of the circular shapes. The orange is a little less intense than I would have liked, but I still like it with the cobalt blue background.

Peacock with blue tailfeathers

Traditional Rose or Star Pattern next to garland

Pretty orange poppy. I always call the orange ones California poppies. Is that right?

Scarlet flower detail

Peacock is ready for his close-up.

Red, green and blue garland

Red initials on the bottom of the egg.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg for Jennie

2010-10-15T13:29:00.000-05:00

Jennie from Australia saw just a bit of this egg in a group shot I posted in my Flickr gallery and asked for a closer look, so here you go!

I am going to show two colorways of the same design because it is not only interesting to see how different colors affect the mood of the egg, but I also would usually not post the pink one because of various prototypical problems.

This is a truly hybrid egg using traditional elements arranged in a contemporary way with more modern color choices.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Brown Chicken Egg Etched and Dyed

2010-10-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

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!

Friday Egg: More Wildflowers

2010-10-01T09:29:00.002-05:00

Riffing on last week's wildflower idea, I did a mixed bouquet this week. I started with a black egg to draw the "bones" of the flowers: stems, petals and leaves. After washing back down to white, I used a large sized delrin kistka to apply wax on the yellow, orange, green, dark green and red layers. I was looking for a blobby and imprecise "not staying in the lines" feel which is hard to achieve with the fine points of my electric kistky. I think that paintings of wildflower scenes are better when they suggest rather than illustrate - too much detail and precision makes it look like an awkward family photo. After red, I washed the egg back down to white and then dipped in vinegar for a while for a light etch to pop the flowers a bit more from the background.

And just a quick reminder: I have a basic Pysanky workshop scheduled for Saturday, October 16. Contact me if you are interested - the basic details are on the upper right side of the blog. It's coming up quickly!

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg

2010-09-24T17:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! I can't believe the day is almost over. It seems the more I do the more it seems like I should be doing, so by 5 o'clock, I am going a million miles an hour. So to slow it down, I will post a wildflower egg to remind myself to breathe and look up every once in a while. This is a stylized version of a bluebonnet patch. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas. I periodically try to recreate them, and have had varied success. The color of the real thing is a deep purple-blue that I can't yet achieve, but have high hopes with all the amazing new dye colors coming out now. The architecture of the flower is difficult as well because it is easy to over-do, so that it looks like the flower is posing as a flower rather than hanging out with its buddies in a lovely field. I think this worked out pretty well because I worked very loose and fast and didn't worry so much about the fiddly bits.

I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg!

2010-09-17T16:30:00.000-05:00

A brown chicken egg etched and dyed with a pretty rosy pink color. Traditional design, contemporary colors. I like how this one turned out, and am always a fan of the diagonal band. It adds a lot of dynamic energy to the design. I started with a brown egg, waxed all the brown lines, then etched it down to white so that I could get a really clear and bright pink. Sometimes a brown egg will give the dye a brownish or yellowish cast, good for some things, but I was interested in bright this week. Waxed the white lines next, then dipped in Rose Red and waxed, then dipped the final color of black.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg and Workshop!

2010-09-10T11:45:00.002-05:00

Good Friday everyone! It is a beautiful hot sunny day outside, quite a change from Tropical storm Hermine. It rained so much that the billboards ads peeled right off the billboards and littered the ground underneath in great colorful sheets.

I am going to be offering a workshop in October, so please mark your calendars!

Basic Pysanky Workshop

Saturday, October 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

This is a basic "how-to" class. We will make a simple design to
start with, so we can cover egg preparation, pencil marking and planning, using
the kistka, dye preparation and use, and how to get the wax off the egg so you
can see what you have done!

$60 per person plus $20 for materials, which consist of two blown eggs for you
to work on during class and a take-home kit that has everything you need to do
this at home - beeswax patty, kistka, six dyes, and simple design pages that
have traditional designs broken down with instructions.

Please let me know if you are interested in this class by e-mail. If you will need a kit, please sign up for the class by Monday, October 4th so that I have time to order kits.

Now, on to Friday Egg:

The Friday egg this week is a horizontal banded design. Haven't done one of these in a while because sometimes I feel like they can be boring. I think it is the mirrored repetition of design on top and bottom. Perhaps next time I can do different designs on each band and see whether that works better for me. I did one like that once that was almost like a carousel, with horses running around the top third. Put that one on my ever lengthening list of things to try. Every time I do an egg, it makes me think of two or three different things I want to try. Like a friendly and creative many-headed Hydra.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg

2010-09-03T16:40:00.001-05:00

Hello September! I am looking forward to the temperatures coming down a bit - it is in the high 80's today so I can see the end of the hot and sunny tunnel!

Friday egg today is based on a piece of chiyogami (yuzen) paper I have had floating around for a while. I love these papers - definitely worth looking at when you need inspiration or even just for fun. They are beautiful and delicate designs in gorgeous colors, pale or intense, with subtle rhythm and perfect golden accents.

Butterflies and flowers for the end of summer:

No Friday Egg!

2010-08-19T21:31:00.002-05:00

So sorry, but I will be unable to post a Friday Egg for this week or next week. I hope to get back to my regularly scheduled egg postings on Friday, September 3rd. I promise!

Friday Egg

2010-08-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

Better a day late than none at all. I apologize for the delay.

A traditional deer egg, but with a fun twist on the eternity band.

I hope you enjoy it! Now, back to taking care of the small and demanding toddler...

Technical Difficulties!

2010-08-13T21:53:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks, looks like Flickr is down this evening. I will have to post the Friday Egg tomorrow, sorry for the delay...

Friday Egg

2010-08-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

Back to basics this week with a traditional star pattern done on a goose egg. This is based off of a pattern from the Ukrainian Gift Shop's series of books on Pysanky. This is out of Design Book 1.

This pattern always reminds me of when I started doing Pysanky because it was the first complicated design I ever did that worked out. I was so proud of that first egg with this design.

Has anyone else done this pattern? I'd love to see photos!

Friday Egg Tutorial!

2010-07-30T15:38:00.005-05:00

I mentioned the possibility of a tutorial a few weeks ago, and darned if I didn't follow through on it! Following is a tutorial on how to make the Hollyhocks egg I featured several weeks ago. If you follow the instructions and make one of your own, send me the photo so I can post it on the blog (or just so I can see it if you are shy.)

So without further ado, let us begin.

I started with a white egg, drained and cleaned, with the drain hole plugged up with a bit of wax and sealed. I dyed the egg Black, making sure to turn it every few minutes so the egg would be evenly dyed and very dark. It is important to make the egg as deep a color (or in this case, non-color) as possible so that the outlines will be visible and obvious in the final egg. There's nothing more disappointing that finishing the last layer of wax and melting it all off to reveal something kind of boring, lame and without definition.

Once the egg was as dark as I needed, I dried it off and drew a few guidelines. You can see I drew horizontal and vertical guidelines, dividing the egg into 8 equal sections. It is not imperative, but just something I do so that I always know where I am going. I used a white colored pencil for this so that the lines would be visible against the black.

After our guidelines are in place, we are ready to start waxing! For the circles, I used a Medium point electric kistka, and I used a fine point for the stems and leaves. I want the lines to be pretty chunky and sturdy because I will be etching the egg in the next step. If the wax lines are too fine, they can be etched away. After all my outlines are done, I wash some of the black dye off with Ivory dish soap (pretty much any soap will do, but avoid the ones with lotion in!) then put in full strength vinegar for several minutes to etch the surface.

This is how the egg looks after waxing the black dye layer and then etching:

Now it is time to wax over the areas of the egg we want to remain white. I like to go from a dark center to a lighter edge on the flowers, so using the Medium kistka I draw a thick line right up against the black line at the edge of the flower. Using the fine point kistka, I draw concentric circles inside the flowers for my color layers. If you like, you can skip this step and not separate the layers with a white line.

Next we decide what color we want the flowers to be. I chose Pink because it is a deep enough color to be able to dilute it with washing two more times.

As you can see here, we will cover the inner circle of the flower with wax. After all the deep pink areas are covered, it is time to wash the color to half strength or so. Just put the egg under running water, rolling it around in your hand and checking every few seconds to make sure you don't over-wash. If you do, just re-dye it pink and wash it again until you achieve the color intensity you like.

Now cover the next circle with wax and then rinse the egg under running water again until you get the color you like then dry and apply wax to this final circle.

At this point, we will be changing gears color-wise, so it is a good idea to wash off all the dye with Ivory soap.

I used Harvest Green for the stems and some of the leaves. It is slightly gray and dull, but because the pink is so bright, I didn't want the green and the pink to be the same intensity and duke it out for supremacy. I want a peaceful little egg.

You can see in the middle that I blobbed! Sometimes wax just decides to plop off all at once. Usually I can catch it in time, but this one snuck by me. I will show you how it looks once I melt the wax off.

I wanted to use two different greens on the leaves, just for added interest. I chose Jade Green to finish this layer.

Now for the final color - I chose Violet, but you can choose anything you like. I tried dipping it directly from Jade Green to Violet, but the color was a bit too muddy, so I washed the egg back down to white and put it in Violet.

After it dried for a couple of hours (see last Friday Egg for why I waited!), I put the egg in the toaster oven in a grocery store bought foil pan at 200 degrees F and melted the wax off. You can also do this in the microwave, but you MUST OPEN THE SEALED END OR THE EGG WILL EXPLODE!!! Sorry to shout, but it is enough to make you want to lie down for the rest of the day when that happens. I want you to be happy at the end of this, not sad. For the microwave, take a heated kistka tool and put it through the sealed end to unseal it. Nestle it in a paper towel that is placed in a small microwave safe bowl and heat 10 seconds at a time. When you see the wax get shiny, take it out and wipe off the wax. IT WILL BE HOT! Sorry to shout again, but it hurts to get molten beeswax on your fingers. I really like the low-key toaster over approach, but it is up to you.

Look closely at the next photo and you can see where I blobbed. I don't think it detracts from the egg at all, and is really not terribly noticeable so I am not going to worry about it. I pronounce the egg done!

You can really see in the next photo how the black lines are etched. All the other colors are lower and less shiny than black because the shell is roughed up from etching.

Happy Friday, everyone! I look forward to seeing everyone's Hollyhock eggs.

Friday Egg

2010-07-23T21:37:00.002-05:00

A traditional pattern on a goose egg today, with some non-traditional colors.

I started with a white goose egg, and worked on a wide and intricate eternity band. Next was Sunflower Yellow, Harvest Green, Bright Green, Peacock Blue, Harvest Orange, Scarlet and a final color of Turquoise. I am not totally happy with this egg. The final color looks uneven and blotchy. I should have let it sit longer after the final dye bath. When I melt the wax off an egg that is still humid on the inside from a lot of dye baths, the humidity is forced through the pores of the egg when the air heats up and adversely affects the dye. I like the plant under the feet of the deer and the eternity band turned out pretty well. Sometimes it is difficult for me to get the geometry right on these wide bands because the squares squish up as they go around the more narrow top of the egg and can sometimes look awkward.

Friday Egg

2010-07-16T07:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! Here's a sweet little brown chicken egg, transformed into a strawberry garden. I waxed the basic lines on a regular brown egg, as you can see then etched the eggshell down to white with vinegar (the vinegar eats through eggshell). I filled in the flowers with wax, taking advantage of the natural white color of the egg. I dyed the egg light green and waxed, then a darker green for the larger leaves, next dark red for the strawberry seeds (which you can't really see so that was kind of a waste of time!) At this point I washed all the color off because my next color is Scarlet, which is lighter than Dark Red and following the normal progression of light to dark, this would not work. I have experimented with the color progressions a bit and will have to do a post sometime about the bizarre outcomes (red over dark green produces beige!). After Scarlet, I realized that I needed a little pop of bright color, so I washed it again and dyed it Sunflower yellow for the little dots. Final dunk in black and we are all done!

I really like it a lot! Will have to do more with fruits and vegetables. They are somehow more "friendly" than flowers, if that makes sense.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Egg

2010-07-09T15:37:00.000-05:00

Hot or Not?

I made this egg a while back, but hesitated to post it as a Friday Egg because I can't quite figure out if I like it or not. I love the swirling design and the elephant, but I made a mistake in giving it a white background. I think the main thing I dislike about it is the pink and yellow are too much of the same intensity, so you can't see the yellow dots on the circling pink lines and both are far too light against the white. And in comparison, the blue looks jarring against such delicate colors.

I thought if I put it away for a while and looked at it again, I would be able to decide if I like it or not but I am still on the fence. What do you think? Hot or not?

Just for kicks I added a poll at the bottom of the page (scroll down past the comments area and the ad) to make it easy for you to tell me what you think - just click on the button that most agrees with your view. As always, comments are welcome.

Friday Egg

2010-07-02T22:33:00.001-05:00

Great colors today! Basic traditional design, but instead of starting with a white egg, I dyed the goose egg with Pysanky Showcase Golden Yellow. After waxing all the beginning design lines, I washed the egg back down to white for a few details, then green, orange, pink, peacock blue, purple, and red. Final color was black. I'm happy with how it turned out - it looks like kente cloth to me. What do you think?

This photo comes from Exploring Africa - check it out - lots of very cool pictures of kente cloth patterns.

Okay, so here are a few more photos for your perusal. Happy Friday!

Scale object is a nickel this week - everything costs more these days!

Craftypod podcast

2010-06-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

I love the Craftypod podcast! Always thoughtful and informative interviews with entrepreneurs, artists, and crafters. I started listening a few years ago and then it got shuffled to the background post baby. Now that I am able to look up and look around a bit more, I have come back to Sister Diane's podcasts and love them even more than before.

This particular show was interesting to me because Sister Diane and her guest Megan Auman of Crafting an MBA talk about the difference between professional and amateur sellers on Etsy. One key topic they talk about is Etsy's business model and how important it is to Etsy that they have lots of amateur sellers who are interested in the community/social aspect of the site. Like a thunderbolt, this clarified some of the ideas that were half-formed in my head, like why should I bother to spend the time and money re-listing items or being very involved in the forums. I have been feeling vaguely guilty that I am not more interested in doing these and other things that would increase my popularity there, but am am absolved! My target market is not on Etsy, so it would be a waste of my time to devote marketing energy there. It makes more sense for me to use them as an online store, do my marketing elsewhere, and send my customers there to purchase.

Now the question is: where is elsewhere?

I have only had a chance to listen to about half of the show, and am now off the work at the Harry Ransom Center for the afternoon, but I am sure to have a lot more thoughts about selling, Etsy, and making money from what I love to do as I listen to more. Go check it out and leave a comment if you have any major brainstorms like I did!

Friday Egg

2010-06-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

It's a little Matryoshka family today for the Friday egg. I love Matryoshka nesting dolls, but nice sets are out of my price range, so I decided to make some of my own! They don't actually next, but I am okay with that. The large one is a goose egg and the small one is a quail egg.

I started with a dyed black egg for the outlines, then washed and etched it back down to white. I used Pysanky Showcase Lily Rose for the lips, cheeks, and the pink rose in the bouquets they both hold. The blue of the apron is a new blue I got from Wax Art Supply called Peacock Blue. Also from Wax Art Supply is the Harvest Orange flowers on the kerchief and the Harvest Green for the leaves in the bouquet. I used Ukrainian Gift Shop Scarlet for the poppies and the lighter red on the apron and skirt, and UGS Dark Red for the final red of the headscarf.

I had a lot of fun with this and am looking forward to making a few sets of these in different colorways, perhaps even a Japanese version with the dolls wearing belted kimonos.

Mama Matryoshka:

Baby Matryoshka:

And finally, one last one together with their life savings (for scale):

Happy Friday!

Good Quote

2010-06-18T20:57:00.000-05:00

"One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes."

-Etienne Decroux