Friday Egg: Pygmalion! Etched and Dyed Brown Chicken Egg

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!

Friday Eggs

This week we are back to traditional style!  A customer at Artworks bought two eggs in process, so essentially sight unseen, that were traditional style.  As soon as it stops raining I will be able to varnish them and get them delivered.  In the meantime, I have been playing with the same design a bit and here you can see the same basic traditional geometric design with minor tweaks (because I can't do the same thing twice!) on a chicken egg and a goose egg. I was a bit surprised at how little the dynamism was affected by the difference in size.  Sometimes working on a larger egg makes the design less exciting somehow, but I think it works on both sizes here.  What do you think?

Goose egg:

Chicken Egg:

Easter Week Preview

Easter Week has arrived! It's going to be busy, with a demo and sale (remember 50% goes to charity!) at Sweet Charity Gift Shop on Wednesday and Thursday of this week from 10  to 2 p.m. and a demo and sale at Artworks Gallery on Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m.  For more details, take a look at the listings to the left!

Following is a preview of some new eggs that will be available for sale this week:

I hope that you can make it to one of the shows to say hello!

Friday Egg and Calendar Items!

Hello all...

It's a busy busy day today with lots of different items on my to-do list, not least of which is the Friday Egg! First, I will mention a few business items. To the left on this page, you will find two listings to put on your calendar. The first is for my annual charity sale/demo at Sweet Charity Gifts in the 26 Doors Shopping Center on 38 1/2 Street in Austin. This sale is the week before Easter, on Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days. Half of all proceeds go to the Seton Fund, which provides charity care at Seton Hospital. The second even is on the Saturday before Easter at Artworks Gallery on 6th Street on Gallery Row in Austin from 12 noon to 4 p.m. I hope you can come out to one or both of these demonstrations to say hello and check out how I create this art (and I wouldn't mind it if someone bought something too!). I am also offering a workshop on March 27th from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For $40 (plus $20 for a take-home kit if you want), I am offering a Pysanka Basics class. I will walk you through marking an egg with basic divisions and then waxing and dyeing through at least three dye baths. You should go home with at least one finished egg, and possibly more depending on how fast you are.

And now, on to the Friday Egg - Banksy Blue Elephants!  This is a goose egg with an elephant train (okay, two elephants) going around in a circle. I am on the fence about it, but will withhold judgement until I get some varnish on it. Sometimes that helps.  I think my main problem with it is that the blue of the elephants is too dark compared to the background.  I just kept thinking about the artist Banksy and his blue elephant when I was doing this, so I just had to have that blue.  Were I to do it again, and I probably will, I would make the background yellow or even white so that they stand out more.  My favorite part is the striped tusks.

If it is nice out on Sunday, we will be going to the kite festival! Hope your weekend is a good one!

Friday Egg

I really enjoyed making the Friday Egg today!  I used blue as the background color which I haven't done in a long time and it made for a completely different feeling. Sometimes I feel that the blue isn't deep or dark enough to set off the bright colors, but combined with the golden yellow, reds and green, it makes for a circus-y feeling egg.

Following the theme of using traditional designs in non-traditional ways, the eight-pointed stars/roses float around the egg, accented with small flowers and leaves.  I enjoyed the opportunity to experiment with different patterns within the roses themselves.  Normally, I try to match any sets because I like the balance of a traditional egg, but since this didn't have to be balanced (at least in the traditional sense) I could have a bit of fun.  I started with the Pysanky Showcase Golden Brown, then went back down to white and back up again. I will be trying this one again with different patterns and color schemes.

Thanks for looking!  Have a great weekend.

Friday Egg

A valentine egg for you today! Pretty scarlet poppy on a white background on a goose egg, approximately 4 1/2 inches tall.

My varnishing set-up

I completed a couple of eggs for my usual Friday Egg schedule, but I ended up having to varnish them instead of taking "boudoir photos" of the eggs.  I can only put varnish on when the weather is clear and dry and it has been raining here for what seems like weeks! So here we are in my dark and dreary garage workroom, where I will show you how I put varnish on eggs.

I have really struggled with this step in the process. The problem is getting a smooth coat of varnish on a round surface.  I tried using the drying board with nails that various Pysanky egg suppliers sell, but that never worked because the egg would stick to the nail tips and either a bit of varnish or a bit of the eggshell itself would break off! Not good. Spray varnish is another way to go, and it is okay, but I am not patient and end up with drips and dribbles because I spray far too heavy of a coat instead of lots of thin ones.  Plus I found that it is much more expensive as well as wasteful.

Now I use varnish out of a can (Liquitex or Golden MSA) and apply it with a fan brush, which allows a bit thinner coating.  To keep the eggshell supported without touching it, I use lengths of floral wire inside the original hole from blowing out the egg contents. I insert the wire into blocks of floral styrofoam or a block of styrofoam mailing popcorn.

Here I am using my drying board to support the egg while I varnish it.

 I start with the egg vertical and brush varnish on the top and sides.  Then I flip it over and get the bottom part of the egg.  Finally, I brush from bottom to top on all sides until I feel that I have gotten good and even coverage.

As much as I can, I try to keep the coats light because I don't monitor for drips and hate getting a dried up bump at the bottom that I have to sand off or cut off with an X-acto blade.  One good thing about using the floral wire is that extra varnish will often drip down and off the egg completely.

Here's the egg stuck into styrofoam and ready to dry out:

Oh, and one last thing:  DON'T USE WATER-BASED VARNISH!!!  I learned the hard way when the guy at the hardware store steered me wrong.  Just make sure it is the one with health hazard warnings all over the can and you will be safe.  You might not be healthy, but you will be safe in knowing you are using the right varnish.

If you have any tips or ideas that you think might make this process easier, I would love to hear them.

Friday Egg

I am trying to fit this in during JoJo's naptime. She is having a rough week and home sick today with a fever and fussiness.  Perhaps teething.

To business:  I have a more contemporary Friday Egg today.  Stylized poppies on a pink background.  I am feeling the need to create more Springtime themed eggs for my upcoming trunk show and Easter shows.  I like the raspberry fluff shade of pink.

Here's a close up.  I don't think you can see, but the surface was etched a bit to add another dimension.

You can tell just a bit by the thin red outline on the shapes.  That is actually the vertical "wall" made by etching in vinegar.  Since dark red was my last color before I rinsed it down to make the raspberry fluff color, the etched egg picked up that color and it makes an interesting effect, I think.

Thanks for looking!