Friday Egg: More Wildflowers

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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...