Friday Egg

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Etienne Decroux

Friday Egg

Six stars, four on the sides and one on top and bottom.  I started with a white egg dyed golden yellow, then washed back down to white, through light turquoise, turquoise, light purple and dark purple.  I like the combination of colors here - they are strong but not in competition with each other.  Hope you enjoy this picture heavy Friday Egg!