Friday Egg: Colorful Exotic Bird

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: Aqua, Cream and Brown Traditional Pysanky

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.

Friday Egg: Does this look like a Tippyloo egg?

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: First of 2011

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: 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!