Friday Egg: Butterfly Tree

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: Purple and Orange Traditional Rose

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: 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: Fiesta!

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: A favorite color combination

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: 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!