Paint and Eggshells

New Technique?

2009-06-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

A Martha Stewart technique involving old silk ties and scarves has fascinated me for several weeks. By wrapping the egg in a piece of silk and boiling it for several minutes the design from the silk gets transferred to the egg.

It's a great look, and I can see it being the basis for several of my future eggs. It won't be enough by itself -- it's hard for me to consider an egg finished if it doesn't have a resist applied at some point! Plus the colors are muted, and I'm all about bright colors.

The technique got me thinking -- what other materials in the world will transfer their patterns? I know crepe paper will work . . . .

So I'm playing now with tissue paper. I covered one egg with cheap, waxy dollar store tissue paper, and boiled one egg in a metal pan. The design sort of stuck, but I think this would have been more successful if I had let the egg simmer longer, and if I had used vinegar. My only pan is metal, so I'm reluctant to put vinegar in it. Plus I use this one pan for cooking.

My plan for tomorrow is to buy a new pan over lunch, and maybe go scope out Target after work for better paper.

Easter2007-A

2007-05-16T20:48:00.003-07:00

Niece R's very first attempt. She wrote her name on the egg in large letters.

Easter2007-B

2007-05-16T20:48:00.001-07:00

One of mine. The green dye spotted something horrible.

Easter2007-C

2007-05-16T20:47:00.005-07:00

Probably Niece R's favorite of all her eggs.

Easter2007-D

2007-05-16T20:47:00.003-07:00

Easter2007-E

2007-05-16T20:47:00.001-07:00

Another one of Niece R's eggs. This one was a siwrled egg originally.

Easter2007-F

2007-05-16T20:46:00.003-07:00

Niece R designed this egg.

Easter2007-G

2007-05-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

Niece R and I spent an evening dyeing eggs for Easter. This is one I did. The colors suck.

Makeup Egg

2007-04-05T15:45:00.001-07:00

Today I did something I haven't done in years. I gave away an egg. A big gesture was called for -- I said some things I regret saying to a colleague, and I needed to mend the fence.

I miss the egg already. It's the yellow one pictured below. There is a reason I don't give them away, a reason I have about eight dozen in my closet.

But I'm sure M will appreciate it, and I know she'll understand the thought behind it.

2007-03-24T16:58:00.003-07:00

Didn't record the process on this egg, and I completed it over a week ago. No idea what's happened here.

2007-03-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Didn't record what I did to this, and now I'm experiencing regret. Look at how great the color is!

Hit with blo-pen blaster in neon colors (yellow, green, orange) before wax removal.

2007-03-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

Other steps?

2007-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yellow egg with blue Versatex lines, waxed, then dyed horrible red shade.

2007-03-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Yellow egg. Lines applied, dyed orange.

With purple Versatex painted on.

2007-03-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

Egg-spinner egg with original egg-spinner dye and Versatex lines in dark blue.

2007-03-10T14:47:00.001-08:00

Light blue egg with Versatex yellow pattern painted on.

After the Rit Teal dye. Next step is to dribble wax on egg.

I added additional wak to protect the blue, then soaked the entire thing in dark green, which looked horrible. Next move was to soak the egg in vinegar to remove the green.

Spring in the Air

2007-03-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Spring Break starts next week. I'm happy -- I need the break. The week will be spent on three major tasks. Studying for my Trig midterm, spending time with my niece and nephews, and (of course) decorating eggs. I think the oldest kids are old enough for pysanky this year. We'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I have about two dozen dyed eggs awaiting the next stage of decoration. Wonder how quickly we can blow through those?

2007-03-04T22:52:00.007-08:00

Red egg with wax. Later soaked in vinegar to remove red dye, then placed in Rit Seafoam Green.

End result. Nice, simple, interesting color.

Dates Don't Mean A Damn Thing

2007-03-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

I've given up. I can organize this by egg (so I can record the processes used on each egg) or by date, and end up with a mishmash of seemingly unrelated topics requiring a lot of back-tracking. The date issue is further compounded by the longevity of my projects. I've been trying to figure out what to do with some eggs for about six years now!! Imagine trying to relate six years of entries into a cohesive whole.

I could probably do this with a database, but forcing myself to document is hard enough as it is. If I have to design a DB and then design an interface I'll never get around to documentation at all.

So each egg is listed by a seperate date, but the dates don't mean anything. Think of them as dividers, not as dates.

2007-03-04T19:14:00.003-08:00

Lovely blue egg with wax.

Versatex stripes in yellow.

Additional stripes in purple. Probably not the best color choices.

Dotted with wax in preparation for black dye bath.

Yuck. Now what do I do with this?

2007-03-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Fabric Blo-Pen designs stenciled on egg. Lines later painted on using dye thickner and a Jaquard dye.

Small swirls waxed on. Filled the egg with water to dye it, but didn't add enough water so it floated. Took advantage of the float by dying the tip in teal, then inverting the egg and dying it dark green for a few minutes. Wax removed.

2007-03-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

Fuschia egg, probably dyed with the cool German sheet dyes

Waxed . . . .

Egg painted with Setacolor inside the waxed area, then dyed dark gray for a few minutes. Wax removed.

2007-03-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Yellow egg. Blue lines added using thinkened dy-na-flow. Pattern waxed on top.

After being dyed Dylon Tahitian Rose.

Wax dribbled onto the egg

Dyed slate blue.

2007-02-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

Pink egg, waxed.

Dipped in vinegar for a while, and gently scrubbed to remove some of the color. Notice I wasn't horribly successful -- a quarter-sized area of wax was removed, too.

A few spots of yellow Versatex added

Decided to go with a tan color.

Didn't really like the color so I brushed a little watered-down Versatex purple on it.

2007-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

OK, it looks like a light blue egg with the dye removed, then a bad yellow dye job

Wax removed and more wax applied; just prior to a black dye bath.

Wax removed again. Feels like we're verging on interesting.

Wow. I didn't think anything could save this, but look what half an hour and a bunch of gold rubber-stamp embossing powder can do.