Friday Egg: The Flapper

This egg reminds me of a cute little flapper with a heart-shaped face wearing one of those amazing beaded headdresses like this silent film actress Lili Damita. What glamour!

It is a chicken eggshell waxed, etched in vinegar and then dyed with Patina, one of my favorite dyes right now.

Friday Egg: Icy Twilight

Happy Friday! In honor of the Snow Day we are having, a lovely winter egg in two shades of Emu Blue. I return to this basic design all the time because I enjoy creating it and changing the colors, thickness of line, amount of detail. It gets me "warmed up" when I am working on other more challenging eggs. I really like the Emu Blue on this one, like an icy twilight. It makes a nice deep navy blue on a white eggshell, which I have never really been able to find with any other dye color.

Have a great (cold and snowy) weekend!

Friday Egg: Flowstone

Another original design is on offer today. I have been thinking of earth and landscape forms for the past few months and then I started thinking of what is under the earth. This egg is reminiscent of the stalactite forms found in caves, most especially those that look like the gills under a mushroom cap like this formation in Carlsbad Caverns:

http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/archives/compress/2007/608/05.htm

These formations are called travertine flowstone speleothems. According to Wikimedia,  "Flowstone is a form of speleothem that forms where calcium-carbonate-rich water trickles down the walls of a cavern. Over time travertine accumulates in unusual drapery and ripple-shaped patterns, reflecting the constantly changing pattern of surface water flow and mineral accumulation." 

I think they are fantastic, not only because they are beautiful to look at, but because they are a combination of fragile and strong, static and changing. It's stone flowing like water, growing over millennia to create new and even more fanciful forms.

I started with Key Lime, then used Lilac for the next layer, and the gills were done in three shades of Carrot.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Kissing Fish

This goose egg decided what it was going to be all on its own! I had planned on doing a floral motif with one central large bloom in each open space with vines trailing to each side with smaller blooms in the narrow ends of the chevron shape between the bands. But as you can see, that did not happen! As I was sketching out the flower design, I saw that the sawtooth shapes left a negative space that just had to be filled with a fish shape. And naturally, since those shapes were on the top and bottom of the chevron, there had to be two fish kissing.

I was really pleased when I melted the wax off the egg and saw the amazing colors! One of my favorite color combinations is pink and orange, and I think that combination worked perfectly with the fish!

The colors used (in order!) are Golden Wheat, Neon Green, Key Lime, Carrot, Lily Rose, Rhodamine, Turquoise and Emu Blue.

Happy Friday!