Friday Egg: Jawbreaker

Bright layers of color on this goose egg: reds and pinks on a yellow background. Looks like some sort of delicious prehistoric candy.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Hot Day Hollyhocks

I've taken the past few weeks off from working and may be slow in posting new things for the rest of the summer as well due to family needs and technical difficulties (yay for new computer!)

Here's a sweet little one that just had to be SEEN! Bright and hot colors, orange and pink that cannot be ignored. I love this color combination. I call this one "Hot Day Hollyhocks"which seems to be a fitting name for a July blog entry. 

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: So Below

Does this one look familiar? I posted an egg a couple of months ago called "Patchwork" that was finished but I wasn't thrilled with it. So I went back to it and painted over the black areas with 23K shell gold. I really like it now. It really feels finished now.

I hope you like it. Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Second Hand Rainbows

Thinking of an old toy from the Seventies, bright rainbow colors with painted on fake gold worn away in places from use and love. Visible history; the echo of hands, bumps, pockets and the forgotten back of dark drawers and cardboard boxes.

I started with a white egg, waxed all the now gold outlines, then went through the rainbow colors, ending with purple. I wiped the egg down with Goo Gone to remove any wax residue so that the water-based 23K shell gold would stick to the shell. I painted on the shell gold with gelatin water to make it stick and burnished it with an agate to make the gold shine. I over-burnished in some places, flaking the gold off and making it look worn. I was also less than meticulous in my outlining, just as a tired factory worker on their 800th toy would be, just getting the gold on and not really caring if it got outside the lines. 

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Phoenix

 I've been using a lot of blues and greens lately and decided this week to go the opposite direction in my color choices, using mostly hot colors. I dyed this goose egg with PUSA Golden Wheat, then used UGS Red, Scarlet and Dark Red, along with Jacquard Salmon and Jacquard Violet.

The imagery makes me think of a bird's wing and the colors naturally lent themselves to the idea of the Phoenix rising. I definitely want to work with this design again to see what else I can evoke with the use of different colors and different design details.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Refraction Shift

Wading through a shallow stream on a sunny day, I watch how the river rocks below the surface change as the light plays on the water, bouncing off the surface and diving deep to illuminate the bottom. The shapes grow and shrink, the colors get bright and hot then deep and cool. My head is hot in the sunlight and my feet are cold in the stream. 

This modern Pysanky was done on a goose egg with Procion Avocado, PUSA Asparagus, UGS Turquoise and Jacquard Teal.

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Green Leaf

I have another design based on mid-century modern pattern, done on a goose egg. Starting with a white egg, I waxed the basic leaf pattern, then dipped in Procion Avocado. I waxed the inner leaves, then dipped in PUSA Asparagus for the background color. I love the deep rich green of the Asparagus dye. It's the perfect tone to be dark enough to show off the design but still register as a color.

Happy Friday!