Friday Egg: Omphaloskepsis

This one is an unusual piece. Two pieces, actually. Each one is half of the same egg, cut in half and mounted in a frame so that the inside of the eggshell is displayed. 

Most often people see this after an egg is broken, after the worst thing in the world has happened, so they probably are too upset to see how beautiful the inside of the eggshell is. What you are seeing is what happens inside the eggshell when I work on the outside with my dyes and wax. The pores of the shell take the dye in and then it travels through the membrane, reacting to the heat of my hand as it holds the egg.

In order to highlight this beautiful "conversation" between me and the materials, I painted over the pattern I created on the outside of the eggshell with matte black acrylic paint. I want the materials to be the star in this piece.

Friday Egg: Mango I and II

"Mango I" and "Mango II" are two halves of the same goose egg. I injected aniline dye into the egg and let it sit and ponder its future for several days.  Every few hours I would turn the egg over to let the dye seep deeply into another part of the egg. I took they dye out and then cut the eggshell in half and what was revealed was the most luscious looking mango orangey-red. I painted the exterior matte black because I wanted it to be all about the interior color and then sanded the cut edge to make a crisp white border between the black and orange.

Friday Egg: Gamboling Water

"Gamboling Water"  is an etched and dyed ostrich egg. The layering on this eggshell was a challenge, trying to vary the line widths and colors in a random but pleasing way. 

Friday Egg: Coronet

An emu egg, etched with acid. The natural colors of the eggshell in a starring role.

Friday Egg: Curiology

A goose egg waxed and etched and gilded. The beeswax I use as a resist for the etching has a stickiness that can act in place of the regular gold-leaf adhesive.

Friday Egg: "Perpetual Yellow Orbit"