Egg Decorating

[Shelley]

It's that time of year again! I haven't colored eggs in YEARS...so I felt like giving it a try today. It was the first time I hollowed out an egg by poking a hole an blowing out the yolk. I was totally prepared to make an omelette but after that experience I seemed to have lost my appetite. haha anyways! art history got the best of me yet again..

My eggies!

Anyone else been decorating these past few days? I love to see the designs people come up with :D

[dawnshine]

I have never considered decorating eggs before. I knew people did it but it never seemed nearly as appealing as you've made the outcome look. Normally it's just pastel colors but this is sweet. I might have to try it now.

[Shelley]

On the news today I saw a man that drills thousands of tiny holes into a pattern on top of a goose egg and then illuminates it. It was the coolest thing!! So I looked up some some other egg art, and people do the neatest things with eggs, it's fascinating!

Hollowing out the eggs is rather annoying though haha

[Bright ^_^]

Shelley, your eggs are lovely! ^_^ I recognize most of these paintings, but what is the comic book looking eye?

 

I have some that I made last year and the year before. I have some pre-hollowed out eggs that I made that I guess I could paint this year. Now I have something to do tomorrow, as you've just reminded me of my eggs. ^_^ But if you think the hollowing out is hard, just trying putting a thread through the egg with a knot in it so you can hang it up. Now that is tricky.

 

 

From top to bottom, left to right:

 

First row:

1. an egg representative of God the Father as he appeared to the Israelites in the wilderness: smoke during the day and fire at night. This was as close as I wanted to get to representing God the Father, because we don't really know what he looks like, but someday I'll meet him in heaven, and then I'll see him face to face! As the Apostle Paul said to the church in the City of Corinth "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

2. a goldfinch; a bird that I miss from back home

3. paisley designs

4. a more Christmas-y design

 

Second row:

1. an egg I made representative of God the Holy Spirit; the text on it reads "the wind blows wherever it pleases," which is a quote from something Jesus said about God's Spirit "⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

 

2. an egg I made representative of the cross that Jesus died on; I made it look somewhat similar to the "Red Cross" organization that does health and relief work because Jesus is my relief and my healer

3. an egg I made of a tree blooming with white blossoms; such a pretty sight in spring

4. an egg I made because my old roommate loves zebra stripes

5. an egg I made because a different old roommate loves paisley and henna designs

 

Third row:

1. an egg representing the holiness (otherness) of God; the text reads "holy, holy, holy" which is a quote from the Prophet Isaiah who saw a vision of God and the angels worshiping him "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

 

2. an egg representing God the Son (Jesus); one side has a lion, the other a lamb; the idea of Jesus being a lamb comes from the prophet John the Baptist "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"" This is based on the idea that before a blood sacrifice of lambs was needed to pay for sin's death penalty, but now Jesus became that new blood sacrifice. The idea of Jesus being a lion comes from John the Apostle, who saw a vision of God's throne room during the times of the end of the world as we know it. "Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. " Jesus is called the Lion of Judah because he is a direct descendant of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Israel (Jacob).

 

3. an egg representing the death penalty for sin (which Jesus paid); the text reads "for the wages of sin is death;" This is a quote from the Apostle Paul who wrote the the believers living in the city of Rome. "Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

4. a Christmas-y design

5. an egg for another old roommate, Minne, also with paisleys, and her favorite colors, green and black.

 

Painting eggs is a fun tradition! And I hope to continue it when I have kids in the future. ^_^ It's cool that the egg is a symbol of new life, of a new birth (even though the eggs we use to paint don't actually have baby chickens in them). This is what Easter is all about! The new birth of the soul from death to live, and the resurrection of Jesus, who died, but rose again to live--proving that he was truly God.

 

 

tl;dr: I love Jesus, God is awesome, and my artistic talents are thanks to the God who gifted me with them!

[Shelley]

these are soooo cool! how on earth did you get a string through them!? that's a neat idea! I'm trying to find a way to display mine, but I'm thinking of making bases for them. The egg with the eye is supposed to be reminiscent of a Roy Lichtenstein piece. He was a pop artist :)

 

how did you manage those paisly designs? they're so intricate and beautiful! I really like the green and black egg as well as "the wind blows wherever it pleases" egg. I really like that quote along with the design and coloring on the egg, really great!

 

egg decorating is a beautiful tradition, I also hope it continues. Even if you're not religious the egg as a sign of new birth is a lovely way to welcome spring!

[Bright ^_^]

To do the string I took a piece of embroidery thread and folded it in half with a knot at the bottom. For my eggs I had a larger hole at the bottom of the egg than at the top, so the knot would go through the bottom, but not the top. I used an unfolded paperclip with a little loop at the bottom to put the thread through, but it probably would have been easier to use a tapestry needle or a plastic yarn needle. I started at the bottom of the egg and then tried to line up the needle/paper clip with the hole in the top and pull it through. The hole in the top had to be big enough for the needle, but not big enough for the knot. Then, for some of the eggs I spread elmer's glue across the bottom hole and let it dry and then do that again a couple more times and covered the glue with paint matching the rest of the egg to make it look like there was only a hole at the top.

 

For the paisley designs I used a white acrylic paint I have that is a little bit thick. The thickness might just be the result of it being old. I'm not sure. It's thick enough that it will leave a raised design on the eggs. I used a toothpick and a lot of patience to put the designs on the eggs. ^_^

 

I think I might have briefly learned a tiny bit about Roy Lichtenstein for my Art Recognition assignments in high school.

 

Egg decorating is pretty cool. ^_^ I wish I was able to create designs as detailed as the Pysansky Ukrainian Egg decorating tradition. My uncle went to Ukraine a long time ago and brought me and my sister back a couple of beautiful eggs. I think they might be made of wood, and not real eggs, though. But I'm not sure if that's what they usually use. This image is from the Wikipedia article about Pysansky.

[Shelley]

Oh wow! You must have a lot of patience…even just making the holes in the eggs was a pain I couldn’t imagine pulling a string though. I made the larger hole at the top of mine instead of the bottom. Thanks for sharing how you were able to do that though, It would be cool to hang them …we have like a mini Easter tree that we hang eggs on :p

 

I never thought to use a toothpick either haha. I tried using a fine tip ink marker on an egg. Badddd idea lol, it ended up smudging everywhere and I ended up washing it off and paining over it…that was the egg with the eye. It looked a lot better in fine tipped marker, but oh well the paint worked better and you can’t even see the smudged marker underneath

 

 

WOW those Ukrainian eggs are stunning!! I don’t know why but I really love the brown ones with black markings, I would love one of those…I would totally put it in a display case and keep it out year round. My mom had some decorative eggs in the house…they’re nothing too special. There are some marble eggs and some glass eggs on stands. They’re really pretty

 

I really wish I had a tiny drill to make some of the cool drilled out patterns on eggs! maybe it's possible with just a needle..either way I really want one :D ...but ould also be in constant fear of it breaking haha

 

[agrinwithoutacat]

I haven't decorated any eggs this year, but all of these look fantastic! You all have a lot of talent, I always just use crayons and the standard dyes.

[Bibii]

Oh wow those are really well done ;O You guys are talented :3!

[Shelley]

haha I usually just use the standard dyes also. Usually they're just solid colors so I had to do something different this year