About Egg Art: Decorating Eggs with Wax and Dye How about I tell you a little bit about how I create my egg art while we wait for the pictures to load. . . . I start with a clean chicken egg. I work on the egg when it is still full, because I need the weight to sink the egg into a dye bath. The process I use is similar to Batik . Batik is an ancient craft using multiple wax applications and dye baths, most likely you've seen it on fabric. It's a challenge to wrap a design around the curved surface of an egg, and this part takes me the longest, and is most absorbing. I "do" my eggs in the evenings after the kids are asleep. Depending on the design, an egg can take anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours to complete. I rarely finish an egg in one evening, rather, I have six different eggs going at once and I work on them throughout the week. To finish the eggs, I coat them with a Polyurethane varnish , and then empty the eggs by drilling a small hole in the bottom and blowing out the insides. I rinse the insides clean with water and sterilize with bleach. After the inside dries, I apply more coats of varnish to strengthen the shell and enhance the colors. Design inspiration comes from many sources. Quilt patterns, Ukrainian pysanky designs, ethnic motifs, favorite subjects and, of course, Mother Nature. So, if the pictures are done loading, have a look and see what I do . . .

Beginning with this clean white chicken egg, I divide the egg into sections using a No2 pencil and a fabric measuring tape.

Using an electric wax pen called a "kistka", I draw over the grid lines. Beeswax is used in the kistka because of it's low melting point. Beeswax makes an even line and is removed easily with heat or cleaning solvent.

Now comes the series of dye baths. Starting with the lightest color (yellow), I set the egg in the dye for a few minutes until the color is right. Notice the lines waxed on the white egg have resisted the dye and will remain white. I start my pattern by waxing in a flower over the yellow dye. This flower will remain yellow on the finished egg.

Next, the green dye bath. See how the flowers remain yellow because they are protected by the wax?

Waxing in the green background pattern.

An orange dye is used to neutralize the green, and allow a good red. If you try and dip a green egg into a red dye bath, it will come out brown. Always use the orange wash when changing color families. I'm also using the orange dye bath to wax in orange centers for the flowers.

A red dye bath, and more flower petals are waxed in.

The final dye bath is the darkest color, usually black. I don't need to wax over the black parts since I am finished dyeing and there will be no other colors to interfere with the black color.

Now the fun part. I remove the wax by soaking it in a jar of high grade Naphtha , erase any stray pencil lines, and dip it in naphtha again, assuring all the wax is removed. The egg is now ready to be emptied, cleaned, and varnished.