A couple of days ago, I briefly wrote about egg art, but because a lot of people don't know what that is, I will write about it today. Egg art is also called royal eggs or Faberge style eggs. It involves taking an eggshell, making a tiny hole and emptying the contents, and then decorating to your heart's content. There are several different categories of jeweled eggs, meaning, they involve using different decorative methods on the egg. There are two main headings which they fall under- cut or whole.

The first category is Pysanky. I will admit, I have never tried this method personally other than crude attempts when I was little and didn't know such a thing had a name or tradition. I do know that the eggs have colorful geometric designs, and they look very folks-artsy. The eggs has wax applied to it, and you dye the egg. We all know from coloring Easter eggs that when you put wax, the dye won't stain the egg there. You do increasing layers, going from light colors to dark, and you eventually have a very lovely egg.

The second category is jeweled eggs. These are not cut. They simply have rhinestones and paint or enamel applied to the surface. The first successful egg design I ever did was for my mom. It had a silver background and pink aurora borealis Swarovski crystals applied in a J, the first letter of her name. It also had a silver tassel at the bottom and a silver cord loop at the top for hanging. Very simple, but very nice. Jeweled eggs can be much more elaborate than this. I have done several since then in which the entire surface is covered.

The third category is Decoupage. This is just like decoupaging any other item, and produces a unique effect where there can be a photograph on an egg. The fourth category is painted. This is exactly what it implies. You hand paint scenes on the surface of the egg. The fifth category is scratch carved. It is sort of the anti-pysanky. You apply dye and then scratch it off in places to form a design. The sixth is relief. Paper flowers are added in such a way so as to stand out from the egg. I have not tried any of these methods, but I have seen some very lovely ones.

So far, all of the egg categories have been whole. The rest will involve cut eggs.

The seventh category is diorama. It involves cutting a hole or a window into the side of an egg, and creating a scene inside. I have done one that has a snowman on a blue night background, and had small stars cut into the back to appear like it is a midnight snowman. Very cute.

The eighth category is carved. It involves making a design in the egg using a high speed cutting tool. I currently use a Dremel tool, but most egg artists use something like a dental drill. I have done ones that look as though it is a ribbon crossing over itself, and it has over 50% of it missing. I also have done a spiral egg, in which the whole thing spirals in one direction around the egg. I've also done a few jewelry boxes which open and close. There are some truly imaginative people who can do baby carriages or a chest of drawers.

The final category is Filigree. This is extremely difficult. It typically involves doing a lacy pattern all over the egg, but sometimes it is a modern looking lace-type pattern. For example, one I did recently has little squiggles covering the entire surface of the egg. I also have an egg which has small hearts carved into it, and a line carved between all of the hearts which does not go all the way through the shell, except for small dashes along the line which do go all the way through (yes, you can cut into the depth of an eggshell- ponder that a moment). I have tried taking a photo of this, and it is impossible to capture the tiny details.

This is an old method of art, but somehow has been mostly forgotten. I am so glad that people are discovering it anew. It's brought fresh new ideas to an old art form.

http://photobucket.com/albums/y195/Intricate_Girl/eggart/