I was thrilled when I went to the front door to get the mail today, to find the new Emu eggs that I had ordered. I fell in love with the vertical curved cut and just had to have them. They will be jewelry boxes when I'm finished, lined with fabric and fully painted. I'm not sure yet what I'll paint on them but I will think of something good. These are the before photos and in the next weeks, I'll hopefully have finished one of them and will be listing an after photo. 
25 comments:
Hi Ruth!
You are so amazing to be able to work with such a unique canvas!
I cannot wait to see it as you work.
Have a wonderful day!
Melissa
Hi Ruth,
Can't wait to see the finished egg! Thanks for visiting my blog, I love to meet new friends. Your artwork is wonderful. I'll be back to visit often.
Donna :)
I second the you're amazing to be able to work on something like these eggs!
Can't wait to see the finished product! Your work always amazes me, especially when painting on an egg!
I think I actually got some ideas this morning, what I might like to do, on one of them atleast. The emu egg is a fabulous surface to paint on, it is a wonderful and very sturdy egg to hold in your hands. The biggest challenge is the texture, it can make very fine, delicate work very tricky. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Oh Ruth... so looking forward to seeing what you do with your eggs.... I love your work.....
HUGS
JO
Hi Ruth,
Those are beautiful eggs ... It will be great to see them once you have finished painting them. I am imagining how beautiful they will be.
Hi Ruth, do you use water colours on the eggs? I once saw someone selling them at a market, not with the wavey cut like yours, now you mention it I bet the surface would be good to work with. Can't wait to see the finished result, bet it's stunning!!
Hi Ruth, we too eagerly await the finished result of these beautiful eggs! Jenn and Jacqui
Thanks Jo, Kate, Gail & Jenn...
Gail, to answer your question, some of my goose egg pins, which can be viewed in my Elegant Egg Art category or on ETSY, have a watercolor background. You'll probably be able to tell those from the acrylic background as, the color is lighter and more delicate.
The tricky part with that is, if you touch the surface with your fingers, the color automatically lifts off, as the watercolor paint does not absorb into that surface. So while I think it is veyr pretty, it is just too hard to work with.
For big egg boxes like these, it would be very hard to do any part of them in watercolor , as I have to hold the egg in my hand to paint it, the paint would continually be coming off. For these big eggs, I would always use acrylic.
Thanks for asking this great question though, I love it when people pose questions to me. : )
Hi Ruth, thanks so much for visiting. Hope you will come by again soon. Your work is wonderful & I, too, will be interested to see what you do with the Emu eggs. They are amazing, aren't they, such a wonderful colour & texture. Crazy birds, though (lol). Adore the hummingbird & clematis letterbox too.
Cheers, Coll :-}
I know they are going to turn out beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished one...
Penny
It is so exciting to see the before and after when we see how you create!
hugs NG
Thanks Ruth for the info, if and when you managed to paint the egg in water colour or even after using acrylic paint would you then seal it with an enamel spray or finish to make it run proof, I love all your ideas with the combined medias
Thanks Gail, I love combining mediums , it is so much fun. To answer your question, yes, all my eggs get sprayed. The pins/pendants that have the watercolor background and acrylic design on top of that,must have the spray or else, the background would just come off each time you handle it.
Really, for the eggs where I've just used acrylic paint, I don't need to spray them but I do anyway because I love the shiny finish and it really does protect them.
The product I used to spray my eggs is the same one that I use to spray mailboxes that will be outside. It is a very tough laquer spray, made for the outdoors. Here in the US, I buy it at Home Depot or Walmart. It is called, Rustoleum Clear Laquer spray. Once it is on and cured, nothing and I mean nothing gets through this stuff, it is a really great product. Thanks again Gail, for your question.
Oh my, these are so beautiful! Can't wait to see what you do with them!
Sandra Evertson
Hi Ruth, Thanks for your info, I use a similar gloss spray sealer on my enamel bits and pieces I paint up. I was wondering if you'd tried the spray fixative, it's designed to be sprayed on between various stages of your work, really good for working with charcoal or pastel, stops the smudging but still allows you to work over the top of it, you probably have heard of it, just in case I thought I'd mention it to you. It's great to swap ideas,
Hi Again Ruth!! Here's a link to the spray, there's lots of different brands, I think if you google workable fixative spray.
http://www.cheapjoes.com/art-supplies/5286_winsor-and-newton-workable-spray-fixative.asp
Can't wait to see what you do with these, Ruth. The egg shells themselves are beautiful!
Thanks Sandra & Linda, the eggs are a great surface to work on.
Gail, thanks for the info, I love Cheap Joes, I'll check it out.
These do look fun-- can't wait to see what they look like when you finish them!
Ahh, a fresh canvas! These eggs are beautiful...can't wait to see what you've decided to paint!
I am not an authority on emu eggs, but are they naturally this color or did you already put down a base coat?
If they come this way, what an incredible color! I can't wait to see what you do with them!
KJ
Hi Kj, yes, this green/black is the natural color of the egg, it is a gorgeous color. The emu egg is also a strong, durable egg, I think you could hit someone over the head and knock them out with this egg shell. LOL
I'm not sure what I'll do yet with the boxes, although I have some ideas. Sometimes, I leave half the egg its natural color, because I hate covering it up. You can see the differences in the way the design looks if you go to my categories section on the right and click on elegant egg art. Scroll down to see the "Pink Rose" emu egg box , half was painted, half left its natural color. As compared to the "Butterfly" emu egg box, where I basecoated the whole egg with color. Just two different looks really.
THANKS, RUTH! I have heard that emu eggs are strong. Now I know what color they are. I will check out your sidebar.
Blessings,
KJ
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