Ornamental Eggs

Eggs are a re-occuring theme in my polymer clay work. I know I am not alone in my appreciation of the shape and its decorative potentials because many people decorate eggs in a wide range of ways.

Pysanki is a traditional Ukrainian technique using wax resists and dye baths. Polymer clay with its vivid color range and the repeated images made with millefiore is a way to mimic this look.

The ornament shown here is a babushka- and-bead salute to colorful egg decorators everywhere, no matter what style or materials they may use!

An additional plus to using polymer clay to cover blown out shells is that the finished eggs are far more durable. A previous article here in The Bead Bugle showed that embellished eggs are not just for Easter. Decorated eggs make lovely lightweight ornaments on Christmas trees or for unique decorator tassels any time.

These floral beads were made using Fimo polymer clay canes that were created for a miniature book in a Bitty Book design competition at AMACO. When making canes, there's often more than is needed for just one project!

So, this cane that looks like a quaint floral print was perfect to use as an egg lady's head-scarf. A single bead becomes the tassel top and also sets the color scheme.

Large and Extra Large chicken eggs are my choice for making ornaments, although any size will do. I intend to try ostrich eggs next year! Starting with a knife point or large needle, holes are carefully poked at top and bottom of eggs, and the contents stirred with a needle and blown out. After drying , eggs are painted with liquid polymer clays. "TLS" or Translucent Liquid Sculpey comes in clear, gold, silver, and black. Fimo Decorator Gel is a clear liquid polymer clay as is Kato Polyclay Liquid.

All can be mixed with powdered pigments. PearlEx adds sheen and color both with its mica bearing pigments as seen in the pink egg at right. The gold and silver eggs are covered with two coats of TLS. A mix of one part silver, one part gold and two parts clear TLS gives the skin tone used making Lady Eggs.

Place a blown egg on a bamboo skewer for ease in handling, and cover it completely with a thin coat of liquid polymer clay. Apply evenly and make sure there are no drips. It is better to build up thin layers of the clay. Allow the liquid to settle and wipe off any drips that occur.

Suspend the egg on the skewer between the sides of your baking pan and bake at the manufacturers specified temperature for ten minutes.

Remove and allow to cool, and repeat for a second layer. If desired coat again for a third layer, but two layers is often sufficient with if you handle the eggs carefully.

The egg shown at left has had two coats of clear TLS baked on to it. Then cut-out shapes of rubber-stamped blue clay were applied to a third layer of TLS leaving some spaces open.

After an additional baking to harden the blue cutouts, liquid clay was applied to the bare areas as an adhesive, and small glass balls and a cabochon were added and baked into place. Liquid clays do not clean up with water, instead you must use alcohol. However, I have a brush kept just for use with liquid polymer clays, and I merely wipe off any excess onto a paper towel and then place the brush in a small ziplock bag to keep it from dust and hairs. It never does seem to dry out, and I just use it again next time.

As an alternative decoration on ornamental eggs, millefiore canes can be applied to flat sheets of clay to create print-like fabric. This can be cut and applied to the egg in bands, or all over.

A rectangular strip around the middle and then two circles placed at top and bottom can be used to cover eggs, and the seams smoothed carefully into place.

Or, put a three dimensional face on one side of the egg and decorate it after baking with hair, a kerchief, or a fancy hat.

After curing the liquid polymer clays in the oven, rebake any additional applied layers of clay for a full 30 minutes.

Acrylic paints are best applied after baking is completed. These can be used as stains for dimensional work, or as details and applied color on faces.

A black Micron pen was used to draw the faces on these baked eggs. Then Prismacolor pencils were used to color in the features, and an additional layer of pen and ink details such as eyelashes was applied.

This brand of pencil pigment remains largely unchanged in baking, but it is often best to wait until baking is finished to use pens or paints. Prismacolors, now made by Sanford, are compatable with polymer clays in their pencil and marker forms. The Micron pen ink remains unchanged after several years of testing as well.

To create the babushaka style headscarf on this ornament, the egg was covered with a strip of polymer clay that left the face uncovered. A similar space on the back side was filled in with another piece of the cut clay.

After baking, the face was drawn and colored in with pencils that coordinated with the clay colors. The black ink was used to fill in the pupils and a small dot of white acrylic paint provides a highlight in each eye.

A piece of hand-dyed blue silk ribbon, a few inches of copper wire and some beads are just the ticket for creating a tassel and turning this egg into a completed ornament.

Run the copper wire down through the holes in the egg, and make a small loop at the bottom and a coil at the top. The ribbon is tied in a bow underneath the egg lady's chin and affixed to the wire loop.

The large matching polymer clay bead is used as a tassel top directly underneath. Create a tassel with seed beads and Nymo beading thread, making as many strands as you like.

At the end of each strand, use a larger bead and one "keeper" seed bead. Skip the final "keeper" bead--it keeps the others in place--and run the needle and thread back up through the large end bead and the rest of the strand. When you have made as many strands as you like, put seed beads on the thread and wrap that around the top neck of the tassel to create an even edging. Then run the needle and thread back through the tassel top, make a knot and run the needle back through several beads. Cut the thread and use the coil of wire to hang the ornament from a tree branch or in a window.