Book Review
The photos of eggs displayed throughout the Great Book of Egg Decorating
starting with the index page are very colorful and make it a delightful
book to look at. The introduction outlines a brief history of egg
decorating including its origins with pictures of beautiful eggs
with very complicated and ornate designs. Following the introduction,
the author takes you through the steps and information you need
to know about beginning the egg decorating process from the eggs
you can use, their availability and price range (i.e. ostrich eggs)
to their properties and qualities in relation to egg decorating
(i.e. duck eggs are suitable for drilling which is required to make
laced eggs).
The projects in this book include egg decorating used to make crafts
for Easter (Easter Window Ornaments, Easter Basket, Easter Tree),
Blue and Pink Wreaths for newborns as well as for Easter, photo
note cards (in which you can include photos of favorite eggs you’ve
already made as well as decorating the frame of the card around
the photo), mobiles, Summer and Fall Arrangements, Christmas (Door
and Window ornaments, Gold Christmas Ornament (on a mini tree that
is perfect for small apartments), Christmas Ornaments), Window Ornaments
(could also be used for New Years depending on the colors used)
and using stickers to decorate eggs (great for kids).
If you have never decorated eggs before it is essential to read
the first how – to section in this book. It covers how to
blow out eggs safely and carefully because this is something you
need to do to ensure you have a strong, intact eggshell to work
with. Perhaps you blew out eggs when you were younger so this section
would be a good refresher on the process. In this section as well
as the rest of the how – to sections there are step-by-step
instructions accompanied by photos. This makes it very clear how
you are supposed to do each step and a very useful tool for beginners.
The first chapter covers wax embossing on natural colored eggshells
(a Slavic egg decorating technique). These learning sections are
all structured in basically the same manner (The Basics (techniques
for the type of egg decorating in that section), What You’ll
Need (tools and materials) and the projects using the techniques
you learned). The chapter on wax embossing is broken down into how
to prepare the wax and make red and blue rosettes. The following
projects: Summer Centerpiece, Autumn Centerpiece (using multicolored
eggs in combination with gourds, leaves, berries, vegetables and
nuts) expands on the above techniques by increasing the complexity
to wax embossing on colored shells. Drilling is the technique of
embossing snow white eggs with white wax and drilling out the eyelets
to make the eggs look like embroidered eyelet lace. Egg decorating
techniques such as Wax Resist, Decoupage (including Strip Piecing
and Decals), and adding Floral to arrangements are also demonstrated.
I like that the kind of eggs recommended to use for each project
is included in the What You’ll Need list, this can help you
decide if you can do that project or not because of availability
of the eggs. I also like that the color combos used on the decorated
eggs in this book are amazing and they blend perfectly. The embellishments
used are simple but elegant and match perfectly with color scheme
of the eggs (i.e. the trims used on the Christmas Door Ornament).
Throughout the book the author refers back to other portions of
the book for techniques you need to know to complete that project
(i.e. sealing the blowholes for the eggs used in the Light Blue
Wreath). This is very helpful because it saves you time not having
to search through the book to find out how to do something essential
to your project. There is also a very important section at the back
of the book I found very helpful to insure the successful completion
of the projects you want to do. It is called Tricks of the Trade
and I think of it as more of a Troubleshooting Guide to help all
you projects turn out the way they are supposed to. It includes:
Washing Away Stains, Positioning Blowholes, Making Perfect Blowholes,
Thick or thin Strokes?, What if the wax overheats?, What if I make
a mistake?, Hanging an egg, Bleaching Quail Eggs, Making Smooth
Ends (preventing a buildup of paper when using the decoupage technique
on eggs) and B& W designs used in this book to decorate the
eggs. |
