Hopalong Hollow....

Hopalong Hollow, where the Blueberries grow sweet, and the moss feels soft beneath your feet.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Scraffito Easter egg tutorial

        According to Harpers Young People, April 1881, "The giving of an egg  as a mark of friendship or love is as old as the ark, of which it is a symbol; for the ancients used it as a sign of resurrection, and brought eggs to the alters for their gods as gifts."
     Today I want to show you a simply lovely way to decorate your eggs  for Easter this year using the Victorian craft of egg scratching, also known as Scraffito or Driapanki. These unique eggs are wonderful tucked in a little box of straw as a gift.
 I am fortunate to have eggs of all shapes and sizes here in the Hollow. Everyone is laying eggs hereabouts; some of these eggs are fertilized, ( chicken and ducks) and some are not fertilized ( goose and peahen). I only tell you this because IF my goose and peahen eggs WERE fertilized, I would let their mothers hatch them.  (AS for the chickens and ducks, we have enough of those folk running around already.)You can use any type of egg you like.
All we need are the shells, but the inside of the eggs will not go to waste. I will need to blow out all of these eggs...phew!
Of course, you may blow out the yolks by pricking a small hole in both ends of the eggs and then blowing out the insides, but with this many eggs, I am happy to have a handy dandy egg blower
My darling daughter in law bought this for me along with Pysanki kit, we'll try that another day. You can purchase an egg blower online from any company selling Ukrainian egg supplies. It makes the emptying so easy!
 I will scramble eggs and and allow all the birds to partake of the feast; yes, birds do like to eat their own eggs.
Now, because I want an
old folk-art look to my eggs, I will  dye them earthy tones. My main batch is dyed with onion skins. Just put your water and onion skins in a stainless steel pot and bring to a simmer. Add your emptied eggs to the water and leave them in the dye bath till you have the desired color.

 Isn't that a beautiful rusty shade?!
Next, I added a bit of walnut ink to the same water to create a deep red egg.
For some earth green eggs, I experimented with a few Rit dye colors  and then added a handful of  real moss..
Now I have these beautiful muted colors.
We are going to scratch into these eggs using a craft knife. You can freehand a design on your egg, or draw it first with a white watercolor pencil as I have done here on the egg to your left.
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It doesn't hurt to have a few rough ideas sketched out in a notebook...
Holding your egg ,( NOT TOO FIRMLY, YOU DON'T WANT TO CRACK IT) begin to lightly carve into the egg with your knife. You are simply taking away the layer of dye to expose the white shell beneath. I found the duck eggs  best to use because the shells are very hard. This simple folk-ish design was done with the craft knife. Slow and steady is the trick.
 I did about 5 eggs with my exacto knife... and then, James said, "Why don't you use your Dremel instead?!" FABULOUS IDEA DEAR!
WOW, what a difference. I was able to work much faster with this engraving tool. But you don't have as much control as with a hand tool.  If you have a Dremel, try it. If you don't, no problem, the effects are nice either way. My method is to draw the outlines with the Dremel and the tiny details with the knife.
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Foxglove, flowers, bees, birds, vines, chicken and rabbits are all excellent subject matter for this type of egg.
  I am still working on this hen, she is scratched into a peahen egg.

Birds are beautiful on any surface. This is a peahen egg as well. It is slightly larger that a duck egg.
The green egg almost looks like marble, I love the color.
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Try various stylized borders to encircle your subject.
  You can scratch your designs all the way around the egg.

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 When your eggs are finished, rub some cooking oil onto the surface or spray a thin coat of poly-urethane. I just rubbed these with corn oil.

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They are lovely in a grouping or all alone on a bed of moss.
I still have a many more to engrave and plenty of ideas. Use your imagination, these can be simple or detailed, according to your taste. Can't wait to carve into that big goose egg!
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To re-cap; draw your design on the egg...
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and scratch away.
 

  Here is my goose egg!

You can fill in some of the white areas with ink or watercolor if you wish.
 The gorgeous eggs beneath were scratched in 1883 with a pen knife by a Susan Smyser and are displayed in the Historical Museum of York, PA.


Let me know if you try this egg craft, I would love to see what you come up with! 
If you want to try another lovely egg craft, visit my post from April 2,2010 entitiled "Bunwinkies and Hopalongs" to learn how to make stenciled eggs..

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30 comments:

  1. I'm defenitly going to have a go at this tomorrow. Can't wait to try it

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  2. These are awesome, Jeri. I'm hitting up my son for his Dremel tomorrow!

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  3. Wow that dremel really made a difference! That is so cool! I love doing the Ukrainian eggs, although it's been a while since I have. I need to get my hands on everything I need to do it. Those eggs are simply stunning!

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  4. First of all, I did NOT KNOW that birds enjoyed eating eggs! NO I DID NOT KNOW THAT! Jeri, you have to be such a fun person to hang around with, and I wish I could sit at your kitchen table with you and just play. These designs are festive and fun, and of course coming from your hand, just beautifully illustrated! Oh the joys of APRIL! LOVE TO YOU!

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  5. The eggs are beautiful! If I didn't see your photos I would not have believed you just scratched those beautiful designs on those fragile egg shells.

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  6. WOW!! Those eggs are works of art, so beautiful!!

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  7. these eggs are so elegant looking. love your work. Oma Linda

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  8. Jeri Landers, HOW ARE YA? So lovely to have you visit me. Well dear, I ask myself the same thing when I see your illustrations, read your barnyard fun so greatly written, and when I see your magic with needles, fur and thread...."HOW DOES SHE DO IT?" It is all a wondrous gift from above, and we relish in our abilities. I had the best day yesterday as I put on my "journalist" hat and met a local author and artist who I'm interviewing for the magazine. Listening to her process of how she courageously approaches what she does reminded me that we all have a common thread that weaves so many different tapestries in this life. That common thread is answering the call within that says, "Draw. Write poetry. Make people laugh." Her first book is entitled, "All I did was listen." How appropriate. Once we here the muses, we go and do what we do, perfect it until it's right. Coming from you, the compliments about my sparse way of communicating are so validating. I am finally learning to love who I am....not extremely well-versed, not loaded with a ton of vocabulary, but I'm learning to use what I have and searching for more.

    ENJOY YOUR DAY, creating your mark in this world! Anita

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  9. Oh I love your eggs - they are beautiful. I used to do psanky and didn't know you could do it with empty eggs for you have to put them in dye jars and they won't be heavy enough to go under without the egg in them. Mine all eventually dried up inside anyway - they were kind of like those Weeble People that wobble but don't fall over LOL I'm going to have to try the carving - they are really lovely!

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    1. Jill, It Is a lot more difficult to dye the eggs when empty because you have to weigh them down with a lid. I've made stenciled eggs without emptying them, but some of them had a horrible stink a few months later.

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  10. In a word "WOW" ~ I never knew how that process was done! Thank you for the lesson! I think I'm going to pass this along to some art teachers I know!

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  11. How cool Jeri, you artwork and crafty skills never cease to amaze me. The eggs are gorgeous and what a fun technique. Like the tip about feeding the birds scrambled eggs, we have 6 brown shavers and more eggs than we can eat with just that many birds! :D Rae

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  12. Hi Jerri,
    I am not very artist. Your eggs are gorgeous! Do you by chance sell them?

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    1. Hi Debbie, Yes, I plan on taking them to my art shows this year. I am building up my inventory now. I will put them on my website as soon as I have a nice selection.

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  13. What lovely works of art you have created! They are just exquisite. Your talents amaze me. Thanks for the tutorial--I would love to try this technique--Mine would have to be geometrics etc, as I would not be able to free hand your lovely animals. ♥

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  14. Oh, I almost died while looking at the beautiful results, then I scrolled down to the blue ones. OMG I love those. Don't know which I like best.

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  15. Absolutely beautiful designs! Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial with us. I have made a note to myself to come back here when I find time to try this for myself.

    Best wishes.

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  16. Jeri...I LOVE the stuff you create! It has this beautiful air of classic artistry. So detailed. It really does take me into a nostalgic place of beauty and honor. It's just so beautiful! Truly, thank you for sharing.

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  17. Thank you all for visiting and commenting on the eggs. I really hope you will try this. it is addicting... in a good way.

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  18. Oh my Jeri - this looks lovely and what a great thing to do for Easter time. Will have to check out the egg blower tool. Once again I have learned something special during my visit. Hope you are having a great day.

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  19. Jeri I am always thrilled by your wonderful creativity !
    I will have to try this .
    Thanks so much for sharing.

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  20. Oh Jeri!
    This is a sight to behold... Your eggs are just beautiful.. I love the natural soft colors. Now that egg blower, that is a must have... I would have never thought of using onion skins to dye them. Will you just look at all the details! Do I dare dig out my Dremel?
    Thank you so much for sharing.. The way you have placed them on the moss makes such a lovely display.
    Pop over when you have a change, I am having a giveaway, if you are interested.
    fondly,
    Penny

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  21. hello Jeri,

    these are so gorgeous and charming! Amazing, you are amazing!

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  22. Your eggs are so unique and beautiful, Jeri. Hope you are enjoying Spring. Hugs, Deb

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  23. Hi Jeri,
    Thank you for visiting.. I am so happy she made you smile.. Colette sends her love to Dimity Doormouse..

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  24. Jeri, how lovely. If only I had the ability to draw. I fear mine might end up looking as though a kindergartener had drawn it! Just love the one with the bee on it... Happy Spring!!
    Bev

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  25. April 9th

    Just discovered your beautiful blog.... And your beautiful art work.

    I too love detailed illustrations. Love them. One can almost get lost in them, discovering all the bits and pieces, "hidden" in plain sight, there.

    Gentle hugs,
    Tessa~

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  26. Jeri, Your talent and creativity is so inspiring. you are a true master. I am in Awe. xoxo

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  27. This is such a fascinating post! Thank you so much for sharing this. In all honesty, I have never seen such beautifully decorated eggs in my life. You are extremely creative and talented!

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