The topic of my today's lecture is the art of crafted Easter eggs (the slides are following). Of course, I am not a Faberge and dont have high claims, but in this time out of joint it is pretty easy to shine on this overall dull background. The pics provided below are taken from my small collection, created over the past 4 years, most of these eggs were created by iol_art (my daughter's godmother), with a few exceptions.
Camera: Canon 5d + Sigma 150mm macro, Canon 350d + Tamron 60mm macro
So. Today, in the era of industrialization the global decay and decline of crafts, two receipts are the most widespread: a) coarse stickers and ready-made films (here goes some hand-waving to Marcel Duchamp), b) synthetic powder dyes in ready-made sets. pros? they are fast, easy, cheap. contras? its chemistry! plastic! less eco friendly! eggs do not breathe and deteriorate faster. and most importantly, it is resulting quite a poor art: everyone has the same output. (Hand-painted jobs with a brush or felt-tip pen, truly art works are rare nowadays, its the lot of almost only the children ... if you can put them to this process!).
But there exist some old still-in-use not forgotten recipes. First of all, it is painting by means of the onion peels. (I will not dwell on this recipe, most likely you are already in the know. The eggs are turned into onion peel, which is always abundant in any household, then tied with thread and cooked until ready. The result is extremely pleasant and always very analogue: some red-brown shades and patterns of stains).
Above: eggs, painted with onion peels; lets count that as some basic level, its not even too much artsy. Below: egg was dipped into a grey colorant, plus 2 different wool threads (green and white) used to get these stains. Not the best take, I just shot what I had to illustrate my story.
But the technological result can be greatly improved with some artistic vision. For example: one can wrap eggs with some molting thread (probably its hard to find nowadays non-synthetic threads that still are capable of losing their color!), and cook them. Threads can be replaced with strands of floss wool, thats even better. Depending on the color of the thread, the eggs will get beautiful multicolored stains. As well, shed candy wrappers from under the candy, work well, wrapping eggs in such a coating gives fantastic artsy results. (Have no pic as illustration for this feature).
The basic recipe may (and should!) be mutated and combined with other ideas, enriching the product and delivering you an artsy result of a high grade. For example: tightly attach to an egg sort of a contour (see below), then dip it in the dyeing solution - resulting, respectively, in a painted egg with unpainted contour... If you have a flag and brush, and some fantasy, you know what to do with it... Let's face it: real artists can combine anything. Even a simple marker can greatly modify results, obtained at the first step with the help of artificial dyes.
This time a clover leave was used, to an excellent result. You may notice this slight regular structures in the background colour. Know what? its a random bonus: a nylon sock was used to attach that leaf to the egg, resulting in such a nice and unplanned pattern. NB. Parsley leaves always provide amazing results, you will be surprised in a nice way. And now, as they say: The Slides!
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(this part is for my russian readers)
тема нашей сегодняшней лекции (слайды включены, см. выше) - художественно выделанные пасхальные яйцы. я конечно не Фаберже и ни на что не претендую, но право, блеснуть на общем сером фоне совсем не сложно. слайды включают экземпляры из моей небольшой коллекции, собранной за последние 4 года. всё, что вы увидите, сделано iol-art (крёстной моей дочери). ну, почти всё.
итак. сегодня, в эпоху победившей индустриализации и упадка ремёсел, в ходу два основных способа, самых массовых: а) аляповатые наклейки и плёнки (пресловутые "реди-мейды". привет Марселю Дюшану!) ; б) синтетические порошковые красители в готовых наборах. чем это хорошо? быстро, просто, дёшево. чем плохо? пластик! химия! неэкологично! яйца не дышат и быстрее портятся. и самое главное: жуткая попса! у всех на выходе примерно одно и то же. ручная роспись кисточкой или фломастером, по-настоящему художественные работы в наши дни уже редкость, удел практически лишь детей... (если удается их приставить к этому процессу!).
на помощь приходят старинные, но не забытые рецепты. в первую очередь, это покраска луковой шелухой. (не буду останавливаться на этом рецепте, скорее всего он и так вам хорошо известен. яйца оборачиваются луковой шелухой, которой в хозяйстве всегда предостаточно, обвязываются нитками и варятся до готовности. результат - крайне ламповые, аналоговые разводы приятных рыже-коричневых оттенков).
но есть способы одновременно и технологичные, и художественные. например, можно обмотать яйца линяющими нитками (нонче такие еще фиг найдешь!) и сварить. при нужде нитки можно заменить на пряди шерсти "мулине", главное, чтобы был эффект линючести. в зависимости от цвета ниток, яйца получат красивые разноцветные разводы. также хорошо линяют фантики из-под конфет, оборачивание ими дает фантастические результаты!
главное условие можно комбинировать и менять, получая сколь угодно разнообразные результаты. например: стоит примотать что-нибудь плотно к яйцу и выдержать в красящем растворе - соответственно получим светлый непрокрашеный контур, который остается довести до ума фламастером и кисточкой. гарантированный результат, например, дает приматывание листиков петрушки.
на приведенном выше рисунке был примотан листок клевера; интересную регулярную структуру дал капроновый чулок, использованный для приматывания клевера. результат полностью аналоговый, т.е. непредсказуемый, как при классической фотографии.
не будем забывать: настоящие художники могут совместить все что угодно. например, доработать маркером результат, полученный на первом шаге при помощи искусственных красителей. в случае с листком клевера, полученный полуфабрикат именно и был доведен до ума при помощи фломастера и фантазии художника. если фантазии нет, что и говорить -- тут даже рецепты скорее всего не помогут.
И последнее, но не в последнюю очередь: яйцо безо всякой покраски, на нем в технике "рука + просто фломастер" нарисованы выглядывающие из-за деревьев глаза, много глаз! художественный эффект, как говорится, налицо. этот ценный экземпляр добавлен в мою коллекцию усилиями моей дочери.
энджой! и всяческих творческих узбеков вам в следующем году.
These are so cool @qwerrie! I appreciate all the explanation too.
Thanks to @brittandjoise for featuring your post in our @pifc contest entry😊
wow. nice to fave a feedback. what, HUMAN?! real bloody warm human, not one of these bots / robots?! impossible... or possible... I should believe my own eyes =^..^=
thank, vice versa! @brittandjosie rocks, she is everywhere. probably she is a bot, too. its impossible to do all what she does, in 24 hours day by day.
Imagine that?!! A human indeed! The proof is that it took me 6 days to reply :) Also proof that @brittandjosie isn't one!!
They look great. No onion peel in this household but there is plenty to paint with.
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oh.... hows that possible?.. well, other countries, other traditions?.. maybe you could check the local grocery for that... onion peels worth to try, at least once, if you never did it before, very intresting experience. its not like push the button -- got the same result, it is very flexible process, controllable, full of nuances. worth it.
that is superb! thank you for giving your voice, you surely know, feebback does matter. let me cheer myself that 340 days later you will remember about this essay and get some use of it :P
@wakeupkitty
That is indeed artistic, I haven't thought of how many ways are there by which such creativity could be born. All the eggs looks spectacular. the thread painting is very interesting.
Keep flourishing! I am following you due to this post so that I may connect to your posts on regular bases.
@praditya, thanks! disclaimer: I dont travel a lot, my stuff is mostly domestical ... I love macro, black and white, portraing people, strangers... something like that. oh, and the mushrooms. this is probably what will be on this blog.
Oh Cool!
These are so beautiful! I'm nominating you post to C-Squared!
@melinda010100, merci, I'm glad you like my efforts.
and i have no idea -- what is C-Squared?..
They are a curation effort that gives votes and features to nicely done posts like yours!
@melinda010100, i have shot yesterday some a-ma-zing portraits of myself with shadows. (and almost, almost nailed the lamppost.... was close. but it didnt happen)
and also got some very cool working people's shadows, as well.
looking further to your great contest !!... :P
@melinda010100, look what you have done. a little chain reaction! ( no, no, its not that I'm complaining :=) as for your contest this week: seems, I dont have corresponding stuff, i.e. lampposts... sadly. if only you requested some bicycles!... maybe, next time?
I am so glad! It often happens that way and all the votes are well deserved! Congratulations!
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They look very cool :) and the onion choir is always used. We make here same what onion :)
Those eggs are really cool!! :D
@blacklux, well, that true, especially I love the multi-eyed ones... and no gastropodes at all! (I have to sell this idea to my baby next year, hehe). what will you say about my text, uhm, as a writer? was it too "naive", or ok? whats the level.
I like it! The whole post is a good one! Well done ex-son!
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Hi qwerrie,
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I thought to experiment with macro photography. I saw a few tutorials to achieve the effect without the need for a camera and professional equipment. well done
well, everything is possible. check this link, and also this -- the pictures shot with smartphone + macro lens, no camera. quite astonishing result (and bokeh!). I mean, different levels of macro photography are possible. ofc you dont need necessarily invest solid money into it. but going 'oldschool' with a good optics is fun. not a must, but so many fun. I wish you good luck! and come back with good harvest @keepingtarotreal
hi @qwerrie,
I love macro photography, the details, the little things that become important. I'm not very good at it but I try! Your eggs are beautiful, also because together with the photos you have told us their story! congratulations
@road2horizon, me the same! I just started the last year (obtained 1st lense for my old camera, then obtained tripod and a lens for my newer 5d camera), and, instead of reading guides a lot (which ofc is useful) I started to shoot objects. shooting (moving) insects is hard, i think it is the next level, at least now I am learning on the objects, how the things work.
thanks for the good words about eggs! yeah, the text does matter here (as, I consider, every good craftmenship is -- in our post-industrialization era). by the way, I shot all of them just in front of my open window, I used the sunlight only, plus I was getting some reflex from a white sheet of paper, to reduce the shadows on the sun-opposite side. and no tripod (tho I have it).
macro is hard, % of fail capture is very sufficient, in my opinion it is a huge challenge to the simple digital photography -- which became respectively simple today, with all the good cameras out there. with macro, you are put back to the good old manual work, your eyes, your hands, your brain. maybe this is what I love with macro very much. oh, and the details, yes. I chose macro to shoot eggs, to get all the details with the best detalisation possible -- as its art. I hope more or less, i did it?
ps. check this link, and also this -- the pictures shot with smartphone + macro lens, no camera. quite astonishing result (and bokeh!). I mean, different levels of macro photography are possible. ofc you dont need necessarily invest solid money into it.
oh I agree on everything, especially when you say you have to go back to manual work, when there is that special relationship between you and the subject you fell in love with! I love the reflections, the wrinkles on the walls and the flower petals! Beautiful mushrooms of the links you left me. but is it always you? It seems impossible that such a subject would become so beautiful in those shots, so true in every single nuance. I love it!
@road2horison,
what do you mean, 'me' ?... not sure if I got you right... but the shots from above links are not mine, its a user from Indonesia created this mushroom beauty. there are more in her blog -- some of them are absolutely magic. 'the blue sky', as she name it, is outstanding....
yes, I meant if the photos were yours, thanks! my english is very bad :-((
Those forms of art you shared are incredible. I know it is a trend in your country, drawing eggs and I think it is really a good representation of your culture and tradition. Your picture tells us a story and your readers like me from the different side of the world will have a glimpse of how do you live in your country.
I can relate to what you say just now that because of the modern era, some of the younger generations failed to practice these old traditions because they are more interested in using gadgets like laptops and cellphones. Sooner or later, there will be no one to be passed on with these forms of art. Good thing that you shared this post, and with this, some from your country will be enlightened of what is happening nowadays. I do hope that they will take an interest in it. Such a creative hobby, that can be an outlet from all those stressors in life.
God bless you @qwerrie! Keep up the good post that you share!
Beautiful creations! It is a pity that this sort of arts and crafts are diminishing... however, I do think there is a resurgence happening as well, as people seek out things that are unique and special!
I have dropped by as you were featured by @brittandjosiefor @pifc!
wow! that's pretty cool!
Hello @qwerrie, I'm so glad to see your post! Decorating eggs is something I was doing lately. I don't want to make publicity by linking my posts here but if you're interested, you can check out my latest posts.
Coloring eggs with onion peal is my favorite, this year I used to do Easter eggs.
You on the other hand have some very interesting designs here. My favorite is the leaf decoration what you did with the nylon stockings. We did some this year with my niece. Yours however is way more beautiful :) Nice work, keep it up!
@erikah Im very pleased to have feedback on this post from humans, hehe. a nice divercity! as its mostly bots leave comments to the photos, which actually is a poor feedback for an artist. so,
thank you!
i may outline it again, in this post I am a photographer only. except the last egg, created by my girl, all arts (c) iol_art, she is a godmother of my girl, a great artist and craftswomen. (I think one day I may present more of her works, -- she have created a beautiful dolls in the past, for example)
I looked up at your recent posts, seems a lot of intresting stuff there for me, let me follow. but I dont see any eggs you did, except the market ones. thats intresting, too!
ps.
you post hires images (which is great!) but dont add links to hi-res versions, which is ptrtty sadly for the users like me, who enjoy to watch to look up for details. excuse me for asking, but why dont you do that? is there a reason, or you just dont know how-to?... or... just lazy? xD
ps. a bit offtop, but:
can you tell me smth good about daily-green-give-away by @gogreenbuddy -- is it worth entering? I mean, how much is the rivalry among the contestants and the chances to get to the top with your story?
ppps. sadly, my RC dont let me create as much commenting as I needed, hehe. all the best!
Before I reply, can you please explain what do you mean by this? I don't understand.
Those are really cool eggs! And congrats on your Curie as well - very well deserved!
I found you thanks to @brittandjosie featuring you in the curation contest - keep up the great work!