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Easter Egg with Red Roses
Today I prepared video where I decorate an Easter egg with rice paper, crackles and shading.
I’m using large plastic egg but you can also use Styrofoam egg if you wish so. First I need to used thick sand paper to smooth all the imperfections as well as make surface of my egg matt so paint can stick to it easily.
Then I apply couple of coats of white primer. If you are using sponges one coat should be just enough.
Take measuring tape and measure 2.5cm from existing line where two halves of egg are glued together, then connect dots together to create 5cm wide strip in the middle with two ovals on each side of your egg. If you are using Styrofoam egg which doesn’t have this stitch in the middle watch my other video on how to do it.
Now I can prepare my rice paper by tearing images out with fingers. I don’t use scissors because torn edges tend to blend more easily and we won’t need as many layers of varnish later on.
I also tear images towards centre so when gluing they can overlap each other instead of creating creases.
When everything is prepared I apply decoupage glue on my egg using synthetic brush, then I place images in the centre and add more glue on top. I work my way from the middle towards edges smoothing paper along the way.
Next step is shading. I use several acrylic paints mixed with blending medium and two shading sponges. Blending medium extends drying time of the paint and gives me time to create shading around images. I use only one drop of liquid with all my paints. First I apply paint on my smaller sponge and dip it in blending medium then I apply mixture around images and with help of larger sponge I create shading by tapping on the paint. I usually use green paint around green leaves, red around red flowers and so on. This is very easy and everyone can do it, if you make mistake you can wipe it off and start again because blending medium makes paint to dry longer so you have time to correct mistakes. It is important to wait at least 24 hours before you start varnishing.
I also paint middle strip with dark green acrylic paint. This is the colour which will show through the cracks later on.
When everything is completely dry I apply single step crackle on top of my green paint using brush and again wait for liquid to dry. This is all quite easy but time consuming as there are many steps to follow with drying between coats.
Now I can create my cracks by applying cream paint on top of crackle varnish. There are two ways of doing it. First one is by using sponges and we will get cracks similar to does on broken egg shell, and second one would be using brush and this is what I have in mind. Remember that cracks will follow brush movement. So if you are applying paint from top to bottom they will form from top to bottom and if you are applying paint from side to side cracks will start appearing from side to side. The most important thing is to work really fast and once you apply paint do not go back with another layer because instead of applying more you will wipe off the existing one. You can use hair dryer to create larger cracks. Thicker layer also gives larger cracks.
When everything is dry I apply several coats of gloss water based varnish. Then I use fine sand paper to smooth my work with another layers of varnish. You need to repeat the steps until you are happy with the finish but basically more layers of varnish means better finish. I have to confess I didn’t quite finish my varnishing on this egg but I wanted to finish this video ASAP for you so just gave up half way. I hope you can forgive me.
To finish everything nicely I created rope edge around roses using white contour liner and I glued some large silver bead cups with cream pin heads.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you for watching and stay tuned for another one which will follow shortly.
Enjoy.
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18.02.2020

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