My Travel Paint Studio has arrived, and I'm testing the different paints. On my test egg I started by smearing out a little of each type of paint, just to get a feel for the consistency. After it dries I'm going to cover a part of each smear with wax, then dye the lot in a dark purple dye and see what happens when I try to remove the wax.

Initial impressions so far:

• Neopaque colors are a "light-bodied acrylic." They are (obviously) opaque. I haven't tried them on a dyed egg yet, but my gut is that NOTHING will show through this paint. I also bet it's pretty dye-resistant since it's acrylic. I don't think I'll use these much, unless I need a colored resist for some reason.


• Textile Colors are nice and transparent. They're maybe a little thicker than milk, which makes the paint run over the egg's surface if too much is applied. I tried applying some as a wash using a sponge and liked the end result, even though I had to work at it for a while. The transparency will be fun to use on top of dye.


• The "Sherril's Sorbets" colors are pastel, which I don't use much. The paint itself seems to be a standard acrylic. I dabbed a little on with my fingers, and got very opaque coverage. The colors are pretty, but I don't think I'll be using much of this.


• Lumiere Metallics could be lots of fun as a finishing touch. The paint is just metallic acrylic. Nice thickness -- easy to apply without making distracting bumps all over the egg. Nice colors, although I would have liked to have a silver in the set I purchased.


• Finally, Dye-Na-Flow paints were just wonderful. Nice transparent colors that blend together beautifully. They're very runny, which makes application difficult. Despite that, I think this is going to be a new favorite of mine. In a few weeks I'll order some dye thickener and see if that helps.

I also decorated an egg using one of the Fabricolor markers. It was an undyed egg, and my next step will be to dye it yellow, then wax a pattern, then dye again and remove the wax. Should be interesting.