Setacolor Notes

I bought a starter pack of Setacolor Soleil from a local craft store several years ago. It's interesting stuff, best known for use in 'sun prints.' So far I haven't made any 'sun print' eggs, but plan to one day.

Typically I use this as a last-step coloring agent, either on a waxed egg or a post-wax egg. I've never tried to wax over this stuff and then re-dye.

Applying it is a breeze -- daub it on with a small sponge. Let the egg dry overnight before removing the wax.

Removal is, well, not as easy. Setacolor Soleil tends to come off the egg along with the melted wax. I've found it helps to just soften the wax briefly using a candle, then apply a little gentle pressure to the softened spot using a paper towel, and wait until the wax cools before SLOWLY lifting away the towel. Repeat until most of the wax has been removed. Don't wipe. Whatever you do, don't wipe. If you wipe you'll wipe off a good deal of the Setacolor, too.

Once you've removed the bulk of the wax you can gently melt and remove any leftover wax with a Q-Tip.

It seems like this paint/dye would just be too picky to deal with, but I just love the stuff. The colors are transparent, so if there are nice "dye mistakes" they'll show through the Setacolor. It also blends beautifully. And there are, what, three dozen colors?

I've only used it on a few eggs to date (more photos very soon) but I love the results enough to continue with it, in spite of all the difficulties. Of course the difficulties are my fault -- it's not like I'm following the manufacturer's directions!

Goodies in the Mail and More

Notes -- Embossing Powder

Originally designed for use with rubber stamp kits -- very unusual material. It seems to be powdered sparkly stuff mixed with powdered wax granuals.

The "right way" to use the stuff is to use a rubber stamp on paper, then shake the powder all over the damp stamp imprint, tap off the excess, and hit it with a heat source. The heat source melts the wax which makes the sparkly stuff adhere to the ink. Pretty.

There are tons of different colors, manufacturers, etc. Just Froogle it.

I originally purchased embossing powder about ten years ago because I wanted a little sparkle on my eggs, and dime-store glitter wasn't cutting it. I wanted slightly granular gold sparkle, and all I could find was "diamond dust" crap that was too fine for my purposes. (Remember, this is before Pearl-Ex, back when scrapbooking was in its infancy!)

It sounds like it would be easy to use. Just hit the egg with a squirt bottle, sprinkle out a little powder, and melt it, right? (Insert exasperated sigh.) I wish. The problem is the heat source.

A caution: Make sure your egg is completely dry before you ever squirt it with water, and cover the hole at the bottom while squirting! If you have water inside the egg and heat the water it can turn to steam, which can build up internal pressure and break the egg.

The "heat gun" designed specifically to melt embossing powder blows out heated air. The embossing powder (precariously clinging to the egg's surface) blows away. Once I also 'blew away' the egg, off the couter an down to my egg-shattering tile floor. Next I tried a toaster oven. I know people use these, I know people are successful with these. Sadly I'm not one of those people. My eggs always end up scorched.

I tried holding the egg very-very-very close to a household iron. That didn't work. Neither did using a light bulb. (I can't remember why, though -- maybe I should experiment again!!)

The microwave was the worst failure. The egg scorched and exploded.

So I'm left with the classic -- the candle. I have to use a spring-loaded egg holder (like the one from Alcraft pictured below) or my fingers fry. The problem (which you can see in photos) is that I have to hold the egg so close to the flame that I risk soot.

People have told me I should just use Pearl-Ex and forget it. I've played with the stuff, but I'm just not happy with it. To use Pearl-Ex well you have to suspend it in a medium and paint it on the egg. The medium inevitably leaves a gloss of some sort on the egg. Sadly I'm possibly the only person in the world who likes to leave eggs unvarnished and un-glossy. I'm afraid to try a Pearl-Ex/spray-on adhesive combination for the same reason.

Plus Pearl-Ex just isn't granular enough. I like the bumpy aspect embossing powder adds.

Yup, I'm picky. I know.

Dharma Trading in the Mail

My favorite tjanting tool bit the dust last week, so I had to visit Dharma Tradibg's website and order a new one. Just had to. Ended up ordering a boxed set of three, along with a metal eye dropper ("Allows you to do fine design work that's not possible with other tools"), some dye thickener, and a set of empty "make-your-own" foam-core dye pens. Can't wait for the new toys.

Dharma is one of my favorite places to shop for egg supplies. Traditional egging suppliers don't think outside the box enough. Oh, they're great for the egg-specific tools, like egg markers and kistas, but they always seem to have the same stuff, year after year after year. Not so much innovation. Fiber artists, on the other hand, always seem to be playing with a new paint or dye.
I think it's partially due to the mindset the two art forms encourage. Traditional pysanky is (face it) pretty rigid. It's all about creating very exacting, very precise patterns that look similar to other eggs created for hundreds of years. We know how to make successful pysanky. The tools are set, the methods are set, and (to a large extent) the craft is set. I don't mean to sound demeaning -- I wish I could get that kind of precision in my own work!!! -- but the innovations are all about improving a standard. Not about inventing a new standard.

Please, please, don't get me wrong -- I owe traditional pysanky artists a huge debt!! I was on Sandra's egger's mailing list back in, what, '93 or '94? I loved being able to talk about my craft with Tom and Doris and Diki and all the other eggers. They taught me so much!! They gave me the incentive I needed to order my first-ever kistka after years of using a broken fountain pen. They taught me about carbon. About orange wash. We wrote that unpublished book!! (I'm the one who wrote our then-exhaustive list of egging websites.) And I'm on the current Yahoo! Eggs-Pysanky group, which is also fantastic. I don't comment, but I'm reading, believe me. Ya'll taught me about Fantastic!

But fiber arts are a little different. A fiber artist has to compete against other artists by making something different enough to capture people's imagination. Something that fits in with current fashion but which still stands apart. Something that can be machine washed and tumble dried. And the entire process is a little chance-laden. Because of this I feel fiber artists are always looking for the next "trick." And all that chance (and all those tricks) are why I love getting Dharma's catalog in the mail. I always have a huge wish list when I'm finished reading my copy. Now all I need is a larger paycheck, and more time to play.