How to Prepare an Ostrich Egg Shell for Pysanky and Batik Style Eggs 

Thank you Karen, it's not as hard to do as most think.

Matthew, thank you for your kind words.

Karen, go slow, and have fun.

Susanna. no if you want the ostrich egg smooth you will need to sand it smooth. Thank you for watching my videos.

+SutekhAeon I'd suggest you watch this video and all my other step by step videos. You will learn how each and every step is done. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0EVxabROZGQ.html

I make pencil guidelines and then filled in with pencil designs. Thank you for your kind words.

Most of the shine should come off. With that said in the past we didn't bother to take the shine off, but found that if there was less shine the dyes took faster. To get it to a full matte, I would think you might have to sand the egg. I don't get too fussy about removing the shine. I go over the ever with a tooth brush and an etching solution then I rinse the egg. Before I put the egg into a dye I first get it wet in straight vinegar.

Thank you Mark. I use a Melting Pot, it's called la petite warmer. I purchased it at Sally's Beauty Supply. I believe a candle warmer will work too. Thank you for watching my videos.

Hi Anna, I first make sure all the shine and gunk has been removed from my ostrich egg shells. I do this by using The Works Toilet Bowl cleaner. And, before I put my egg into the yellow dye I put the egg into straight vinegar. As for what dyes I use: I like Pysanky Showcase's Brilliant dyes, I still like Ukrainian Gift Shop dyes, and I like Wax Art Supply dyes. However, from these suppliers I like certain colors from each. Hopefully I've been of some help. Thank you for watching my videos.

With smaller eggs it a matter of seconds that you have the solution of The Works on the eggshell. You don't leave the egg in The Works. You get the egg wet and rub the grime off, then rinse The larger thicker shells can be in the solution a bit longer, but again this is just to get the gunk off the shell. With the vinegar you just want to egg to get wet with vinegar. You can leave the shell in the vinegar for a bit, but the purpose is just to get it wet. Now about how long you leave the shell in the yellow dye depends how the shell is taking the dye, and what shade of yellow you are trying get.

Karen if you've worked on other egg sizes you'll do fine. The ostrich egg just has more surface so it takes a bit more time. Some folks sand their eggs, so far I haven't. I don't find that the dips make one's work look wavy, but lets folks see that the work was actually done on an ostrich egg. Each artist likes to work on different surfaces, so you'll need to decide which will work best for you. Hugs, Lorrie

Totoliciu Areta Ildiko If you paint with dyes you would need to protect the dyes and artwork by either dipping the egg in wax to cover unprotected areas or you can varnish the egg to protect the dyed artwork. Then it's safe to drain the egg from the eggshell. You can contact Wax Art Supply (look for the site that has something about kistka or pysanky), here you can buy different size kistkas.

thank you.

a light bleach solution works. be sure to rinse it all off