Kiss My Knits!

Thank you, ladies and germs! How did I miss that pun last time?

Moving on, I got an e-mail from Cindy, the charming creator of http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/ saying that she had meant to mention using a knife to get out the eggs. Then we both went back and read, and oops, she had. My mistake! Also, she had used more water and less plaster in her mix. The plaster container backed her up on proportions, too, but who can be bothered to read the side of the jar? Armed with that knowledge, and wanting to try nonstick cooking spray as opposed to petroleum jelly, I gave it another go today!

I found another recipe. Since I didn’t want to use too much plaster before the event, I used that smaller batch recipe and upped the water just a little. This time, I added the tempera paint to the water instead of the mixed plaster. It was rather blotchy in the water, even after mixing. It evened out once the plaster was added. However, as you can see in the pic to the right, there was some separation once it was in the eggs. There wasn’t while it was in the container, so was this the result of the non-stick cooking spray, or just of having a chance to sit? Hm.

After closing and taping the egg, there was some seepage from the top half around the middle seam. Undoubtedly this was the result of the water/plaster separation. I wonder if using yesterday’s egg, which may have been a little bent out of shape, contributed to the problem. I did test it prior to using it again, and it seemed to close securely. Again, I say “hm.” There’s nothing for it but to let it set up now. It’s about an hour since I’ve made the egg, and it’s just now barely lukewarm to the touch, so I’m guessing that it’s setting much more slowly this time. I may decide to keep the drier proportions from yesterday.


As for yesterday’s egg, here it is after sitting out overnight on a cabinet in our den. To the left is the side that was down, to the right is the side that was up. Interesting! I’m going to guess that it’s still losing moisture, and some of the color-infused water seeped out a bit, or was drawn to evaporate more toward the “up” side. I wrote with the more strongly colored green side, and as you can see from the below left pic, the increased color is strictly on the surface.

I’ll crack open the new egg later on this afternoon – or maybe I’ll hold onto it for the meeting tonight so they can see how one looks when it’s done. I’m a bit nervous about a public unveiling, though. We’ll see.

Even if it’s a total disaster tonight, it’s been a very interesting project! Since we’re usually long on time, I may add these suncatcher Easter eggs from http://twostraightlines.typepad.com just in case the weather turns foul. I’ve got the materials already. It can’t hurt to have backup, just in case.

I’ll be late to my knitting group tonight (what else is new?) but I don’t think I’ll mind. It’s going to be a fun evening!