List Price: $17.50
Sale Price: $11.00
Today's Bonus: 37% Off
I've been interested in Washi eggs ever since I saw a demonstration by some women who were making them during a Japanese festival. They really are amazing -the most skilled of Washi egg artists can wrap the paper so that the seams are invisible and the pattern matches up perfectly all over the egg, shrinking and rearranging with the curvature of the egg (doing this is harder than it looks).
This kit is a great introduction to Washi egg making. It contains two wooden eggs with stands, varnish, a paintbrush, four pieces of chiyogami paper and instructions. The extra paper is great so if you mess up on your first try, you've got enough paper to try again. The extra paper could be used to make more Washi eggs using real eggs after you've decorated the two wooden ones. The paper itself is of high quality -nice texture, good thickness, nice and stretchy. The patterns are cute, but the beginner Washi egg artist might have trouble if he or she attempts the perfectly aligned seams and pattern consistency seen in the pictures. If you're just looking for a fun craft, however, and aren't concerned with producing a Washi egg masterpiece, the end result is quite beautiful and worthy of displaying proudly or even giving as a gift. This craft looks more difficult than it actually is and you'll be pleasantly surprised with the end result. If you are making these as a gift, the recipient will amazed with your artistry and talent, thoroughly impressed with the effort put into painstakingly covering an egg with decorative paper. (You don't have to tell him/her the truth if you don't want to!)
This product gets four stars rather than five because the included glaze leaves much to be desired (mine arrived fully solid and therefore completely useless) and the instructions, while clear and useful, are oversimplified. You could use the enclosed instructions to produce something that is pretty and would look nice sitting on your shelf. For a more polished look, I would suggest measuring your egg and cutting the paper down to a smaller size so that the ends and edges do not overlap as much. If you want the egg to look even better you might want to cut the strips into thinner sections, cut off more of the angled end portion to make the "picket" sections longer (you don't want to make the actual paper longer, you just want to make the "picket" section of the ends take up a larger portion of the strips than the instructions suggest), and try to lay the strips so that the patterns match up with the changing curvature and size of the egg. There are better instructions available on the internet, should you care to search for them. Perfecting your Washi egg technique will take some time, though, so be patient and you will improve as you continue to practice. You'll also have to experiment a little and find what works best for you through trial and error.
Overall, this is a great product and I highly recommend it. This would be a fun activity for kids, even teenagers, and people who are into crafts and like working with their hands will enjoy it as well, especially if they see it as a challenge and strive to make the perfect Washi egg with invisible seams and perfectly matched pattern edges.
All in all, this is a great kit. I highly recommend it as a fun craft/activity, a great gift, or for making beautiful gifts. Whatever your reason for purchase, you'll be very satisfied with this Washi egg kit.
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