Review by The_book_of_t -- Eggstravagant Easter Eggs

[The_book_of_t]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Eggstravagant Easter Eggs" by Maya Elston.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Extravagant Easter Eggs: Over 200 Ideas For Artistic Looking Eggs by Maya Elston is a handy guide to the craft of Easter egg design. Maya presents each design with a thorough step-by-step how to making it easy to follow along. She has a variety of designs with a range of difficulties so everyone can feel comfortable enough to get stuck in.

I liked how Maya went into a lot of detail when discussing the best materials to use. She made it clear what eggs are best suited for what materials and how each should be used. She also made constant references to price which, I felt, was important when introducing the craft to beginners. The stores she used to purchase her materials were also mentioned. I found this, particularly, helpful as wooden eggs aren’t something most people buy regularly.

When she began to delve into the process of dyeing eggs, Elston made it clear that many of the materials needed were easily accessible and often items most people owned already. I enjoyed this as I felt that it wasn’t necessary for me (or anyone else) to invest a lot of money into a hobby I wasn’t sure I wanted to pursue further. It also meant that the activities were less time consuming and I was required to spend weeks on a project with more time, set aside, to purchase items I wouldn’t use afterwards.

As an artist, I felt that a few methods presented were unnecessary. This included using acetone to remove acrylic paint or adding tempera (or gouache) to acrylics to increase coverage. Although, I appreciate why she wouldn’t suggest that her readers go out and buy expensive acrylics for better coverage. Yet there are a few inexpensive acrylics that could have done a good job at covering the surface evenly and layering would aid coverage and precision. I also cringed slightly at her bad brush etiquette. I felt that wrapping wet paint brushes in cling wrap wasn’t necessary as cleaning your brushes in a water pot (or cup) would have served its purpose well.

I noticed quite a few typos and sentences that didn’t make sense, throughout. This often made it difficult to understand and follow instructions. I also found a few instances where instructions weren’t clear enough and no clear materials list was given.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I think that this is a great guide for beginners and does a great job at allowing people of all ages and varying levels of creativity to get involved. I can’t rate it higher, simply, because I felt that some methods could have been improved upon and it didn’t seem professionally edited. I think this would be a great book for both children and adults. Yet, it seemed to have been written with adults who are willing to invest time and effort into a new craft in mind.

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Eggstravagant Easter Eggs
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