Eggs-Acting Art Originally printed by: News Journal, Seatle, WA - Monday November 28, 1988
ANN SAILOR'S CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS ARE FRAGILE, GLITTERING CREATION IN SHELL
By ED EATON
When Ann Sailor turned 65 about a decade ago, somebody forgot to tell her about retirement. Eight or nine years back, she started out to master the extremely delicate art of egg decorating and has been so busy every since that she now has a glass display case full of embellished eggs, and each Christmas she pulls out some 60 Christmas tree decorations - also egg creations - to trim her tree.
These are not simple designs painted on the shell, like most Easter egg productions. They are glittering, intricate works of art. Anns' creations are made from ostrich eggs, emu eggs - deep green eggs with hints of blue in them that have to be imported from Australia - rhea eggs from South America, swan eggs, goose eggs, and even peacock eggs. The larger eggs are usually purchased from special outlets in the East. The egg artist doesn't have to go robbing nests for her hobby. Intricate designs are drawn on the eggs, and when "doors" or "windows" are needed in the shell, they are cut with a high speed drill hooked to a compressor.
One of the eggs-acting creations she made into a music box, with a tiny girl with golden curls swinging in rhythm with the music. The little doll was made out of bread dough by a lady in California, who supplies many of the dolls Ann Sailor uses in her art work. The inside walls of the egg are lined in gold leaf instead of paint, because it is so much richer, she explains. Another egg has a Russian religious print on it that has been decoupaged into a glassy finish on the outer shell of the egg, gleaming with coats and coats of acrylic to give the portrait depth. An elaborate butterfly with lace wings carved into doors that open on each side of the egg is a work a jewel would envy.
In another setting, a music box sets the mood for dancers in a tiny park on a small revolving stage inside an Ostrich egg. Other characters in the vignette sit at an outdoor table on wings of the egg that fold down on each side. The figures are Preiser figures imported from Germany. Used to decorate the various eggs are rhinestone chains, beads, sparkling jewel stones made from crystals from Austria, pins and tassels.
The 60 Christmas tree ornaments made from eggs feature manger scenes, angels, Santa faces, tiny fur trees - all so delicate that guests may look but rarely touch. Does she ever break an egg when working on it? "Yes," the artists says, ruefully. "You just throw it out and start over," she says. "You can't worry about it. When it hurts most is when you're almost through."
She works on her kitchen table where she has excellent outside light. She puts a towel under the eggs, but one time pulled the towel off the table accidently with her elbow and wiped out a practically finished project. But that rarely happens. She seldom works more than two hours at a time - not that she can't keep up with the very exacting work over a longer period of time, she says. But drying time is required for glue and she has many other things to do as well. Among the several figures used in the eggs she has decorated is an inspirational religious setting with a hand-carved Anri figure she purchased on a trip to Switzerland.
The eggs are never sold. No one could pay the price for the time and special attention they demand, she says. Those she doesn't keep herself are given to children, grandchildren who are old enough to appreciate them as art rather than playthings, and friends.
