EBSQ Facebook Artist of the Week: So Jeo LeBlond

Who and where are you?

My name is So Jeo LeBlond and I am a Pysanky / Batik Egg artist living in Nova
Scotia Canada. I use the traditional Ukrainian technique of decorating real
blown eggshells using a writing instrument called a kistka to write designs on
the shells with hot melted beeswax and then color them using dyes. I enjoy
taking traditional and non-traditional elements and producing my own unique
creations.

How were you introduced to Facebook?

I first started using Facebook like so many others as a personal page, using it
as a social platform to keep in touch with friends and family. In 2010, I
created my Facebook Page to display my artwork. I realized that it was the
perfect platform to advertise my artwork and it’s free!

Any tips for other artists starting a Facebook Page?

My tip for other artists starting a Facebook Page is say you want to post a
photo of a new piece to several different groups, post one photo only and then
share that photo to the groups. This way whenever someone clicks on your
photo, it will bring them back to your page.

What’s your favorite Facebook Page feature?

I love that I can incorporate all the individual web services that I use into
one place. It’s like having a second website, as it incorporates my Etsy
store, eBay auctions, Zazzle products and Flickr photos. I also love that it is
so easy to share information and photos of my artwork, plus my posts reach so
many others that might not necessarily come across my work otherwise.

What’s coming next from your studio?

This year I would like to increase my jewelry line, creating more designs,
styles and increasing my clientele.

EBSQ Spotlight on Artist Made Jewelry: So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

This month’s featured gallery is Artist Made Jewelry. Handcrafted jewelry is not only an expression of the artist who created it but of the one who wears it.  Whether created in silver or gold; plain or sparkling with gems and stones, artist made jewelry is a coming together of personalities that is unique. Throughout the remainder of March, we are going to take a few moments to catch up with some of EBSQ’s Jewelry artists.

So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

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Stars & Diamonds - So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

I love tiny intricate designs and challenging myself to work with the smallest and most fragile of eggs was just a natural progression for me.  The designs are drawn out and the egg goes through the same waxing and dyeing process as with a normal sized egg, just on a much, much smaller scale which requires special tools and a very light touch!

I work with shell cut-outs but also with tiny whole eggs such as parakeet, dove, cockatiel and finch. The most difficult to work with are the finch eggs which only measure about 3/4 of an inch tall.  Their paper thin shells are so fragile that they will often crumble into nothing as you are working on them.  Taking them to the point where they are wearable jewelry is a painstaking process; most don’t make it past the dyeing stage.  They then they need to be filled with a special polymer through the small pinhole where the contents were emptied out and after that many layers of the same polymer are applied on the outside giving them incredible strength, durability and UV resistance.

Often fragile collectibles such as Pysanky are kept in cabinets or glass domes, displayed but out of reach of the viewer.  Pysanky jewelry allows the wearer to have the closest proximity to something that most people only catch a glimpse of and knowing that the wearer thinks that my work is special enough to be worn and displayed on their person makes making egg shell jewelry such a rewarding process. – So Jeo Katherine LeBlond

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