ovastrophe prep

During the winter break, I filled 124 eggshells for this year's eggshell smash-up "Ovastrophe" (snow permitting).  The principles are easy: all materials must be natural (spices and flowers); when the snow hits NY, I grab my friends and invite them to crush and throw.  The shells disappear in the white, the smells and colors remain.  One girl last year: "I think it's pretty."  The guy next to her: "It ruins the snow."  Pure process, no thinking.

This year's materials list (so far):

• cinnamon
• mustard powder
• allspice powder
• ground cloves
• dark cocoa
• coriander powder
• nigella sativa seeds
• psyllium seeds
• mustard seeds (black and yellow)
• poppy seeds
• turmeric
• paprika
• spirulina (blue-green algae)
• hibiscus powder
• spearmint
• lavender
• red peppercorns
• cardamon pods
• statice calyxes
• lemongrass
• crushed eggshells
• catnip
  

Filling the eggs is always slow going and the apartment usually smells of curry for days.  Not finding any powdered hibiscus this year, I ground my own; the kitchen was covered in pink.

There are few blues in nature: bought two bunches of statice and stripped them down to single calyxes.  It takes a while (you have to let them dry out), but the result is magical:

Now we just need a good snow storm.