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The kinglet sits on her nest, swinging in the spring
breeze. She sways and dreams, warming her precious eggs.
They are as small as peas, but full of the universe
of life.
This etching has been hand-finished by the artist,
using glazes of egg tempera, prisma, silver enamel and
lapis-lazuli.
Lapis-lazuli is a semi-precious blue stone which artists
have prized since the earliest know civilizations, for
both its beauty and its ritual value. Lapis ground to
a fine powder, is used to produce the lovely blue colour,
ultramarine. Lapis-lazuli is rarely used to-day, as
an inexpensive synthetic blue is available.
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