After I bought my first set of templates, they lay around, unused, stuck in a drawer most of the time.  I mean, how often do you really need to draw circles on a pysanka? And then I noticed the other markings around the circle, and began to intuit other uses for the templates.  Nowadays they remain on my table, used all the time. 

So what do I use them for?  Many things, but mot importantly

1. 1.  Drawing circles–usually concentric circles–in which I will place designs.  This is particularly true for when I make my snowflake eggs.
   

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3. 2.  Dividing a space into sixths, or other odd divisions.  It is fairly easy to eyeball a division of an area into multiples of 2: halves, quarters, eighths, etc. It is even easier to do it with a template.  For sixths, templates are invaluable.  I use the UGS paper templates (above), which are divided into 45°, 60°, and 90°.  These are invaluable when writing six-pointed snowflake eggs.
   

1. 3.  Drawing stars. You can see step-by step instructions here and here. To evenly space a star, you need a circle at its center to draw the arms out from, and sometimes an outside circle to make the arms even.
   

I use two different kinds of templates.  The UGS paper templates are most useful when I need to make divisions (i.e. divide a space), because they are marked around the edge of the circle in series of denominations of degrees. Their two main limitations are that

1. 1.They are opaque.  You can see through the hole in the middle, of course, but not through the rest of the template.  This make it hard to know if you’ve positioned it where you want to.
   

2. 2.They have a limited range of sizes.  Only the 6 or 8 smaller ones are of a size to be useful on chicken eggs; the rest are meant for use on much larger eggs, goose or ostrich.
   
   

The green plastic drafting template has its own pluses and minuses.  Its strengths mirror the weaknesses of the paper templates.

1. 1.The template is translucent.  You can see through it, making it easier to place circles exactly where you want them to be on the surface of an egg.  If you need to place a circle at the intersection of two lines, the paper templates work well enough, but otherwise, these are much more useful
   

2. 2.The number of divisions is minimal--each circle is divided into quarters only.  If you want more divisions, you need the paper templates. 
   

3. 3.There are a huge number of circles, with only tiny gradations in size.  You can find the exact size of circle you want and need.
   

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