artsandcrafts

My particular specialty is egg art. This means that I decorate and carve real eggshells.

For this project, you’ll need to use an egg. While I’ll give you instructions for using a chicken egg, I don’t recommend it. Most chicken eggs you buy at the grocery store are unfit for egg art. It’s because commercial chicken eggs are from commercial farms. You can check the PETA website for more info, but the simple fact is that a lot of the calcium is leached from the eggs because of farming practices. This makes them weaker and more likely to break. I personally like working with goose eggs, and Schiltz Foods has some great quality eggs available (No, I don’t work for them. I’m just a happy customer.) You can use practically any size egg, but the instructions will assume you’re using a goose egg, unless otherwise noted.

First, if you’re using a chicken egg, you’ll need to “blow” it. Caution- eggs carry diseases, and you should not actually put your mouth on it unless you want to risk salmonella. Using a bead reamer which can be bought at a craft store or even Walmart, cradle the egg in one hand and with your other hand, carefully poke a hole in the end of the egg. Try to center it the best you can. When you are poking the hole, it helps to think of it as giving the egg an injection. Place your finger along the bead reamer, and guide it into the egg. It really isn’t as difficult as it sounds, and if you do make a mistake, you’ve only wasted a ten cent egg. Once you have a hole in one end, you’ll want to put a hole on the other end. Using an oral medicine syringe like you would use to give a baby medicine, slowly put the end in one of the holes, and push the plunger. This will force air into the egg, and the egg white and yolk out. Do it slowly, or you risk breaking the egg. When it’s empty, rinse it out with water, and then dunk it in bleach to kill any bacteria. It will try floating to the top, so just hold it under until it sinks. Leave it for about 20 minutes, remove it from the bleach, rinse it again, and bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. No, we’re not baking a cake- this strengthens the egg shell.

Now that you have a blown egg, take some spray paint and a dowel rod. Place the egg on the egg of the dowel rod, and spray paint it with whatever color you’ve chosen. Ivory or a pale blue will look nice. When it’s dry, make sure you have the egg well coated. If you make a mistake, fingernail polish remover should take the paint off. Then, with dark brown paint, you will hand paint some branches. It’s ok if they aren’t perfect because nature isn’t either. Then, using a hole punch, punch out some pieces of paper from pink paper. It’s best if it’s transparent paper so the branches show through. Glue these on, spreading a little glue on top of each pink piece.

When the glue is thouroughly dry, use a clear finishing spray and spray your egg on the dowel rod. This gives it a nice finish.  To finish your egg, you’re going to use some ribbon and a charm.  Put the charm through the ribbon, so it hangs from it, and then tie a loop in the ribbon.  Make sure your knot is tight.  Then, you’ll need to find a bead cap.  These look like little half-sphere jewelry pieces, with a hole in the middle.  Very carefully, and with a lot of patience, fish the ribbon through the bottom hole and into the top so that your charm is hanging from the bottom.  Then make a knot in your ribbon that is close to the hole in your egg, and won’t allow the ribbon to slip back through the egg.  Using your bead reamer, poke the ribbon through the bead cap, and slide it down so that it sits on the egg.  Glue this in place, and you’re ready to hang your egg for display.

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