Eggs! Beautiful Eggs

Recently I've noticed blog posts about the beautiful eggs that chickens have been laying in flocks all over the country. My own five month old pullets started laying a month ago and it's always a joy to find those first eggs, with their strong, colorful shells. The early eggs are especially dark, they range from small to extra large double yolk eggs as shown below. Those poor pullets!


I've been blowing out the smaller ones for egg decorating someday when I get around to it again. There are so many ways to turn eggs into art, but for some reason, wax resist egg decorating was the one that took my breath away nine years ago. I totally immersed myself in it, learning as much as I could via the Internet, books, workshops and mentoring with Luba Perchyschyn. The duck egg below is from one of her design books...As the years went by, I saw some of my brilliant dyes fade away, as this acid etched brown egg did, it's now a lilac color... but the brown layers of the colored shell are still there. So that's why I want to focus more on acid etching, it's more durable and add texture as well.


The one below is an etched and dyed brown pullet egg which hasn't faded in the least.


Sorry I don't have a photo of just an acid etched (not dyed) brown chicken egg. I've had people tell me those eggs remind them of lace - imagine that, the two mediums blend together as they are filtered through my senses!

This one is a duck egg that was dyed and then etched back to white. It was my first attempt at etching and it's very simple. I love working on duck eggs especially, they are SO smooth!


And this one is a turkey egg shell... they can be bumpy, but the bumps come off with a vinegar wipe.I also love working on goose egg shells. They are so large...this one was a failed attempt that I resurrected with permanent maker and bleach. We were doing a figure show that spring so I put nudes on eggs. LOL.


I've done a few rhea, one ostrich and several emu eggshells too. The one below was a very special emu egg, I lucked out getting one with such a smooth surface and it had an extra light layer of shell over the typical dark green color.