Happy Easter!

Easter will soon be here, and with that in mind, welcome to my ham-fisted attempt at painting real eggshells. Why? Because polystyrene ones feel like cheating. This craft was in an activity book I had as a child and it's one of the first crafts I remember doing. It was one craft I was desperate to do as well, perhaps because it carried a certain amount of risk and responsibility, but nothing a child couldn't handle. And the sense of satisfaction when you finished your egg without breaking it and felt the fragile, beautiful weightlessness in your hand couldn't be topped. This blog post is the first one I photographed using my new Nikon  D3100. Hooray!

You'll need:

Free range eggs

A pin

A glass bowl

Paints

Paintbrushes

PVA glue (to varnish if you want)

Cocktail sticks

Thread

So, first of all you need to make a small hole in the top and the bottom of the egg. The hole in the bottom needs to be slightly bigger to allow the egg to come out. Now the tricky bit, (and I'm NOT providing a photo of me doing this): you need to blow through the top of the egg to force the contents out into a bowl. Use the egg to make cakes, omlettes or any other egg-based deliciousness you fancy.

Now that's done, run your eggshell under cold water just to make sure all the egg is out, although what's good is that there's usually little to no residue left after you've finished blowing (stop giggling). Now you're ready to paint!

Plasti-kote craft paint came to the fore once again. Poster and acrylic paints are also fine. I sponged my eggs all over in pale colours, then painted all over using stronger tones for the patterns. I was slightly cowardly and went with simple patterns for my eggs, but I was pleased with the overall effect, especially when they're viewed altogether. 

Saying that, there are examples online that just blow mine out of the water. I'm sure with practise I'd get better, I'd also love to try other concepts, like painting portraits onto eggs like these by Brittany on Craft Phesine.

To hang your eggs, you simply cut cocktail sticks into approximate one inch sections, and tie thread around the middle. Push your stick into the hole in the eggshell, and you're left with a secure  hang for your egg.

Oh, and if you're wondering why there's only two eggs hanging in this last picture... it's because when I was trying to hang these on my wall for a nice white background, two fell off onto the floor... and smashed. Fail. At least it happened at the end of the shoot! So, to conclude... polystyrene eggs are easier, cheaper and won't break. But I still loved painting these. Try tying yours to an ornamental tree branch or hanging them somewhere safe at home. :-)