Making Faberge Style Eggs as an Easter Craft

Many people are familiar with Faberge eggs. They are small collectibles that sell for a great deal of money, and are based around the idea of using an eggshell as the canvas or medium for their art. But even though they are shaped like eggs, most people don't know that Faberge never used real eggs. Many artisans throughout the world do use real eggshells, which are decorated or even have shapes carved into them. By following these instructions, you can learn how to do this type of art for yourself, just in time for Easter.

Naturally, the first step is to find some eggs. While you can use any eggs, it's best to not use chicken eggs from your local grocery store. Modern farming practices leave the shells depleted of calcium, which makes for a thin shell. This complicates matters, of course. Chicken eggs are the easiest ones to find, and a grocery store is the easiest place to find them. If you have the option of using other eggs, you will have better luck, but if you cannot, try shopping at a farmer's market or a store with many organic foods. You will find better quality eggs here. If this is not an option, you can still find acceptable eggs at a large grocery store. The bigger the egg, the easier it will be to work with it as a beginner. Also, you must look for eggs that don't have lines, streaks, or spots which are discolored. These are weak spots, and if anywhere on your egg is going to break, it will be those places.

Next, you will need the tools to empty the egg. Craft stores have a tool called a bead reamer. It is typically used to make the hole in beads larger, but it is also fantastic for making a hole in an egg. You will also need a bulb syringe, such as the type that is used on babies noses. Once you have these tools ready, you need to use a pencil or a felt tip marker to make a small hole at the top and bottom of the egg. The closer you can get to the center, the better. Hold the bead reamer as if you are giving the egg a shot. Cradle the egg in one hand so that your mark is available. Do not hold it with your fingertips, but hold it gently but firmly in the palm of your hand. Guide the bead reamer to the spot you marked, and with your fingertip near the end of the bead reamer, firmly yet gently push it into the egg. With any luck, this will make a hole in the egg. If it does not, throw the egg away and begin again. Make the hole bigger by gently using the bead reamer as a file, and slowly file away the shell. Do the same on the other side. The hardest part of making a hole is overcoming the thought that you are going to break the shell. Don't worry. These shells are stronger than they look or seem, and with practice you will know exactly how hard you need to push to make the hole.

After you make your holes, you will "blow" the egg. This means that you empty the yolk and egg white, and leave just the shell. Place the tip of the bulb syringe in one hole. Very gently, squeeze it so that the egg is forced out of the other hole. If you push too hard, you will create too much pressure inside the eggshell, and it will make the shell break. The yolk is often difficult to squeeze out, and your bead reamer can pierce it so that it flows more easily. After the egg has been removed from the shell, you should fill the syringe with water, and squeeze a little through there. Also, you will need to clean the inside of the egg to prevent any germs from thriving inside the egg. Fill a large cup about 3/4 of the way with a bleach/water mixture. Push the egg into this mixture, and hold it down until it does not float on top. The entire egg should be submerged so that there are no air pockets where germs or viruses can survive. Leave them in this mixture for 10 minutes, and then remove them. Rinse them so no bleach remains. Finally, baking them at 250 degrees for 10 minutes will thicken the shell, and make it a little easier to work with.

Now your egg is ready to decorate. You can paint it any color you want. One of the easiest ways to paint the egg is to use spray paint. Choose your color and insert a dowel rod that is small enough to go through the egg. Spray light coats over the egg while rotating the stick, so that the color never gets too thick in one area or pools. Continue rotating it for several minutes while it dries. After this, you can decorate it in other ways. One of the easiest things a beginner can do is find some Easter rub-on stickers. Choose which rub-on sticker you want to use, cut it out, and gently rub it onto the egg using the stick they have provided, or a popsicle stick. The design will stay very well, but you can protect it even more by adding a clear coat of protectant sealant. Also, you can use small flatback rhinestones and glue them on. One nice idea for Easter is to paint the egg in a metallic pastel color, find an outline of a bunny head, and trace it onto your egg lightly. Apply rhinestones along this line so that it forms a rhinestone bunny head.

To finish your egg, you will need to use some patience. If your top hole is slightly smaller than your bottom hole, you can thread some ribbon through the bottom so that it makes a loop. Insert a small ornament hanger so that the ribbon does not slip through the hole, and tie the ends so that they will not slip through the top hole. Push them into the larger hole on bottom, and hang your ornament. If the holes are the same size, you will need to tie your ribbon first, and use some patience as you feed it through the top hole. Then apply some craft glue and let it harden so that the loop is unlikely to let the egg fall. Also, you can apply a tassel at the bottom. Simply find a small suitable drapery tassel and feed it through the bottom. Glue this in the same way, until you are satisfied that it will not fall off.

These steps are not necessarily simple, but with practice, you can teach yourself how to make egg art. The nice part about this is that even if the shell breaks, eggs are very inexpensive, and you can find another easily. As you become more proficient, you can move up to goose, emu, or even ostrich eggs, and experiment with bigger and more decorative styles.