There's more to do with eggs than just eat them!
In fact, I like them cooked most any way...fried, scrambled, boiled,
poached, and in recipes. I've eaten my bantam eggs, and I've moved on up
to eating duck eggs. I like them...good flavor. I've made some splendid
cheese omelets, and I'll use duck eggs in a recipe for Herb Bread which
I like to make when cold weather gets here and the holiday season rolls
around. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll bet the the white from duck eggs
will make superb Divinity Candy...I've got the pecans already.
It's easy enough to make a hole just by chipping away the shell with
a pointed instrument of some sort, but it makes a very nice hole to use
a tool such as a Dremel high-speed rotary tool. In this photo, I've cut
a hole with a 1/8" carbide, round-end cutting bit.
To define a point to grind away, I rub some pencil graphite on a piece of paper, hold the egg vertically, then swirl the egg around to make a mark. This probably works a little better than just "eyeballing" it.
I have blown eggs by breaking a small hole in both ends of the egg, putting my mouth on one end, and BLOWING!! The insides will be forced out if the hole is large enough and you blow hard enough. I've even used a sewing needle to make small holes for blowing small eggs. It helps to shake the egg and break up the yolk membrane, for the intact membrane can give considerable resistance to blowing. My jaw got tired...there's gotta be a better way...
I tried using a 12cc hypodermic syringe with an 18 gauge needle, and
it was moderately successful. But the needle was sharp and a little small.
What would work better??? Ah Ha!
Basketball inflation needles are larger and have nicely rounded ends. I tried one attached to the end of an automobile tire pump. It worked well. If you have access to compressed air, it should be just what you need.
To flush out the inside of the egg, I tried using a piece of plastic tubing with a needle attached. I would fill my mouth with water and then force water into the egg. After shaking the egg, the water/egg residue could be forced out with air blown in through the same tube.
To put it all together and make it easier to use, I discovered the water bottle in the photo above. The bottle is compressible plastic with a metal ball valve on one end. The metal slips off easily, and the basket ball needle can be pushed/screwed into the end of the plastic bottle, especially if the plastic is softened in hot water.
I drilled a small hole in the top of the bottle opposite the needle. This hole allows the "physics" of the blowing process to be manipulated to achieve the desired end: cover the hole with the thumb and compress the bottle; air or water is expelled. Compress the bottle and cover the hole; water can be drawn up into the bottle.
After the hole is drilled, it helps to insert a piece of stiff wire
or perhaps a stick to swirl around inside to break the yolk membrane. This
makes it much easier to blow the egg by inserting the needle into the hole
that has been cut in the egg, covering the hole in the end of the bottle
with one's thumb, then compressing the bottle to force air into the egg.
The hole is large enough that the albumin and yolk can come out around the
needle, but it's fun to pump some air in then remove the needle and watch
the contents continue to come out for a few seconds.
It you put enough pressure inside, and if you do it fast enough, it's possible to crack the egg. I've had some bantam eggs crack, but don't worry...the contents really don't explode all over you.
Is it obvious to you that the egg must be held in this position? Would it work to hold the egg below the pump and insert the needle from the top? Ask the egg...it will tell you.
After the contents have been expelled, I find it desirable to rinse the inside with water a couple of times. After that I stand the egg on end, on a paper towel, and let any residual water drain. I don't put any chlorine bleach or disinfectant in the egg and rinse it out though some who blow eggs do use such rinses.
This photo shows the materials I use to remove the cuticle from the
blow eggs. Left to right: wiping cloth, muratic acid bath, sodium bicarbonate
bath, tap water bath, and you can just see a corner of a drying towel.
Muratic acid is technical grade hydrochloric acid that can be purchased at building supply stores. It is used for many purposes, including cleaning masonry after completion. The concentration of the acid in the jug I bought is 31%. Remove the lid, and it fumes. It's stuff to work with very carefully...can cause nasty acid burns. I have been diluting the acid with three parts of water to one part of acid which results in a concentration of about 8%. Full strength vinegar (5%) will work well though it will work more slowly due to concentration and lower hydrogen ion activity. I don't use protective gloves; at 8% the acid doesn't seem to affect my fingers. You may wish to use thin rubber gloves in your work.
In the photo above, you can see an egg in the acid bath. It is foaming. I swirl the egg for about five seconds, remove it and wipe the cuticle off with the cloth.
If the acid has acted long enough, the cuticle will roll up as can be
seen at the left end of the egg in this photo. Continue wiping, and the
result is a beautifully clean, uniformly colored egg.
I immediately put the egg in the base bath to neutralize the acid, swirl the egg about, then rinse it in the tap water bath. After that I dry it with a towel and stand the blown egg on a paper towel with the hole in the egg in contact with the towel. Residual water drains quickly, and the egg dries with a beautiful surface that invites you to turn on your creative powers.
Sandra and I went to a local fabric store and purchased a variety of
sequins, beads, laces, metallic cords, ribbons, stick-on thingys, and whimsical
stuff to use in decorating the eggs.
This photo to the left is of one of her creations. A light green duck egg bedecked with green lace, green sequins, rhinestones, and small beads. A white glue such as Sobo or Elmer's is used to stick the items to the shell. In the case of ribbon and some other materials, hot melt glue and a glue gun would probably be useful.
The three other eggs are decorated, respectively, with blue beads and pearl strings, holly stick-ons, and with blue/purple/gold sequins. A "finishing washer" was used on the sequin-covered egg to provide a finishing touch at the top where the hanging ribbon emerges.
The loops of ribbon or metallic thread for hanging the finished eggs are attached by making a large knot in the hanging thread, pushing it into the hole in the egg, then gluing it. I have tried making small toggles from pieces of wooden toothpick, but Sandra's knot and glue technique seems to work very well.
Here is my first attempt to watercolor an egg. I have the same problem
on the egg that I do on paper. I tend to overwork, not work fast and free
enough. In short, I just piddle about...but I enjoy it.
Do you think flowers, vines, leaves, etc. would work well on eggs?? The images could probably be positioned nicely on the surface.
What about the possibility of decoupage techniques in conjunction with eggs? Several layers in a collage...covered with a heavy, glossy finish. It might work!
Want to see some more eggs?? Here's another page of decorated eggs. You can see Sandra at work using an expensive, but splendid, plastic tripod to hold the eggs.
There is a beautifully carved egg (ostrich?) on the home page of Paragrave that shows the incredible work that can be done with high speed turbine hand tools. They also sell small sand blasting units. It might be expensive for you to go to their link... might wind up spending $3K or $4K for tools to work on eggs. But if the relaxation and joy of working with egg carving saves you $10K on hospital bills for stress related illnesses, it would be a good investment.
I've been a beekeeper for many years. Perhaps some of the satisfaction
of working with bees comes from the kinship shared with people the world
over and for centuries in the past.
In recent years I've gone to Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives.
This is an inexpensive, low-tech way of keeping bees that produces less (but better) honey and more beeswax. I love beeswax. There's so much that can be done with it. One can make candles, for example.
In the candle shown in the photo to the right, the exquisite, flowing form of the egg is obvious.
The candle should look like an egg. I made a hole in the small end of a blown runner duck egg, threaded medium wicking through it, put some clay over the emerging wick and hole after which I turned the egg large-end up.
I wrapped the wick around a toothpick, centered the wick over an enlarged hole at the large end of the egg, then poured melted beeswax inside. As beeswax cools, it shrinks which makes it necessary to top off the pouring.
When the wax is cold, the shell can be cracked and removed completely with the result that you see in the photo. It's also nice to remove about half of the shell and have the candle emerging from the broken, irregular lines of the shell.
Medium, flat wicking seems to work well with candles this size. I haven't tried wire-core wicking, nor the square braid wicking that I have seen recommended for beeswax candles.
The wicking I use is a flat braid. Check the candles in your house, especially long tapers, and you'll find that they have flat braid wicking. Question: What is the reason for having flat wicking in candles? Have any hypotheses? How could you test them?
Got bees, beeswax, blown eggs...hmmmm...Gotta try some Ukrainian egg art soon...as soon as I can find a supplier for the kistkas used to handle the beeswax. And I need to do a bit of research on good dye stuffs too. Perhaps I'll have some photos of our efforts soon.
The views expressed on this web page are not necessarily the views of Georgia State University, Atlanta GA USA.
James D. Satterfield Canton GA USA jsatt@gsu.edu
