Eggshell carving- This is cutting out a pattern using a drill and a jigsaw. Further detailed descriptionegg shell carvings with step-by-step photos of manufacturing from Alexander Volk (Germany) - the man who created a whole collection of fantastic works from the shell. So…
1. We start the eggshell carving by making a blank - we draw a picture.
2. The picture must be approximately the original size.
3. We transfer the drawing to the egg with a well-sharpened simple pencil.
4. The places that we will cut out in the first place are marked in red.
In this case, a magnifying glass will serve as a very good helper - you can see better and protect your eyes
7. It is better to cover the table with something soft (for example, foam rubber) since an egg that accidentally falls on a hard surface will immediately be covered with small cracks (even if you don’t see them), which will only grow in the process of work.
For shell carving we use FG (friction grip) cutters for high speeds.
Below are 5 types of basic cutters for this job and most others.
"KaVo Super Torque 625" water-cooled drill makes up to 350-400. 000 rpm.
8. Gently with a round head with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 cm, we drill holes in the “red” places.
9. Slightly pass all the contours of the picture. It looks like a washed and prepared egg.
10. Using the "inverted cone" create the initial volume.
11. Now we take the “sharp cone” and carefully remove the “red” places inside the mask. This is one of the most difficult and dangerous moments in eggshell carving!
This is what the first outer circle looks like:
12. Now we go through the whole egg. Here your main assistant is fantasy! We remove all irregularities with a polishing stone.
And the egg is ready!
Almost everyone has been familiar with the Easter holiday since childhood. Everyone is happy to prepare for this day, paint eggs, arrange baskets and Easter dishes. Today, egg decor is popular not only for Easter. Craftsmen created and mastered a new, magical art - eggshell carving.
Preparation for work
For work, both chicken eggs and ostrich, goose eggs are used, and some craftsmen even use the shell of a quail egg. Eggshell carving is a delicate and painstaking process, but at the same time it is interesting and varied. Try yourself in this fragile art!
Eggshell carving can be accomplished at home with a limited number of tools, as well as done for the soul or for business. You just need to be prepared for the fact that nothing can work out the first time - after all, the eggshell is very thin and fragile, so it takes some time to adapt to such work and gain the necessary experience in the process of creating your egg masterpieces.
The technology for carving eggshells is described below. The advantage of this art form is that all the tools and materials are quite accessible to everyone.
If you decide to test your abilities in creating eggshell masterpieces at home, then you will need:
- chicken egg (raw);
- simple pencil;
- template (you can do it yourself);
- electric cutter or miniature drill;
- a small sharp knife or scalpel;
- paints for additional painting of the product or varnish for the finish coat;
- soft cloth to put on the table;
- spray varnish, acrylic varnish (you can use transparent nail polish);
- magnifying glass (optional)
- respirator or goggles (for sensitive eyes).
Let's start carving
First you need to free the egg shell from the contents. To do this, we make holes on the top and bottom of the washed and dried egg with the sharp end of a knife or a thick needle. After that, you need to blow out the contents of the egg with a syringe. After we collect soapy or clean water into the egg using the same syringe or syringe and blow it out again. The procedure must be repeated several times. Dry the egg. The shell is ready to go.
For beginners in this business, it is advisable to strengthen the eggshell so that it is difficult to spoil it during work. To do this, cover half of the egg with varnish, dry it and turn it over, then varnish the second part.
- We start with a drawing - we make a blank. We take a pencil to delicately apply the selected design to the shell by hand. Ideas can be viewed in books, in photos on the Internet, or come up with your own;
- Next, transfer it to the egg. You can draw with a pencil or use carbon paper. For convenience, we attach the carbon paper with a stapler with the non-carbon paper part to the paper with the image, we put all this on the egg and, in order not to paint the egg with the carbon paper, we work very carefully.
- It is convenient to mark in red the places that we will cut out first.
While working, a magnifying glass is your best assistant for eye protection and better visibility.
- We cover the table with something soft (for example, cloth or foam rubber). This will protect the shell from small cracks if the egg falls on a hard surface of the table.
- For carving eggshells, we use high-speed cutters. A photo of five types of main cutters is presented below:
- Holes are drilled in the "red" places. First you need to cut out marks - grooves along the contours of the pattern, while not deepening the nozzle too deeply. After that, drill the holes that are marked in red, already entirely. Remember that shell carving is a very fragile art. Therefore, it is better to play it safe and leave the partitions thicker so as not to spoil the product.
- After that, we cut out an openwork pattern that diverges in circles from the main pattern. We pass all the eggs. This is one of the most difficult and painstaking moments in eggshell carving!
- In the end, it is worth removing all the bumps with a polishing stone or a sharp knife. And now your masterpiece is ready! For a beautiful play of light and shadow, as well as for a beautiful lace pattern to be better visible, you can place a backlight on the back of the egg or inside.
If you want to add color to your work, you can paint the eggshell with acrylic paint. Despite its fragility, the shell is a very durable material. With proper storage, it will please you for a long time. To do this, the shell needs to be strengthened with varnish, and it is better to keep it under glass on a stand. Finished products look good hanging. To do this, it is better to tie them to a ribbon or rope. A carved eggshell is a wonderful, very beautiful and spectacular gift that everyone will like.
Here are some inspirational photos:
You can also watch a video on stained glass painting.
Video on the topic of the article
Recently I got acquainted with a new type of craft - eggshell carving. When I first got acquainted with the works of craftsmen, I had an association with ivory carving, which has long been practiced in China. The same delicate and jewelry work, only the material is very fragile.
For work masters use chicken, goose, ostrich or quail eggs. It takes perseverance, endurance, creative thinking and close attention to turn an ordinary egg into a real masterpiece.
How to create your own masterpiece?
1. Pre-wash the egg with water, dry it and mark with a pencil in the center from both ends of the place for future holes.
2. You can cut holes with a needle file or a thick needle. If you press hard, the egg will crack, so carefully and slowly screw the needle or file into the shell, first from the blunt end, then from the sharp one.
3. To extract the yolk and protein from the egg, it is necessary to destroy its integrity with the same needle, and then remove it with a large syringe, injector or small syringe. You can also blow them out. To do this, close one hole with your finger, and through the second with a syringe or other tool described above, inject air into the egg. Gradually, the liquid mass will flow out. It happens that because of the air, the pressure inside the egg exceeds the norm and the liquid does not flow out. Then open the second hole, the pressure will normalize and you can extract the contents, and also keep the shell from cracking.
4. Rinse the cleaned egg from the inside under running water and put it in the "Whiteness" chlorine solution for 12 hours. Then remove from the solution, rinse with water and dry the shell for a day. It is worth noting that after "Whiteness" the white egg will remain white, and the brown one will lose color a little. After that, you can proceed to the creative stage.
5. Cover your workplace with foam rubber to protect the egg from small cracks if you accidentally drop it from your hands.
6. With a simple pencil, draw a sketch on the shell or use a ready-made template, which we transfer to the surface of the shell through carbon paper.
7. If you are a beginner, then select the parts of the picture that you will cut out first with a colored pencil. As you gain experience, this will no longer be necessary.
8. High RPM bits are best for threading. Gently with a round head with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 cm, we drill holes in the places marked with a colored pencil. The drill should be held at a 90 degree angle.
9. Then lightly walk the cutter around the entire outline of the pattern. Remove the rest of the pencil sketch with an eraser.
10. Using a cutter with a "sharp cone", carefully remove the places marked with a colored pencil and only then move along the entire outline of the drawing. You need to cut the grooves with light movements, barely touching the surface of the shell and constantly check through the light for evenness of the deepening. No need to rush to cut through the shell in 1-3 passes, as it may crack. The slower the better. Remove loose pieces.
11. At the end, clean the egg with a soft brush from dust. Job completed!
Yes, yes, you heard right: not “dye eggs for Easter”, but “carve eggs for Easter”! Egg professional and recognized art can be extremely difficult and painstaking work, but the result you get is simply amazing. Farah Sayeed, the acclaimed guru of shell carving, uses chicken, goose, emu and even ostrich eggs to create unusual and striking works, including those with dioramas inside.
It is indescribable how something as fragile as an empty eggshell can be turned into a stunning work of art. And this art can be mastered at home (and Easter is the time to start!) with a limited number of tools, doing it for fun or for business.
Prepare:
- raw eggs;
- an upholstery needle (the same as a regular needle, just much larger);
- bowl;
- children's nasal syringe;
- cold water;
- vinyl gloves (simply durable gloves in which it is convenient to perform extremely delicate work);
- protective mask;
- pencil;
- modern transfer paper - transfer paper, or decal paper (or carbon paper in case of emergency);
- a good diamond peak / pointed / thin nozzle;
- a rotating tool (in principle, you can even use a professional set for a hardware manicure, where a rotating tool can work for a long time at high speeds; either there are, for example, Dremel kits, or, in principle, a pneumatic hand-held - small - drill);
Protective spray / varnish with which you can cover the finished work;
- three or four very soft brushes (optional);
- maybe a clear nail polish;
- Easter mood!
A. How to competently empty the shell:
1. Push the shell up and down with the upholsterer's needle to make holes. Let's say the top hole is a little smaller than the bottom hole.
2. Hold the egg over the bowl. Place the tip of a baby nasal syringe over the small opening. Squeeze it to force air into the egg, causing the contents to “pop out” into the bowl.
3. Fill the syringe with cold water, and squeeze it all into an empty shell. Gently shake the shell with water, then, just as in step two, blow out the water with an empty syringe. Repeat a couple of times. Let the shell dry properly.
A1. Shell strengthening:
For many, it’s impossible not to crush the shell during work. Therefore, a method was invented to pre-strengthen the shell, although real craftsmen work without it.
1. Paint half of a clean eggshell with crystal-clear (no yellowish tinge) nail polish.
2. Place the egg on a paper towel with the processed side up (support it with something from below if necessary) - let it dry for 20 minutes.
3. Finish the opposite side of the egg in the same way - and again on a towel, dry for 20 minutes.
Everything, the egg is ready for work.
B. Shell cutting for Easter and as a hobby:
1. Put on a pair of vinyl gloves and a good ventilation mask to protect against salmonella and dust from shell processing (and this dust is very easy to inhale).
2. Take a pencil to delicately draw your design onto the shell by hand. Or, to redraw the finished design from a print on paper, use transfer paper or carbon paper, in the end: we attach the carbon paper with a stapler with the non-carbon part to the paper with the image (so that nothing slips off), put all this on the egg and, so as not to paint with carbon paper egg, we work very carefully.
3. Attach a good diamond-tipped point to a rotating electric machine (or use a hand-held air drill). Very carefully but securely hold the eggshell in one hand and the working mechanism in the other, and slowly cut the design along the outline shown on the shell. Don't push hard!
4. As a result, pierce the shell with a diamond nozzle along the entire contour. Slowly and very delicately remove the excess shell from inside your pattern. Use a very soft brush or dry syringe to remove dust from the shell to get a smooth pattern.
5. Use a separate brush or spray to coat the cut egg shell with a protective and sealing material.
Additions and warnings:
This amazingly beautiful work calls for sensitive fingers, attentiveness and great perseverance. A good result - to practice! Break the first couple of shells - do not be discouraged: with each new "canvas" it will be easier to work.
You can also paint the eggshells with acrylic paint to add color to your work for Easter. Remember, of course, that the paint will completely fill the small cut out details. And you can pre-paint with husks, for example, individual parts of the shell.
Many admire the work of masters who create openwork lace patterns from an ordinary chicken or ostrich egg. It seems that it is impossible for a novice amateur to do this, and many are afraid to even try themselves in such creativity. In fact, this is not at all the case. The main thing is to know some of the subtleties of the preparatory work, buy the necessary tools and have patience and diligence. The eggshell carving technology consists of several stages, knowing which you can try to create a simple craft first. Let's take a closer look at the basics of craftsmanship and when people began to engage in this type of creativity.
The history of this art
Eggshell carving is considered an ancient art, such creativity was especially developed in ancient China. People brought a carved egg as a gift for weddings or birthdays. At first, chicken eggs were simply dyed red with natural paints, then they learned to make carved patterns on the shell. Until now, the country's museums keep specimens that have survived from the reign of the Ming and Qing dynasties. These are masterpieces of masters of the 14th-17th centuries, striking in their beauty and uniqueness. Crafts were decorated with gold threads, precious stones, beads.
In many cultures, the egg was considered a symbol of fertility, it was used in many sacraments and folk rituals. Nowadays, many craftsmen are fond of eggshell carving, there are carving schools, exhibitions and competitions of works in museums are organized. The aerobatics of such carving is the ability of the master not only to create patterns and drawings on the shell, but also to process the surface, creating relief images.
In the article, we will tell the reader how to work with an egg correctly so that it does not break, how to pre-process it, and what tools for eggshell carving you will need to purchase. You will learn all the subtleties of this applied art. For novice craftsmen, we will offer to perform simple work with simple patterns.
Preparing the egg for work
Raw eggs must be thoroughly washed before work and the internal contents removed. To do this, it is necessary to make a hole in the shell from the side of the blunt part of the egg with a needle or a thin drill. In this case, the rod must pierce the protein, the yolk must not be touched, it must remain intact. Then the contents are taken out over the bowl with a syringe, if it is not at home, then it's okay, there is another quick way to get rid of the insides. It is necessary to make another one opposite the first hole and, putting it to your mouth, blow it slightly. Then the egg must be thoroughly washed by injecting water with a syringe inside several times. To clean the whole shell, you can cover the holes with your fingers from the bottom and top and shake the shell in your hand.
To make the eggshell carving look neat, you need to remove the inner thin film. When cutting out pieces of shell, the film creates sloppy tatters along the edges of the cuts, resulting in work with jagged edges. What should be done, because the film cannot be removed through small holes? A solution of water and "Whiteness" will cope with this problem, having stirred the mixture in a glass jar in a ratio of 1: 1, you need to lower an empty egg there and leave it for a while. The film of a raw egg dissolves in about half an hour, but in some cases the process may be delayed, but not more than 4 hours. Visually inspect the appearance of the egg, if you see that the film has peeled off, then remove the workpiece and rinse several more times with a syringe with plain water.
Tools for the job
If you decide to try your hand and creativity in eggshell carving, then you must first purchase a drill and a set of drills for it. You will also need a magnifying glass, and it is even better to have a magnifying glass that is worn on elastic bands on the head. This will help to consider the small details of the selected pattern and will not take your hands. To draw a sketch, paper and a simple pencil must be present. When cutting large sections of the shell, the craftsmen use a sharply sharpened knife or even a scalpel (if possible). Preliminary preparation of eggs is carried out using a syringe. The product is first decorated with sandpaper, then some additionally paint with paints. For shine, the final work is opened with acrylic varnish. This makes it look better and last longer.
Do not forget to cover the surface of the table with a soft base before starting work. You can use a thin sheet of foam rubber so that the craft does not break if accidentally dropped. Be sure to wear safety goggles to protect your eyes, as when working with a drill, fine dust flies in the air. Also have a small brush ready to brush the waste material off the surface of the egg.
Surface treatment
Experienced craftsmen who make complex ornaments when carving eggshells specially keep the peeled shells in special solutions for several hours. This helps to increase the strength of the material and whiten the surface. Often this is done with a relief pattern.
Since our article is intended for beginners in eggshell carving, this processing can be skipped. It will be enough to thoroughly wash and dry the shell both outside and inside.
drawing
At the first samples, you can prepare the egg and drill holes with a bur in strips or circles. Then try to draw a simple drawing with a soft graphite pencil.
You need to cut along the contours with a small bur, moving it smoothly along the line. You need to hold the egg firmly, but without pressure, so as not to crush the product. After each strip, gently brush off the dust with a stiff brush so that the line is clearly visible. Then the work can be continued further.
For convenience when working, those places in the figure that need to be cut out are best painted with a red pencil.
It is better to make the jumpers between the holes thicker so that the fragile shell does not break off in a thin place.
To shine the surface of the craft, you can cover it with oil or rub it with felt.
It is better to store the product on a stand or hang it on a ribbon.
Now you know how to make such wonderful carved eggs. Be sure to try to prove yourself in this art form! Good luck!
