Egg Art: How I Got Started as an Egger

For several years during my zoo keeping days, I belonged to the International Egg Art Guild.  This all started by my attending an Alabama Emu Association meeting in which the guest speaker was a lady who decorated eggs.  At first I didn’t think much of it, but later had second thoughts.

Goose Egg Ballerina on Polished Stone with Gold/Pearl/Jade Wire Shrub

We were looking for different places to market our birds, so I hit upon the idea of going to a craft fair.  It was the ideal market!  No other emu breeders at the show and thousands of people wandering through.  We took a couple of young emus, some emu sausage for my husband to cook on the spot, and a pile of literature. 

But being a Craft Fair, we had to have some sort of crafty items to sell… hmmm… No Problem!  I took my trusty hot glue gun and globbed a few feathers and fat plastic rhinestones on chunks of emu shells, and voila! We were in business!  I talked about the birds while Joe handed out sausage balls. It was a hit! 

Later on, I began playing around with shells, and finally went to Montgomery and took an egg decorating class from the instructor.  I was staggered at the beautifully decorated eggs in her house.  I traded eight goose eggs for one class session, as she charged $40 and I didn’t have any cash.  She taught me how to make a hinged box from a goose egg lined with velvet and with a pretty flower decal on top.

I was in business!  I went home and began playing around with all sorts of eggs.  I joined the International Egg Art Guild and even attended a conference in New Orleans.  For quite a few years, I decorated and sold my eggs. I pushed more and more, trying to come up with original eggs.