Time to Etch Eggs for Easter

Easter is just around the corner and I've had requests for some special etched eggs.

I gathered my tools together but didn’t have any etching solution on hand. I've always used toilet bowl cleaner for this so I went to the local Dollar General and picked up a jug of the Works. It used to contain 20% hydrochloric acid but the strength of the current product available is 9% acid. Hmmm.

I thought I’d better do a test. And while I was at it, I decided to sample other household chemicals I had around. I’m sharing the results with all my egging friends and anyone else interested. Eggshells are made up of calcium carbonate so I put several brown eggs in cups of cleaning products that claim to "bust" calcium buildup. I checked at 10-minute intervals to see if the outer brown layer of the shells was being etched. Only four solutions did a reasonable job.
In my experiment, CLR was the winner followed by the (new 9%) Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner. At just 10 minutes, the eggs in these cups revealed a clear, white layer of shell. Vinegar and Comet Cleaner did a fair job but it took 45 minutes for either to work and the results were uneven.

Once my waxed eggs were etched, I melted the designs, sketched details, and carved the shells. I look forward to doing a few more of these eggs this season featuring letters of the alphabet, bugs, bunnies, and for my granddaughters, cats!

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

The incredibly warm February weather we are enjoying in the mid-section of the country is a gift beyond measure. Pussy willow catkins are plump and silver. Warm southern winds are waking daffodils from winter’s cold hold on them. Moss is greening and the forsythia buds are swelling.

Neighbors are out and about, months before the traditional break from hibernation. Best of all, my cats are spending less time underfoot and more time chasing squirrels from their territory.

For me, ‘tis the season of eggs, eggs, eggs. Blowing them, carving them, selling them! This year I have finally found a reliable source for the rare and exquisite Tinamou eggs I’ve sought for so long. The eggs come from a breeder in Chile, where these once wild birds are now being raised domestically. Their shells have a striking glass like shine. Elegant-crested Tinamous lay a deep green egg while another member of the species, the Chilean Brushland Tinamou, lays a purple/brown/black egg.

I started to carve them the day they arrived!

My work is featured this spring in two national publications.

You’ll spot my hand-carved Victorian Lace eggs in the Favorite Things section of the March/April issue of Victoria Magazine and on the front and back covers of the Guidepost publication, Angels in America.

I’m grateful for such publicity, but it means busy days and late nights ahead. 

It’s a good thing I love my work; there is plenty of it right now!