Emu Egg Shells Take Center Stage

Many families color eggs for the Easter holiday. In some homes it is an early Spring ritual. The decorated eggs are so bright and colorful! But, instead of chicken eggs, some “eggers” (people who decorate egg shells) use emu egg shells to create beautiful works of art year round.

These large, dark green eggs can weigh 1 to 2 pounds each when first laid. The emu egg shells, with layers of white, blue, gray, turquoise and green, are a perfect start for creating a masterpiece. The fresh eggs are first emptied, washed and sanitized. When dried, the egg shells can be painted, carved, hung like Christmas ornaments, made into jewelry boxes/music boxes or decorated like the famous Faberge eggs.

The strength and thickness of an emu egg shell make it a durable canvas for all types of painting from egg critters to beautiful landscapes. Both acrylic and oil paints can be used successfully to create amazing art.

Many artists carve emu eggs because of the many different color layers. The dark green outer covering varies from hunter green to almost black, the middle color is a turquoise/teal green to blue and the inside is a bright white. The teal and blue are actually as many as seven subtle layers of color, each about the thickness of a sheet of paper.

These different layers of color can be utilized by carvers to add texture and depth to artwork and make even a simple design dramatic. The texture, contrast and natural colors of the shell make even a simple design dramatic without the use of any paint or other coloring. Many interesting works of art, including nightlights, can be made from a lacework cut egg shell.

Pieces of emu egg shell can be used to make inserts for jewelry and the smaller broken pieces can be used to make mosaic artwork.

A variety of emu egg shell artwork can be seen on the American Emu Association website, www.AEAEggArtContest.com, where artists competed in last year’s “Eggs’travaganza” contest. Works of art from all over the United States along with information about the artists, can be viewed on this website.

This year the American Emu Association (AEA) will once again be hosting the 2012 “EGGS’travaganza” Emu Egg Art Contest. The contest/silent auction will be held online, starting the end of June and all entries will be displayed on the final day, Friday, July 13th during the 2012 National AEA Convention at the Marriott Kansas City Airport Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri.

Donating a decorated egg will give the contestant a chance to win cash and will provide almost a full year of online exposure for them, their business and their decorated egg. For more information about the 2012 “EGGS’travaganza”, visit www.AEAEggArtContest.com or call 970-493-9262.

The American Emu Association is a non-profit trade association representing the emu industry that consists of emu growers, product companies and related businesses. The emu industry is an alternative agricultural industry, dominated by the small farmer, who is devoted to humane and environmentally positive practices that will produce beneficial products for society.