In the picture: A beautiful heart hand carved out of two chicken eggshells
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.”
That is exactly how I want people to feel when they first lay eyes on these delicately hand sculpted ornaments.
From Chicken eggs to Goose and Ostrich eggs, I love working on the different types of shells and each differs in size, shape, texture and fragility! I love challenging myself to try different designs on the eggshells and pushing my creative boundaries, thinking out of the box (or the egg in this case 😂).
I start by washing the egg and piercing two holes on either end of the egg gently, making sure to avoid causing hairline cracks in the shell.
I then carefully poke a toothpick inside the egg and swirl it around to break the yolk inside. Once that’s done, I use a straw to blow out the egg white and the yolk into a clean bowl.
I then sterilise the egg by dipping it in a hot soapy water with a little vinegar. (I work in batches here to save time).
The eggshells are left to air dry before I start carving them.
Egg carving is an extremely delicate process and requires a lot of patience and focus. I lock myself in the studio when working on your commissions as a slight distraction can cause hours of work on the delicate eggshells to come crumbling down.
I shift between a number of high power drills and a lot of different burrs to create designs and cut into these delicate eggshells. Pressure and angles are key here when holding the eggshell in one hand and carving into it with the other.
In the picture: I am removing the membrane inside the freshly carved egg by peeling it off the shell very gently and patiently.
These heart sculptures take quite a few hours to create from start to finish and working in batches makes it easier for me. I make these by cutting two chicken eggshells of a similar shape and size in a precise angle that fits one with the other just perfectly and join the two delicately carved chicken eggshells together to form the unique shape of a precious little heart. I use eco friendly paints and dyes to colour them and embellish them with pure gold leaf accents. I add a hand made gold or red tassel to each piece. Each tassel is made by me in-house.
I have been asked by a lot of people "Why do you only use 24ct gold leaf to embellished the eggshell sculptures? Wouldn't imitation gold leaf work just as well?"
Here at the Hatchfully Yours studio, I use 24 ct gold leaf as the pure gold leaf doesn’t tarnish over time with the change in weather and moisture. It needs no maintenance and its lustre is timeless!
In the pictures: ornamental hearts handcrafted and decorated by joining two chicken eggshells together
Each egg heart ornament comes with a clear three legged stand ready to be displayed on your mantle, or behind glass cabinets.
In the pictures: Hand Crafted Chicken Eggshell Hearts
These pieces make for very unusual gifts for special occasions like Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Special Birthdays and milestone Anniversaries. These are bespoke pieces which means they are made to order. Processing times for all orders is upto 14 working days.
In the picture: Hand carved and decorated chicken eggshell hearts with a medium sized Red goose eggshell heart in the middle
If you like these exquisite hearts ornaments and would like to get one made for a loved one, you can order one in the gift shop. All chicken Eggshell Heart sculptures start at £29.99 and the processing times at the moment vary between 7 to 14 working days.
Alternatively, if you would like to have something created and customised from scratch, please get in touch by emailing me on sheeba@hatchfullyyours.com or messaging me on Facebook or Instagram. I would love to hear from you.
With lots of love
Hatchfully Yours,
Sheeba xx