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Egg Art; Ostrich Egg Jewelry

in Featured Crafters, Handmade, Jewelry on

Nanette points out something I’ve never known about upsidedown eggs –

Speaking of conforming a design, I had a sweet little pueblo angel design that I was having trouble with – the wings were wrapping too far around the pointy top of the egg and disappearing. Until I turned the egg upside down, and the wings had room to stretch on the wide round end and still be seen. The upside-down egg shapes makes for a perfect hanging ornament!

Nanette Thorell

Random Facts About You?

I live and work 7000 feet up in the beautiful Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. I usually feature a piece on my site, where the profit goes directly to a charitable organization (currently, I am finishing up a batch of earrings for a local pet adoption shelter). My background is in inventory control, production scheduling, and shipping/receiving. I am a constant reader, whether it be books blogs or cereal boxes - must read.



What got you started crafting?

I was fortunate to be able to quit working outside the home after I had my first child (right after - actually - he was born two days after I went on maternity leave). But I was 32 years old, had been working continuously since I was 17, and needed something to occupy my brain.

The Eggs: My younger sister had taken a class about how to do those Ukrainian Easter Eggs (also known as 'pysanky'), and she taught me what she'd learned, and I took it from there. That was in the mid 1990's. I eventually moved past the traditional pysanky designs and started experimenting and developing my own.

The Jewelry: In my never-ending quest for egg designs, I discovered an egg art book by Jane Pollak that had a chapter about making jewelry from goose egg shells. I did not have access to geese, but there were ostrich ranches in my area, so I pestered them for scrap shell pieces and gave it a go.



What is your source of inspiration?

I get inspiration from many sources. Besides the traditional Ukrainian designs, I scour the internet for textile patterns, pueblo pottery designs, Mexican tile patterns, my own original designs, popular subjects, and of course Mother Nature is always throwing me stuff to try out on an egg.



What have you made recently?

I live near White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, and was looking on the internet for the schedule for the next Full Moon tour (awesome, you should do it) at White Sands.

On the park website, was a picture of a lone Yucca plant in the middle of the white dunes, blooming against a bright blue sky. I immediately swiveled my chair around to my 'working desk' and started drawing up a design for earrings.

It turned out to be a lovely simple design, in blue and white, with the earrings a mirror image of each other. One dune leans east, one dune leans west. Since they are all hand-drawn, each yucca is slightly different, with it's own personality.





Where do you sell your crafts presently?

I started selling my egg art at the usual street craft-type fairs and consignment shops. When I discovered eBay, that seemed like a natural fit, something I could do from home, and not have to drag my eggs all over town.

Now I sell year-round from my own website, and on storefront sites like Etsy, ArtFire and Bonanza. I still maintain a presence at eBay, but generally only list on eBay for the holiday buying season (Christmas through Easter). I also do two yearly local craft fairs where my "Timberon Eggs" (named for our little village) are a big hit.



Why are handmade crafts important to you?

To keep my brain tuned. There is nothing like taking a flat 2-dimensional design in a magazine, or an art book, or just surfing the internet, and trying to wrap it around an egg shape. If the egg is long, or round, the design changes. Especially the geometrical designs. They make all kinds of interesting distorted shapes at the pointy end. Finding designs in nature is even more challenging because you have to conform it to the egg shape.



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