Friday Feature - eggshell ornament

Hi friends.  Melody here with another Friday Feature for you.  I love being able to create something from an item that would normally get thrown out in the trash.  Some time ago I came across a tutorial to make a trinket box covered with crushed eggshells.  I loved it, so I started saving egg shells.  I always rinsed them well, removed as much of the thin membrane as possible and let the dry thoroughly.  In order to save space, I then would crush them up a bit.  I just pressed on them with a glass or bottle.  In order to use them, however, it was necessary to crush until the bits of broken shells were quite small.  I put some in a plastic bag and used a rolling pin to crush them. 

With Christmas just around the corner, I chose to make an ornaments for the tree instead of a box.  I made a total of 12, which ended up as gifts for the most part.  I still have four of them.  This one is hanging on our tree.  With my limited photography skills, I had a hard time getting a clear picture with the tree lights on. 

Being a huge fan of recycling, I started my ornaments with corrugated cardboard.  I die cut circles of corrugated cardboard (old boxes, of course) with a Sizzix circle die that's about 3" across.  To get a bit of thickness and stability, I glued 3 or 4 layers together with Mod Podge.  Then I roughly cut some larger circles from an old encyclopedia and glued one on each side, wrapping the edges around to the other side.  This covered all the openings in the edges of the corrugated cardboard. 

I used a very long needle (I think it's for making dolls) to pierce through the center of the ornament from one edge to the other, so I could add loops to attach beads and a hanger.  It was a little tricky getting the needle to go exactly through the center, but if the first shot missed, it didn't matter if there was an extra hole, since it would be covered over later.  Once I had a hole, I pushed a piece of wire through it and made a loop on each end.  And then the fun began. 

I applied decoupage medium with a foam brush and then poured a generous amount of crushed eggshells over the wet glue.  Then I gently pressed the eggshells into the glue with my fingers, because I wanted a nice solid surface without any spaces or air pockets.  Then I let this dry for at least a few hours, but usually overnight.  It actually took several days to put all the eggshells on -- two coats on each flat side and two coats around the perimeter.  I was careful to keep the wire loops free of the eggshells. 

Once all the layers were on, then it was time to paint.  I used white pearl Lumiere, again applying two coats to all the sides.  This paint dries quickly, so the waiting time between coats was a lot less than for the glue.  I pretty much used up what paint I had in the bottle and don't know if there is any place locally than sells this type of paint.  The store I purchased it from originally has since gone out of business.  I did purchase another brand of shimmery white paint, but it was more silver than white, so I decided to not use it for this project.  I think there are some places that didn't quite get two coats, but you can't tell by looking at them. 

I added a beaded spangle at the bottom and an ornament hook at the top.  I think they look like snowballs, but my daughter is convinved they are cookies coverd with shredded coconut.  They are slightly more than 1/2" thick, and surprisingly heavier than I thought they'd be, but not too heavy for hanging on the tree. 

Although these ornaments did require quite a bit of time, they were still very easy to make.  I hope you give it a try.  You could easily make these another shape, or use a colored paint instead of white for a completely different look.  So many possibilities. 

Some of the products used on this project can be purchased at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.  Thanks for stopping by.