"Fozzberge"

Excuse the pun but my Goose Fozz layed me these amazing eggs so its not a Faberge Egg its a Fozzberge !! ..lol I had to do something with these other than just eat them so I blew the insides (made a magnificent sponge with those) and cleaned the shells to craft with. The photo is Fozz's egg next to an extra large chicken egg (also from my girls) in all they weigh in at about 9 ounces!

If you want to try this you can get Goose eggs at most farmers markets for about a pound each, plus you get to make a nice cake with the insides as 1 egg is enough for a decent size Victoria Sandwich cake.

You need to make a hole at either endof the egg one slightly larger than the other, I used a poky tool. Using a piece of wire, poke inside to break the membrane of the yolk. Then over a bowl to catch the egg blow very hard at the smaller end and get out all the egg. This takes a while but its not to bad. Submerge the empty shell in a bowl of warm soapy water and swill it out till the water comes clean. It will always have a slightly milky look but as long as its not yellow it will be fine. Then stand in a glass over kitchen paper in a warm place to dry for about a day.

Coat the egg with a layer of Gesso (or white acrylic paint will do) then when its dry paint again with some Marvy medium, this is like glue but goes tacky so makes good "size" for glueing the gold leaf on. Rub it all over with the gold leaf and polish it with a brush or just by rubbing it in your hands.

I used some ribbon stuck on with double sided tape and secured at the top with a drop of Glossy Accents. Then decorate with sequins, pearls etc as you wish. I used a large pearl beed secured with a long head pin poked through into the egg shell and a dab of glossy accents to secure it, then surrounded it with smaller pearls also glued with glossy accents and a few gems down the sides onto the ribbon. I had these gold napkin rings which make a perfect stand to display it but I intend to make a box as its for my Mum for Easter.

** Point to note, I tried to use clear versamark and emboss it but it came off, something to do with the porus nature of the shell I think. The paint worked best but I am sure if you did a base coat something like Cosmic shimmer paints or powders would give a nice effect. If you can't get a Goose egg you could use a duck or chicken egg but the result of course will be smaller and more fragile as a goose shell is very hard.