Leap Into Art

From the archive

Eggshell Mosaics

By Keersten Jensen

I love these because they have such a pretty, delicate look and it is a super easy project. The great thing is that you can do something like mine in about 30-40 minutes or spend a lot of time and have a frame-able piece of art by filling in the whole picture.

Eggshell mosaic of a fish with green and blue waves on brown cardstock

materials:

eggshells from colored eggs*

white school glue

heavy cardstock (Tag or mat board is ideal; a dark color tends to look better.)

toothpicks

pencil

If you don’t have shells from Easter eggs, make an omelet for breakfast and rinse the shells. You can put them into a few small bowls and just barely cover with water. Add several drops of food coloring and let it sit for a minute or two. Drain on paper towels and you are good to go.

directions:

  1. Sketch a simple design or picture on the board.

Young girl in pink sketching a design with a red marker on cardstock

  1. Using a toothpick, spread glue onto a small section of the picture.

  2. Arrange the eggshells to fill in the area. Keep it simple, or use variations in the hue and intensity of the color to create shading. It also looks great to use similar tones in an area. (ie. oranges, and yellows or blues and purples together.)

Girl breaking eggshell pieces at a table beside a sketched cardstock design

  1. If desired, embellish with glitter, paint or even sequins, buttons, ribbons and such… whatever works with the design.

Eggshell mosaic of a house with fluffy blue clouds and trees

Megan’s house with fluffy clouds and trees.

Eggshell mosaic embellished with yellow and blue paint, a tower and clouds

Emily wanted to add paint. (Actually, we spent about 20 min. on the mosaics, then the girls moved on to all paint.) This is her “tower, with Jasmine and rain clouds/drops in the sky and mud on the ground…” with the original flower in the center. That girl comes up with quite the story for each picture. She cracks me up! As you can tell, the patience that mosaics tend to take really show in the outcome. The girls (3 and 5) thought this was fun. An older artist will actually make something that looks cool. (This isn’t the first time I have wished I had a 10 year old around! :D)