Christmas Decors Made in Eggshells might sound so plain and basic. However, infused with creativity and art, it goes a long way.
Nguyen Thanh Tam, a retired teacher in his 70s, is creating Christmas decors made in eggshells. Incorporating his passion in art, this has been an on-going hobby for a decade with over 1,000 items!
Mr. Tam creates several types of iconic Christmas decors from Santa Claus to snowman all made of sun-dried eggshells.
As the holiday season is fast approaching, he prepares for the upcoming Christmas day. The retired teacher goes back to his room and crafts colorful reindeers, Christmas trees and snowmen. He carefully scrutinizes every detail of each egg prior to working on his crafts.
Accordingly, aside from meticulously looking at the details of its aesthetics, he would also read about Christmas to better grasp more ideas and thoughts for the season.
Mr Tam usually utilizes chicken, duck and quail eggs for his masterpieces. He would blow out its contains prior to sun drying the eggs. In some of the eggs, he would spray paint its outer shell with red following Santa’s coat.
He says he prefers eggshells over plastic as handling fragile and delicate eggshell requires a lot of patience and meticulousness. For this, it could add more value to the product.
He then uses other materials to complement the needs of his Christmas decors such as a thin zinc to use for Santa’s glasses, beard and belt.
A tiny piece of a Santa Claus miniature piece can take Mr Tam approximately 5 hours to finish. Its legs are made of clay and lead, cotton for his beard and felt mustache.
Mr. Tam adds a small detail to his Santa Claus. He creates a face shield from a water bottle signifying the pandemic we are all facing at the moment.
Some of his notable Christmas decors made in eggshells are a sleigh made of huge duck eggs, reindeers from quail eggs which he had to incorporate some lemon juice to get the perfect color blend.
As per Mr Tam, this DIY craft is enjoyable for everyone as the materials are easy to find. Except for eggshells, we have to think of using other things readily available at home. That would help nurture imagination, especially for children.
He also mentioned about creating a water buffalo figure after Christmas to celebrate the Year of the Ox. Everything is just for a show for Mr. Tam and none of these Christmas decors made in eggshells are for sale.
He aims to spread joy to everyone. Both parents and children, even their friends can enjoy the activity altogether rather than just spend a festive occasion with their eyes glued on TV or mobile phones.