Egg Blowing Tips for Mess-Free, Spoil-Free Decorating

"I don't want to say it's an obsession, but I could never have enough eggs," says Gail Lambka of Shelby Township, MI. An avid pysanka crafter, Lambka became interested in eggs after deciding that grocery-store eggs "just weren't cutting it" when it came to crafting. She started by buying turkey eggs, which are stronger and larger than commercial chicken eggs, from backyard farmers and sharing them with other local pysanka artists.

Read More About Lambka's Pysanka Eggs

Sensing that other crafters might be looking for larger, stronger eggs for their projects, Lambka started selling the blown eggs on eBay and then Etsy under the name NakedEggs. The response she received surprised her.

"I was getting teachers who wanted them for their classrooms -- I had one customer who wanted an egg to replace a dinosaur egg in a museum exhibit. I thought I would be selling to crafters, but there was a huge market beyond that," she says.

Soon, Lambka was hunting down even more eggs in various sizes and colors. She has more than 42 egg varieties from different breeds. She gets her eggs from small farms, including some urban chickens raised in backyards. She connects to urban chicken breeders through the forums at BackyardChickens.com. She asks for infertile or past-prime eggs. "I don't want to take a bird away from being hatched," Lambka says. Once she has the eggs in hand, she begins the process of cleaning and blowing them out for sale.

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Egg-Blowing Process

1. First, Lambka inspects the shells, using a flashlight to test for cracks.

2. She gives room-temperature eggs a good shake to loosen the albumen (the egg white) from the shell.

3. Using a diamond drill bit, she drills a hole at one end of the egg. "I very rarely break an egg," she says.

4. Lambka uses an egg blower rather than blowing out the eggs with her mouth. She likes the accordion-style Blas-Fix.

5. As air is pumped into the egg, the yolk and white are forced out. Lambka can do a dozen chicken eggs in 10 to 12 minutes.

6. Once the eggs are empty, she rinses them in vinegar and water and places them on a drying rack.

7. An hour in a 175-degree oven ensures the eggs are completely dry and not susceptible to mold.

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In addition to coming in a beautiful range of colors and sizes, free-range eggs are also stronger than commercially farmed eggs, thanks to a nutrient-rich diet.

Watch: How to Blow Out an Egg

In addition to the beautiful range of colors and sizes, free range eggs are also stronger than commercially farmed eggs thanks to a nutrient-rich diet.

Shop Nakedeggs in the American Made Marketplace, Exclusively on Ebay

Use blown eggs for your Easter crafts, or in a simple centerpiece that shows off their natural beauty. NakedEggs has cleaned white and cream eggs, a dozen colored eggs, a dozen variety eggs, and speckled Coturnix quail eggs available for purchase.

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