A sure sign that Spring is on its way is seeing the robins return to our yard. It’s something I look forward to each year, and have ever since I was a little girl and my mother and I would see who could spot the robins first. Even now we still talk about the robins each year around this time, so it seems fitting that I made some speckled bird eggs to enjoy this season. It’s an easy DIY using styrofoam eggs from the craft store. (Foam eggs from the dollar store will also work.)
Supplies:
Styrofoam eggs (FloraCraft)
Smooth Finish Paintable Coating (FloraCraft)
Light blue acrylic paint (choose a color that will mimic bird eggs)
Brown acrylic paint (choose a color that will mimic speckled bird eggs)
Dazzling Metallics Glaze in Olde World Patina (DecoArt)
Sandpaper or sanding block
Paint brushes
Wooden skewers (used to make painting and drying the eggs easy)
Jar (to hold the wooden skewers while the eggs dry)
Paper towels
Straight pin with a tiny round head
Step One: Poke a wooden skewer into the bottom of each egg. The skewers will serve as handles to make painting your eggs a much easier task.
Step Two: Paint one coat of the Smooth Finish Paintable Coating onto each styrofoam egg using a paint brush. This stuff comes in a little tub and looks like a white paste.
You can put this onto styrofoam to make it smooth and paintable without seeing any of the usual styrofoam holes, however I purposely applied a thick coat of paste and didn’t smooth it out too much. I wanted my eggs to start looking like real eggs that aren’t necessarily smooth. Let dry.
Step Three: Sand the eggs to remove the roughest spots, smoothing down just enough to leave some texture. Wipe any dust off with a paper towel.
Step Four: Paint the eggs with one or two coats of light blue acrylic paint. Keep the wooden skewers as holders while you paint. The skewers also serves as an easy way to dry the eggs: just place the skewers into a jar to allow the eggs to easily dry.
Step Five: Paint the metallic glaze on a small section of one egg, then immediately wipe off with a paper towel. What you’ll be wiping away is some excess glaze, as most of it will adhere to the eggs even with you wiping a paper towel over it. Do this section by section until your entire egg has a pretty sheen to it.
The glaze emphasizes the texture you created with the paste, and it also tones down the light blue paint, giving it a bit of a soft aqua tint over the light blue. The glaze will also highlight any nooks and crannies, producing a pretty effect.
Here’s a glazed and painted egg (on the left) versus a painted egg: a much richer color on the left!
Step Six: Take the head of a straight pin and dip it lightly into some brown paint, then dot the paint onto the eggs here and there to mimic the look of speckled bird eggs. I did some dots darker than others, and just applied them randomly. Again, let the eggs dry on the skewers.
And now you have a lovely set of speckled bird eggs to enjoy all season long!
I nestled mine on a bed of brown shred on top of a tea-stained lace doily: a sweet centerpiece for our kitchen table!
Happy crafting!
~Laura
Adorable, Laura! I love robins, too!♥ I even talk to them when I get the mail: “Well, hello there, Robin Red-breast! How are you today?” (Fortunately, they’re birds and don’t know how insane I am! Oops, but now *you* do… hehe!)
Anyway, your eggs are so sweet–what a perfect robin’s egg blue! I love the look of the glaze, but, um, dear Laura, why do you wipe it away as soon as you paint it on?
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial.: ) xoxo
That’s a great question Pat! Glaze is meant to be a more sheer color than paint is, and also meant to add a “wash” of color versus being opaque and covering up something with color completely. (And if there’s art teachers out there cringing at my attempt at explaining this, I apologize! LOL) When I say that I wiped it off, most of the glaze will come off when you do this, but some will stay behind and that’s what creates the pretty effect.
These particular glazes are great for not only adding a wash of color, but also getting into the various nooks and crannies of a piece, highlighting those elements even more. You can paint it on and leave it I suppose, but I use it more as a semi-transparent layer.
For another look at how glaze adds depth to a painted piece, please see my Leprechaun Rustic Plaque that I shared here on Deja Vue Designs recently. And if I didn’t explain this that well, let me know and I’ll try again! 🙂
Laura / Pet Scribbles recently posted…It’s Spring – time to cut the grass: ornamental grasses, that is!
Thanks, Laura, for explaining the glazing process. I understand what you’re trying to achieve (and it certainly turned out quite lovely!), but I guess I’m too cheap to “waste” so much glaze by wiping most of it off.; ) I guess I’d have to play around with it myself to fully appreciate the inherent advantages of doing it your way! xoxo
You’ll be surprised at how little glaze you actually need to use, which is nice! But I know, it does seem like a crime to wipe away a product! 🙂
Laura / Pet Scribbles recently posted…Chippy Paint Antique Secretary Desk
So adorable! Thank you for this easy yet gorgeous project!
Awwww, thanks so much Dana! I hope you make your own! 🙂
Laura / Pet Scribbles recently posted…Chippy Paint Antique Secretary Desk
There’s something special about Robin’s eggs in the spring, and nice that we don’t have to wait for Mother Nature to enjoy them. Lovely eggs! Sharing.
Sharon recently posted…Easter Eggstravaganza: Faux fooling with Faux Frosted Eggs
You’re so right, Sharon! We can bring Spring alive indoors as early as we want to with these eggs, or any Springtime crafts for that matter! Thanks for sharing!
Laura / Pet Scribbles recently posted…Chippy Paint Antique Secretary Desk