Egg Carton Art is For Adults Too
You may wonder why I would choose Egg Carton Art as today’s craft and at first, I thought I would be focusing on Kids and Crafts so it seemed natural to do a craft that kids love. I soon found out that artists and creators have taken this craft to a whole other level! I found sculptures, practical creations, and at least 100 different items that I could make. It certainly went way beyond just making a couple of chicks out an egg carton.
What is An Egg Carton Made Of?
The type of egg carton we want to use is not the plastic type but the old fashioned style. These egg cartons are made of recycled paper (yahoo for the environment – it makes me feel better about not polluting our Earth) – the paper is mushed up into a pulp and then molded into the egg carton shape. This is good news for crafters because it means you can also wet down your egg carton and form pulp to make shapes.
Basically, egg cartons are made from paper mache (we have a blog article coming up soon on paper mache! This fact should excite you as the art work you will create now has more possibilities. You are not stuck with the shape of the egg carton even though you can certainly do that.
Egg Carton Art Examples
The images below are from Feltmagnet.com
Tools of the Trade
These are cute and definitely easy to recreate. Take a close look at the images and see if you can reproduce them. You will need the following to get started on your egg carton crafting experience.
- Egg Cartons (several if you want to make larger pieces
- Scissors or other cutting tools to cut out shapes
- Water to soak egg carton pieces to make a pulp for advanced designs
- Paint (water color works and soaks in easily) You can also use Acrylic paint watered down.
- Sealant such as Mod Podge or Varnish to seal the color and the egg carton so it will not fall apart when water comes in contact with it
- Glue – white glue is just fine. The glue must be able to hold the pieces together so they are sturdy
Projects to Try
The following is a list of projects you can make with egg cartons. You can try one or try them all. Below this list is a series of books and videos to help you with the basic details of working with egg cartons.
- Easter Chicks
- Panda Bear
- Flower Fairies
- Flowers
- Bunnies
- Tulips
- Apple with a Worm
- Wreath
- Sculptures of Birds
- Trains
- Boats
- Fish
The list goes on… You never have to eliminate any shape, just think of how the shapes from the egg carton fit together.
As promised, here is some reading to boost your skill.
Reading To Boost Your Skill
When I start any craft, I always want to check out the books that have been written about the subject. I prefer to buy one or two or even see if my local library has them for checkout. No matter which way we look at it, referring to those who are the experts and masters sure makes doing the crafts so much easier. They have tips and tricks that will save hours and eliminate some of the frustrations of not getting it right! Here are 3 books I think are inspirational and we will lead you down the right path.
A Few Videos To Inspire You
How To Make Spring Chicks – Egg Carton Craft
How To Make Egg Carton Roses
Egg Carton Craft & Reuse Ideas!
Last Word
There are literally hundreds of items you can create with egg cartons. Just doing a simple search on Google will bring you lots of results. But honestly, it is best to get your hands into action to really make this craft come alive.
Here is a great example of an egg carton rooster, this piece is amazing!
Could you recreate this on your own? I am not sure if I could but would sure love to try.
Until tomorrow…
Bette
Images for this post are from Pinterest and feltmagnet.com – thanks to the hard work of all the crafters who took images and posted them.
