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The Last Page

Egg Artist - Tina Munford
Expanding Artistic Horizons

Michigan egg artist Tina Munford laughingly states that she enrolled in the ‘School of Egg Breaks” (and that she has broken many) back in July 2001.  When a friend showed her a souvenir from a trip to Africa, an Ostrich egg with an African animal scene carved into it, her interest was piqued.  A friend gave her some ostrich and emu eggs to practice on and Tina began carving with her Dremel tool.  “A few months later, I purchased a high speed carving tool,” said Tina “I was amazed at the things I could do that weren't possible with the Dremel tool.”

Finding other eggers online opened up a whole new world for Tina and gave her the opportunity to talk to many other egg artists.  Over the last year and a half she has found inspiration – and teachers.  “My mentor artists are so many, but the people I admire most in their work, and thank considerably for their help and patience are Gary LeMaster, and Ron Cheruka,” said Tina “They have been wonderful with tips and suggestions and always find time to answer my endless questions.”  Tina went on to say that other than what these two egg artists along with the tips posted by other members of the All Egg Art group at  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alleggart, she has had no other training. Tina cannot say enough nice things about the egg artists she has corresponded with on-line.  “My inspiration comes from looking at all of the wonderful things other eggers do.  I get so many ideas just looking through the work of others.  Egging has endless possibilities.  I've never been involved with a better group of people than egg artists.  They have been such a help to me!”

Tina has not limited herself to carving eggs, she has begun to explore other avenues of artistic expression via egging.  Decorated eggs, such as the 'Garden Angel' below, combine carving with decorating eggs

The goose egg below was her first beading attempt and a learning experience.  "The next time I do it, I will go around the egg with the beads and meet the oval design in the center, rather than trying to go all around the oval the full area of the egg," states Tina.  "What happened at the end was a diamond shape in the middle of the back that was tough to work with and I didn't like the look of it." (see photo to the right, below).  She went on to say that she would use a different, easier to work with bead.  The beaded rhea egg to the right is a later effort and a comparison of the two shows how working horizontally rather than vertically can affect the look of the finished product.

Tina has explored many forms of egg art and learned that the piece itself can be not only beautiful, but functional as well.   Her designs may incorporate a clock or thermometer,  hold jewelry (like the ring case shown to the left and right) or even serve as a lamp like the two works of art below.  The ostrich egg lamp screens are highly carved and shown here lit.   The lamp to the left below utilized a base from a damaged lamp purchased at reduced prices for that reason.  After the shade was completed, she attached the fringe and gave the lamp a new lease on life.  Both these shade are carved all the way around and were very time consuming to do.

Despite the many forms of egg art that Tina has explored and continues to investigate, she says her favorite egg is the Tumbling Blocks Emu Egg pictured to the left.  Completed in December 2001, she states “It took time and patience, and played tricks on my eyes during the process, but when it was completed I was very happy with it.  There wasn't a better way to practice getting down the white areas on an Emu egg than this one.”

Tina continues to experiment with new methods of egging. In the picture below
she has carved the outside down to the white layer and then used that to show a design through from the inside.  She is also experimenting in reverse carving - "I have also discovered that I can carve through the white layer to the Teal, then the dark just by reversing the process going from the inside out."  Click on the photo below to view a more detailed shot.   

All in all, Tina is a very busy lady.  

Visit Tina Munford's website, Egg-stasy™ Creations to view more of her work.