Springtime Craft/Decor Project: Speckled Eggs

I see these in the stores every spring. I think they're beautiful and always wish to buy a package for myself, but they seem kind of expensive, at about $15 for a dozen. Well this year, I'm making my own. I have acrylic paints in a variety of shades -- blues, greens, brown, black, and white. And I've begun saving whole eggshells. I've been blowing out the contents of eggs as I've needed them.

So far, I have 5 intact shells. I am working toward a dozen speckled eggs. After blowing the insides out, I wash them out with hot soapy water, shaking up the water inside the eggs to get them clean. I've set the carton next to a heat vent to dry them thoroughly.

Once I have enough, I'll seal the holes with paintable caulk, then paint and speckle. I hope to have these done by mid-March. I'll share photos once I get them painted.

Supplies needed for making speckled decor eggs: intact hollow eggshells, painters' caulk, acrylic paint, paintbrush, toothbrush.

Updated:
To blow eggs: wash the exterior of the egg and dry; use a pin or needle to poke a small hole (like in the above photo) in the pointed end; in the flatter end, poke a slightly larger hole, using a small nail to enlarge the hole made with a pin (if it cracks just a little -1/4 inch long cracks, that should be okay as it will be covered up with painter's caulk); blow through the pointed end, every so often using the pin/needle to break up clogs and the yolk through the flatter end hole. Blowing eggs with smallish holes can be troublesome. The trick is to get the hole size just right. You could try slightly a slightly larger hole than what I've pictured. I wanted minimal caulking to perform on my eggs, but will experiment with a larger bottom hole in the next one I blow out.

this is the size of hole on the flat end of the egg

For fun, I also thought I'd show you some other eggs I have blown out, with larger holes in the flat ends. These are for confetti eggs. If you ever read the Tightwad Gazette, the author mentions making confetti eggs for her kids when they were young. The holes are larger so that you can fill the eggs with confetti. The eggs are dyed after blowing out but before filling with confetti. Once filled, the large hole is "patched" with a small square of colored tissue paper and white glue. When my kids were in the 6 to 13 age range, they enjoyed having a bunch of these eggs to throw, smash, and shatter on Easter (outside, of course!). These five eggs are leftovers from many years ago. I'm waiting for some younger friends to whom I shall give these.