Spencerport family's creations aren't edible, but they are incredible When the Nau family looks at an egg, they aren't thinking fried, scrambled or over-easy. To this Spencerport family, each oval, white (or sometimes blue, green or brown) shell is a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed into something more beautiful. Pearl Nau has been cutting, painting and creating intricate scenes inside eggs for the past 25 to 30 years. "I used to make ceramics and was looking for a new hobby when I found a teacher on Dewey Avenue who made the eggs," she said. Back then, the kits were all made up with the egg already cut and all of the accessories together. After putting together a few of the kits, Pearl wanted to get a little more creative. She learned how to use a Dremmel tool, which works like a miniature, hand-held circular saw, to cut her own eggs, then decorated them with found items and supplies ordered from catalogs. "The kids lived with the eggs for years and never paid much attention," said Pearl. It wasn't until her daughters, Michele Allen and Marilyn Schleyer, saw her work displayed at the Ogden Town Hall that they decided to learn their mom's craft. Now, creating decorated eggs has become a real family affair. "They said they wanted to learn how to make them before I died!" laughed Pearl, who aside from cataract surgery is still going strong. So nearly every Monday night for the past five or six years, the Nau women have gathered to create their little masterpieces. It wasn't long before the men in the family also joined in. "They are our creative fix-it guys," said Pearl. Her husband, Ed, and son, Michael, have provided the mechanics that make some of the eggs rotate, play music and light up. Ed even created an air tool that works much like a dentist's drill to enable his wife and daughters to cut more intricate designs. The basement workshop smells and sounds just like a dentist's office when the drill is being used, but the women don't mind. They create even more beautiful designs thanks to Ed's ingenuity. Enclosed in a clear box, the tool also keeps the Naus from breathing in the dust created when an egg is being worked on. "We'd be hoarse for days after breathing in that dust," said Marilyn. It was Marilyn who drew the design for the air tool after seeing it at an egg show the family attends in Ohio each fall. The workshop also has an egg marker that Pearl's first teacher, Natalie Stedman, had patented. "The tool is great because you can find the exact center of the egg before making your cuts," said Marilyn. The women are surrounded with boxes of supplies in their basement workshop, so when they have a vision for a design, they have just the right objects to create it. That isn't to say they don't use everyday items too. Marilyn created "hardwood flooring" by using wooden coffee stir sticks. "You have to be careful not to use things that are going to be too heavy," said Marilyn. "After all, you're working with an egg." Pearl credits her daughters with being incredibly creative. "Marilyn has the ability to work on one egg and have two more ideas for eggs in her head," said her mom. Michele is the meticulous one. She will work on an egg until it is perfect. Her designs are very intricate, while her sister's are whimsical. The Naus use ostrich, chicken, emu, duck, rhea, swan and goose eggs. Ostrich eggs are readily available and not too expensive thanks to a farmer in Newark, who also does the job of removing the contents before he sells them. "The shells are very tough. An adult can stand on one and not break it," said Marilyn. "They are a good size, too. The contents are better than a quart." Swan eggs are harder to come by and cost as much as $25 each. Once they have their eggs, the women have learned that after making their cuts, it is best to soak the eggs in bleach before they begin painting. "Some of the earlier eggs I made are beginning to peel because there is a membrane inside that needs to be removed. We found that bleach works best," said Pearl. Next, they glue on hinges to make doors, and then begin decorating. The over 100 designs that the Naus have collectively created include a carousel, treasure box, haunted house, tea pots, garden scenes, and a 25th anniversary egg with a bride and groom as a surprise for Michele and her husband, Michael, just to name a few. Surprisingly, it is rare that the Naus will sell one of their creations. Aside from four eggs they were commissioned to make for a charity auction in Georgia, a few individuals have asked them to make, and a few more they've given as gifts, the women have pretty much all of the eggs they've made. "It's really hard to give them away because so much work goes into them," said Marilyn. She put one on E-bay just to see what would happen and didn't receive any bids. Supplies are costly too because not many people do the craft, especially in this area. Pearl recently had the opportunity to display her egg collection for a second time at the Ogden Town Hall. The display was so popular that she was asked to leave it there for another month. Pearl loves the fact that, this time, the display also included her daughters' creations. "It's about more than the eggs," she said. "It's about the wonderful opportunity this has been to have quality time with my girls." |
A carousel sheltered between two egg shell halves.