Easter Eggs 3 - Chickens

Anne holds a new chick.

We got our beautiful new baby chicks several weeks ago, so it stands to reason that my first egg design should be chickens. 

First I painted all the eggs a tan color.  Then I made different patterns around the eggs: brown, yellow, or white circles, red dots, brown flowers…The toothpicks really come in handy for this, because you never have to touch the egg, and you can use the toothpick as a spindle on which to turn the egg.

Using the toothpick as a spindle to make an even paint line around the egg.

The large egg has a rooster and two baby chicks, the next egg has the hen and a whole egg on the back, the last egg has a newly hatched chick and bits of broken shell on the back.  Nothing here is complicated, the key is simplicity.  I did three sets (nine eggs), which took just under two hours from the beginning of painting time.  Don't forget to put a layer of protecting gloss on your egg (you can get this at any craft store, such as Hobby Lobby). 

To attach the string to the egg, use two strands of embroidery thread, loop it, and tie the ends in a knot.  Place a drop of glue in the egg hole, and put the end of your loop in.  Then place the toothpick back in the hole, and break off the toothpick so that the broken end cannot prick little fingers rubbing over the hole. 

Of course, the point of chicks for Easter is not just that they are a Spring motif.  Chicks represent new (resurrected) life coming forth from the tomb of the egg.  The Rooster has the added symbolism of being the creature that declared Peter's betrayal of Jesus.  He is Truth then, and often is used as a symbol of Christ for this reason.

During this season we remember the significance of the egg from which our lovely chicks came - every good thing (such as Easter and Resurrection) is always preceded by suffering (Lent, the Cross, Death).  How wonderful that God allows us, commands us, to participate in the greatness of death and new birth, in our Baptisms, in every Lent and Easter, and in our final departing from this life into the next.

Gabe holds a new egg.