Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Products and Art

(3 note enlargements above) A couple of days ago, I posted some pictures of etched and painted emu eggs , but this one was special enough that I wanted to dedicate a separate entry. From what I remember, this lovely egg was bought at a London auction by a friend of the family who run the High Cascade Emu Ranch. It appears to be very old, but after looking at this style of carved emu egg done in the Aboriginal style, it might be a recent artwork, created to look old. What I do know is that it's just beautiful! The carving is fantastic, and the stand is intricate and lovely with wonderful details all over. Below are three more pictures to give you a better look! ENJOY! :) (Please note: this egg and its stand were in a glass display, which accounts for the odd reflections in the top photo. I turned each photo into a selective color piece in order to highlight each subject.)

Emu eggs are wonderful for art projects! A Dremel tool can be used to make a hole to get the yolk and white out, and then you have a very strong egg to be creative with! Eggs are usually painted or carved. Emu eggs have a dark green outer shell, a teal green middle layer, and a pure white bottom layer, which allow artistts to etch pieces with wonderful depth. Below are two more emu eggs that were on display at the High Cascade Emu Ranch, but if you'd like to see more, here's a YouTube video of Michael Wilcoxen's lovely etched eggs and Farha's Gallery features stunning sculptures and jeweled pieces created with emu eggs! Outback Bushart and Craft is an Australian artist who does exceptional Aboriginal-inspired pieces! If that's not enough for you, just do a search on Google and enjoy the show! :)

If you've been following my stream lately, you know that Steve and I went to an Emu farm about a month ago and were given a wonderful tour of the facilities to show us their operation. It was so much fun and very fascinating! High Cascade Emu Ranch raises their emus as an exotic livestock. They breed and sell emus and their eggs, but there's much more that goes on. Emus are an important healthy meat bird, but their skin is also made into some of the most wonderful leather in the world! The leather from Emus is very durable, supple, beautiful and breathable and can be made into anything you can think of where you've seen other leathers used. Here I have a picture showing the detail from a emu leather-bound jounal, and below are two dyed pieces of emu leather. Isn't it beautiful? I have always loved the way ostrich leather looks...well, emu leather is just as lovely and useful! :)