JOIN USShamshuddin Shaik works for a multinational company and his rather long hours at work leave him with very little time to do anything else. But Shamshuddin had always held a fascination for art and found egg shells the perfect way to give expression to the artist in him.
He took to carving delicate and intricate pieces of art from egg shells two years ago. “Egg carving is very popular abroad and I was determined to try this challenging artwork of carving on very delicate egg shells. Initially, it was very difficult but after a lot of practice, I managed to do it easily,” he explains. At first, the procedure seemed a little complicated and messy but he researched and understood the art before venturing into it. He first shapes and moulds egg shells and later takes care of every detail to ensure that his creations are flawless masterpieces.
The process is a long and tedious affair. It takes anything from a couple of minutes to hours to carve a single egg shell. He uses a high-speed drilling machine to carve on egg shells. It is also risky because during the cutting process small pieces could fly into the eye. “It is risky as there is a lot of dust from the egg shells. I wear glasses and a mask to protect my eyes and lungs,” says Shamshuddin.
This young man is always brimming with ideas and it doesn’t take him too long to get down to work after his ideas are in place. He has till date created funny faces on egg shells, the face of Spider-Man, a replica of a bird’s nest, various animals etc. His latest edition to the collection is a replica of the World Cup. “Since it was the season of cricket, I thought it was apt to create a replica of the World Cup. It took me almost a whole day to create that and I decorated it by putting some glitter over the egg,” he explains.
Shamshuddin finds it challenging to create something new each time. “There are times when I’ve almost completed a piece and it has broken in such a way that it couldn’t be mended. This requires a lot of patience and it can get extremely frustrating when something that you have created with a lot of effort breaks in a second,” he adds. He makes sure that no two designs look the same. “The domes, windows and the tiny spaces are indeed tough to replicate. I spend hours moulding, cutting and making sure that nothing goes out of place,”he states.
He normally works with chicken, duck, pigeon , quail and emu eggs. “The chicken and duck eggs are easily available but the emu eggs are expensive with each egg costing anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs 1,500. I work on the designs myself and I get immense satisfaction after I’ve created each piece,” he says. So how are the eggs cleaned? “The eggs are first thoroughly rinsed in water and then washed with soap. The smell goes off when it is washed twice of thrice with soap. I start work on them only after it is dry,” he adds.
Shamshuddin gets down to his egg craft only on the weekends. “I work long hours on weekdays but my weekends are reserved for this craft. I get a lot of support from my family which is an added incentive,” he sums up.