Ideas to Repurpose Eggshells
Eggshells tend to end up as waste. However, if you repurpose them, it’s less waste in the trash can and more green for the environment. If you repurpose eggshells, you can create different types of eggshell decorations, like candle holders, or some art pieces, you can even fertilize your soil, or feed the birds in the barnyard. If you stuff the eggshells with soil, it’s also a great way to nurture the soils. There are tons of ideas to repurpose eggshells, believe me.
Did you know there are many kinds of barnyard birds that we can keep, and their eggs have different shapes, colors, sizes, and health benefits?
I have been collecting eggshells for years. When they dry out, I usually put all of them in a mortar, grind them and sprinkle them around the soil of my plants. For Easter, I made some fun eggshell decorations, and for Christmas, I melted wax and poured it into them. As time went by, I found more and more interesting ways to repurpose eggshells, so I decided to gather them into one list: The List of Ideas to Repurpose Eggshells. By the way, do you know what the difference is between recycling, repurposing, and reusing?
1, Create Eggshell Decorations for Easter
If you have the lungs or a snuffer, you can blow them out to create some cute animals. If you break them, you can still repurpose the two halves. They can be painted, decoupaged, or, you can glue cut-out cartons on the eggshells as eyes, mouths, ears, nose, legs, anything. Also, you can stuff the eggshells with you can use cotton, or strings, or glue around them. Once you start to create the animals, the ideas will pour in. There are other things you can use the decoupage technique on, with a homemade, low-cost decoupage glue recipe.
2, Make Seed-Starters
You can repurpose eggshells as seed-starter pots. Just make sure you punch plenty of holes on the bottom, otherwise, the soil won’t get any air, and the whole thing will rot inside.
All you have to do is get some soil, mix it with the seeds, and stuff the eggshells with it. When the seedlings are big enough, and you want to put them to their final place, you can plant it with the eggshell, and as it grows, the eggshell will break, and the calcium of the shells will fertilize the soil – this is a true double repurposing:)
3, Eggshell decorations as Funny Face Hairy Dudes
Use your imagination, draw as many kinds of faces on the eggshells as you can! Punch holes on the bottoms, mix the soil with wheat seeds, and stuff the eggshells. When the grass has grown, it will look really cool. If you have cats, they love to eat wheat, and it’s good for their digestion. Also, if the hair is too long, they can get haircuts in different styles.
Keep going, more ideas to repurpose eggshells are coming.
4, Repurpose Eggshells as Candle Holders
There are two ideas to repurpose eggshells with melted wax. Both ways create pretty eggshell decorations, while the eggshells themselves become molds.
One, create a candle. Pour the wax into the eggshell with a wick, and just let the candle burn. As the wax lessens, the moving shadows will become prettier and prettier inside.
Two, when the wax is dry and solid, you can carefully crack the eggshells, peel it off, and have a regular candle, that you can even use during Christmas on a wreath maybe.
5, Repurpose Eggshells as Paper Clip Magnets
Not only wax can be poured into the eggshells. The ideas to repurpose eggshells are right in front of us.
Can you believe, this egg-shaped concrete piece of art is a magnet? It’s really easy to make, you just need some concrete and some small magnets to repurpose eggshells as molds again. Mine on this picture is a bit rough, but if the concrete is smooth enough, the eggshell decorations you make will become real eye-catchers.
Punch a hole on the bottom and the top of the eggshells. One will help to have a flat bottom, the other one is where you will stuff the eggshells with the concrete-magnet mixture.
Mix the concrete with tiny magnets, and carefully pour some into the eggshells. The more you pour, the curvier the shape will be. Wait a day or so, let it dry, then crack the eggshell and peel it off.
6, Create Beautiful Eggshell Decorations as Mosaic Art
Smashed eggshells can be used as mosaics pieces. Why not create some beautiful art?
Gather your ideas and pre-draw the pictures on paper, or wooden pallet, or whatever the base of the art will be. When you are done with the drawing, count how many different colors you will need.
Smash up the eggshells, divide them into piles, put them in bowls. Pour different colors of paint on them, and mix them up. Put wax paper on trays, and scatter the eggshells on them. You can shake the trays sometimes to so the pieces won’t stick – hence the wax paper. Let them dry.
Get the drawings, and put glue on the parts of the same color, then sprinkle the smashed eggshells. This way, the pieces will only stick to the parts they need to.
Unfortunately, you have to wait until it sticks, otherwise, the colors will be mixed up at the end. Then, you can repeat the last process as many times as you need.
7, Fertilize Your Plants
The eggshells contain a lot of calcium, so it moderates soil acidity. You can stuff the eggshells into the soil, or just sprinkle the pieces around plants. This method not only helps the soil but, the sharp edges also keep away snails and slugs.
8, Give Vitamin to Birds
The birds love to eat eggshells… Especially after laying eggs, since they are drained of calcium. Also, it is good for their digestion. You can also stuff the eggshells with leftover smooshy fruits, or seeds, so they can have some fun while eating. See how everything goes around? These ideas to repurpose eggshells are all parts of the bigger picture – the circle of life: The birds lay the eggs, we eat the inside and feed the birds with the eggshells.
9, Repurpose Eggshells as Powder
Clean the eggshells, bake them for about 20 minutes in the oven at 180°C (350°F). After they cool off, grind them to powder. You can do this with a grinder, or with a pestle and a mortar. The color of the powder might be different, according to the color of the eggshells you use. Don’t forget to pull the plug of the grinder from the socket after you are done, to save energy.
This calcium powder is really good for the compost, just sprinkle some on the pile.
I have gathered 10 + 1 tips to take care of the compost, with these tips and tricks, you can have the perfect soil in a year.
Do you want a compost bin but live in the city and only have a terrace? I got the perfect solution, check out how composting in the city is possible.
The powder can also be used in the garden, as fertilizer. Sprinkle it, or mix it with water, and pour it on your plants. You can also put some in the birds’ food, or add some to yours, for example in a milkshake.
10, Bake them and serve some egg cakes
Baking anything, and spending time in the kitchen is always a lot of fun, but it’s even better when we create something unexpected and weird – in my opinion. This is why baking some egg cakes deserves more than a paragraph, check out how it’s done!
Did you get enough ideas to repurpose eggshells?
From now on, before you crack your egg, think about the ways you want to repurpose it next. If you don’t have any ideas, collect them and give them to someone who will gladly repurpose them as eggshell decorations, maybe even create a present for you.
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