When one thinks of egg shells, typically an image of something that is very fragile and easily discarded comes to mind. But for Peggy Vincent, egg shells of all sizes and textures are a beautiful canvas.
"Everything inspires me, and I absolutely love this art form," she said. On display throughout her home are hundreds of eggs, carved and decorated spanning more than 50 years of both her and her mother's works.
"The earliest egg I have from her is from 1960," she said. "She made a lot of Christmas ornaments and at Christmas, my entire tree is covered in eggs."
It all started when her mother took a course in making sugar Easter eggs at the YMCA in San Francisco, learning the decorating skills. But it was when she saw an advertisement for a class in New Jersey on how to add hinges to eggs that the hobby began.
For Vincent, it's been a 35 year hobby that she's made uniquely her own.
"Mother used to get so annoyed with me because I didn't do it the way she did, to the point that I would buy my supplies from her and take them home to work by myself," she said. "Later on, she got a little more patient with me. We both had our own styles."
For her mother, designs were made around things like wrapping paper patterns and fabrics, while Vincent draws inspiration from miniature figurines and things around her. There are a million ways to cut an egg, she said, and when inspiration strikes she gets to work.
"I have a cutting and painting booth in my garage and my work room downstairs," she said. "It's hard to say how long it takes to make one because, each one takes on a life of its own. The creativity is just flowing through me and a lot of times it evolves throughout the process."
One such piece -- her "Peanuts" egg -- which she created after the death of cartoonist Charles Schulz, ended up completely different than originally planned.
"It was supposed to have dark colors, but it ended up bright yellow," she said. "And the base features the little bird Woodstock, and as I was outlining him it felt like Schulz must have felt drawing him."
The egg, which is now on display with the others, was one she hoped to donate to Schulz's museum, but the museum had other plans.
"The museum said they didn't want it, so on opening day I'm sitting outside holding this egg and feeling really silly," she said. "Then this man walks by and he stops for a minute, looking at it. He says 'Sparky would've loved that.' Turns out he was one of Charles Schulz's friends and I felt like I had won."
But perhaps the egg she's most proud of is her Shroud of Turin egg, based on the Shroud of Turin, a 14-foot linen cloth that many people believe may have been the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
When Vincent got the idea to create the egg, she contacted Barrie Schworz, who was the official photographer responsible for documenting the shroud. To her surprise, he replied.
"Here I am asking this world-famous photographer for a picture of this piece of history. Who does that?" she said. "But he answered and he sent me a negative, but it was in black and white and a little too dark for what I wanted. So here I go again contacting him, thanking him, but saying 'I really had more of a sepia tone in mind.'
"He sent me the sepia photo, and I edited it a little bit. I wrote him to tell him this and then he calls me to give me his blessing. I made one for him and one for myself."
Looking at the egg, every intricate detail is important and symbolic. The egg has two doors that open to reveal the shroud using a cut out that makes the onlooker open it "like a Doubting Thomas," and it sits atop a base of three keys symbolizing "the keys to life: faith, hope and love." But one detail was unintended.
"I had lit a candle in front of it, and it cast a perfect shadow of a heart," she said. "I sat there in awe for at least an hour before I called my dear husband in to see."
Her work isn't an every day thing, and she has unfinished projects waiting for the right inspiration to hit her.
"It's like in school when you have unfinished homework," she said. "It's in front of you and it's on your mind, but you get stuck. Then sometimes the answer comes and you're just like 'Of course!' And that's when something beautiful happens."
Local on 04/19/2014