The Potentials of Eggshells .

Having known its important uses, I never underestimate eggshells. I use eggshells mostly for my compost project and my other experiments. My interest in eggshells grew stronger when I found that eggshells have more functions, benefits and even help people achieve very good living.

Eggshell is naturally very rich in calcium content in the form of calcite and is the best source for natural calcium. Calcium from eggshells is easy to be absorbed by our body and also contains various microelements like magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, sulphur, silicon, zinc, etc. which the presence is very needed.

Calcium is also found abundantly in human body for bone and teeth development so that its presence must be maintained. The deficiency of calcium in one's body will cause bone crisp and it's difficult to be cured if one suffers from broken bones. This fact shows a relation between eggshells and human need for calcium which can be gained in a very economical way from eggshells.

Many companies also see this as a business opportunity and produce calcium supplement extracted from eggshells.

We don't have to depend on commercial calcium to suffice the need of calcium since we can prepare it by ourselves.

A medium size eggshell can make 750-800 mgs of absorable calcium or around one teaspoon. To maintain the sufficiency of calcium in our body we need around 400 mgs or a half teaspoon in addition to calcium which we get from food including from fruits and vegetables.

The benefits of eggshells for plants .

Seedlings : Place a half eggshell in a pot or an egg carton. Put the seed you want to grow in the eggshell and cover with some amount of soil. Keep the soil in the eggshell damp and get some direct sun. The eggshell will provide good nutrition for the seedling to grow into healthy plant.

Gardening: Crush some eggshells with your hand and mix them with the soil near the plants you grow. The eggshells will provide good nutrient for the plants to help them grow very well.

Natural Abrasive.

Eggshells has another function as natural abrasive for your household drains. Crush some eggshells into small fragments. Put some fragments in the sink basket and let some flow into the drain. Sharp surface and calcium content of the eggshell will give soft abrasive effects to small particles like hair, food left over, grease which potentially cause clogging.

Eggshells for coffee lovers:

Some powder of ground eggshells which is put into your coffee will make it more enjoyable too. Crush some eggshells finely then put it in the coffee dip while brewing it.

The addition of eggshells will minimize the acid in the coffee which means coffee won't cause any problem for coffee drinkers with sensitive stomach.

Adding eggshell powder in the coffee making will also help sink the coffee residue. According to some coffee drinker experiences adding some eggshell powder to coffee while being brewed in a metal pot will cause coffee grounds to settle more easily besides giving additional sensation in the coffee taste.

Versatile uses for crafting :

If you love crafting, eggshells can give variety of uses for beautiful as well as economically potential crafts. Here are some examples in craft world where eggshells play very important roles and give precious added value.

My experiments in using eggshells :

I'm really a newbie in using eggshells for craft. I tried this technique due to my curiosity how beautiful can eggshells make when we apply them in a creation. Here is one of them.

This is an inspiring story in eggshell art. A civil engineer graduate named Dwiyono started his interest in eggshell craft when he accidentally walk on a piece of eggshell in his kitchen. He noticed that the shell had beautiful color and texture which triggered his art skill to use eggshells in his china designs.

The combination of artistic china designs with exotic patterns of eggshell that he applies on his creations has got a lot of interest from art enthusiasts, collectors, and businessmen from local as well as foreign markets. Dwiyono's long efforts and hard work in using eggshells has given him success. About 70% of his products is absorbed by foreign markets, while the rest is for local market.

Dwiyono is not the one who keeps his knowledge for his own only. He also gives trainings to young people so that they can have his skills and have opportunity to follow his success. Those skilled youths now have their own business and become his partners too in the time of peak orders.

Dwiyono devotes his life in eggshell crafts. He exports 3-4 containers of eggshell crafts every month to various countries in the world. After his long efforts and hard work, now he leads a happy life running his eggshell business.

This is about a man named Cahyudi Susanto who makes a good living from eggshell arts. Eggshells have improved the quality of his life by earning income that he'd never expected. You can see some of his creations here.

Cahyudi Wiyanto is another person who makes a living from eggshells. His creations captures various famous figures, local and international, and other kinds of arts using eggshells.

Many public figures and celebrities have their images been captured in eggshells by him including Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of RI, Barack Obama, Malia Obama, Soekarno, Michael Jackson and many more.

He also receives a lot of orders from common people and he usually needs around one month to finish one order.