If you're looking for that unusual present, a carved or painted egg certainly fits the bill.

Eggs are fragile things, by their very nature. To carve an egg is truly a mad person's hobby... guess I'm mad as a hatter!  

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, hand delivery of your egg is possible. For shipment elsewhere,  I have the eggs professionally packed at extra cost.

Eggs take a bit longer than other mediums, and cost a bit more because of it. The price range will depend on the type of egg and how extensively it's carved.  

 An emu egg, the dark green ones, range from $68 - $200, (the emu egg in the top strip is $78.00 while the carved tiger to the side is $110) an ostrich egg $75 - $1600, a goose egg $25 - $105, a carved rhea egg $75-$800. These eggs can also be painted in any fashion.  

Carved eggs can be done to celebrate a wedding or a birth, can be used as a nightlight, or as the base for a battery operated flicker light.  

If you're interested in an egg, I'm interested in the sale. Just contact me and we'll figure it all out.

And then there's gourds...

Gourds are lighter, stronger,easier to ship and cheaper to package than an egg. They can be carved, woodburned, inlayed with stones, painted, drawn on, used as a base for sculpture, integrated with weaving or turned into the classic birdhouse. They come in an array of sizes.  There are gourds tiny enough to be worn as earrings and necklaces and there are gourds large enough to be used as vessels on the farm (egg gatherers, bushels, feeding buckets).  They're classic Americana or amazing modern art.  They're a medium that deserves a lot more attention than they get.  

Gourds carve well and they ship well.  They are also a safer medium to carve than eggs, glass or shell.  

I am new to the art or gourds, but am impassioned by them.  If you're fascinated  by these and would like to learn more, I suggest you look into your local Calabash or Gourd Society.