Christa Watson’s artisanal relationship with ostrich eggs started more than 20 years ago, thanks to a chance encounter with a horse.
As the Davis Bay artist recalled in an interview, she and her husband, Bob, were living on acreage outside Chilliwack in the mid 1990s, when one day a horse wandered into their garden. When they eventually found the itinerant animal’s owner, Watson met his wife and learned she carved ostrich eggs.
“They were just beautiful,” said Watson. “I said, ‘You think you could make one for me?’ And she just said, really sharp, ‘No.’” Watson decided then that she’d take up the craft herself. “I tried it, and I got hooked,” she said, “I soon learned why that woman said ‘no’ so quick – there’s so much work to it!”
Watson painstakingly learned the craft on her own. She works with a small, compressor-driven drill, cradling the egg in her lap. Each creation can take months of effort. Some of the eggs, which she sources, drained, from farms in the Fraser Valley, become embossed carvings with animal or flower themes, which she might choose to leave in their natural colour. With many shells, Watson penetrates the eighth-inch-thick shell to fashion various shapes. She then paints them, which takes yet more time.
“I just work on it till it’s right. If it’s not right, I just keep on doing it,” Watson said. “And I’m finished with it when it’s right for me. And that’s all that matters. If other people enjoy it, I’m pleased. But I don’t quit till I’m satisfied.”
She also has turned her hand to the occasional still-life painting, which show the same deft touch.
“I have always been interested in beautiful things, they interest me and they’re fun,” said Watson. “I had four kids. I always had to work and really never had too much time. But now that we’ve retired, I made the time and dropped all my other things.”
Watson sees the work as its own reward and doesn’t make much effort to market her carvings, which she retails for about $300 each, a pittance considering the time they take. “It’s not that I want to make money. The eggs are a challenge to me. Can I do it? And if I can do it then I’m happy. So that’s where I’m at.”
The dozen or so unworked eggshells in her studio suggest Watson has years of satisfying artisanship ahead of her. Watson is willing to show her works to interested buyers by appointment and can be reached at 604-885-6659.
