Unique 50 dogs made from eggshells by English teacher

In his house, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam (67 years old, Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh City) devotes most of the space to storing works of art made from eggshells.

"I have made more than 750 character figures from all kinds of eggshells over the past 15 years. As a retired English teacher, to illustrate my lessons, I created characters and objects from the lessons in books. I have made them from paper, foam, ceramic... but I find eggshells to be the most suitable," Mr. Tam shared.

Welcoming the Year of the Dog, half a year ago, Mr. Tam bought chicken, duck, and quail eggs, removed the shells, and made a dog collection. "Every 20 eggshells, I can make two puppies, and with 50, the collection is complete," said Mr. Tam.

For simple models, he only needs about an hour to create, for detailed models he has to meticulously create up to 10 hours. Each model is named after a certain theme.

"In the collection, the image of the dogs playing music is quite elaborate as even the musical instruments were made from eggshells," said the retired teacher.

Meanwhile, the happy dog ​​family theme took him a long time to design.

He recreated the proverbs related to dogs with unique models. For example, "A dog does not despise its poor owner", he had to try to create a vivid simulation of both the owner and the dog.

To express the Kieu verse "Love is like love on the inside, but still shy on the outside" with the image of a dog, he designed its wagging tail into a heart shape.

Mr. Tam also vividly simulated dog characters in cartoons. For example, the shy dog ​​Courage (in the American cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog) was created by him from a duck eggshell.

Colorful Phu Quoc dogs are numbered in 2018.

His two favorite dogs are from his collection of eggshell dogs. In other works, he also used sparrow, turtle, ostrich and goose eggs.

"This job not only requires manual dexterity but also patience. Many times when I'm almost done, I accidentally drop and break something, and have to start over," Mr. Tam shared.

His collection is so large that he has to use the door as a storage space. He is the record holder for "The person who created the most eggshell sculptures" established by the Vietnam Book of Records Center in 2010.

"Next year I will continue to make a collection of pigs made from eggshells. In the near future, to celebrate the World Cup, I will also continue to make works related to football," Mr. Tam shared.