VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thanh Tam has over the past two months used egg shells to make dolls of Fuleco the Armadillo, the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2014 soccer tournament which is taking place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13.

Nguyen Thanh Tam and FIFA 2014 World Cup mascots and national flags of participating teams made from egg shells.

Fans around the world have their own ways to express their fondness of the World Cup like watching matches, wearing costumes printed with World Cup images, singing World Cup songs, making figures of football stars and producing sports icons. “Like them, I have a deep passion for egg-shell sculptures, so I have made the World Cup mascots using shells of chicken, duck, quail and ostrich eggs,” said Tam.

With only a small pair of scissors, a tiny needle to pour the yolk out, half a lime to erase the color of the shells, and a bit of nail lacquer in appropriate colors to draw images, Tam can turn an egg shell into a cute mascot, adding to his collection of over 500 unique creations.

“After teaching English for kids, I often spend several hours a day on my passion. I choose the roundest eggs among those in a basket to make the ball and then slowly make parts of the mascot. To make the mascot stand, I use peanut shells, clay and small lead pieces to make legs,” said Tam. “The job requires patience and meticulousness.”

Japan uses Pikachu as the official mascot of the team at the World Cup. Therefore, Tam has turned out some Pikachu figures as well. He has used 32 quail eggs to make the national flags of the 32 participating countries in the tournament.

“I stick them on the World Cup map and my students are excited to learn about geography as well as ethnology.”

Tam shot to fame after the Vietnam Record Book Center recognized him as the citizen with the most sculpture works made from eggshells a few years ago.    

SGT/VNN