Yes, this is a thing, and yes, people do it by hand, and yes, it is real eggs. These are not molded plastic fakes, they are genuine eggs that have been painstakingly carved with intricate designs. Can you imagine how fragile they are? All, that's the answer. All the fragile.
A wide variety of eggs can be used for carving. Chicken eggs seem to be one of the least popular, both because the eggs are not as thick as those of other birds, and because they are on the small side compared to other options. Duck and turkey eggs are both larger than chicken eggs and have thicker shells, which makes them somewhat easier to carve. You can also carve emu and ostrich eggs, which are relatively enormous.
How do you carve an egg? Very carefully!
Most eggshell carvers use a dentist's drill. While a Dremel will only spin at about 6,400 RPM, you can buy a dental drill that will spin up to 500,000 RPM. At that speed, and with the right diamond tip, you can carve through the shell without having to exert barely any pressure at all. The drills are expensive, sure, and require a lot of other equipment to drive the pneumatic set-up. This is clearly not a craft for the idle tinkerer, but a serious commitment.
Beyond that, you just clean the eggs as you usually would for a craft, draw a design on the shell in pencil, and get to work.
This craft is related to engraving, and uses many of the same skills and items of equipment. But no one ever has to ask if engraving is fake or not - and engraved items are not usually quite so very fragile as a carved eggshell. (And oh, they are so very fragile. Every bit as fragile as they look, in fact. Yikes!)
Image courtesy TheEggshellSculptor.com
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