ALEXANDRIA -- Bill Winstel is always looking for new uses for all the by-products of the ostrich, but probably the most offbeat is the painted ostrich eggs he offers for sale.
Mr. Winstel, a long-time employee of Western-Southern Life Insurance in Cincinnati, is also the marketing and sales force behind Golden Ostrich Ltd., a group of some two dozen Northern Kentucky farmers who raise ostriches.
The ostrich eggs -- empty of course -- are impressive in their own right because of their size and the strength of the shells. But when they've been professionally decorated by Mason, Ohio, artist Clara Reinhard, they are stunning.
"I see this as very much of a specialty item," Mr. Winstel said while examining some of Ms. Reinhard's latest egg art. "This isn't something that everyone would be interested in. But we also get orders from people who want a specific type of painting on an ostrich egg. It's a great gift for the person who has everything."
Ms. Reinhard and Mr. Winstel met at a home and garden show where she was displaying some of her works including murals and acrylic on linoleum, which she does for both residential and commercial customers through her ABC&E Design business in Mason.
"She painted a mural for my wife, Robbie, and me at our house, and we started talking about ostrich eggs," he said. "The next thing we knew, she was painting them, and I was selling them."
Ms. Reinhard, who has painted professionally since her days at Mason High School and who holds a degree in graphic arts, has tried a number of styles and effects in acrylic paint on the big eggs.
"I can paint an egg in as little as maybe 20 minutes, or it can take much longer," she explained, looking at an egg decorated with a pastoral scene of a woman sitting in the grass feeding a goose. "I've had clients who ask for a particular type of work on an egg."
Painting the eggs
So how do you paint a big, egg-shaped ostrich egg?
"I have a special stand to hold the egg while I'm working," Ms. Reinhard said. She pointed to a small hole in the end of an egg which helps during the painting process and also enables the egg's owner to mount it for display.
Mr. Winstel said he always carries a few of the painted eggs with him when he is making a presentation to a restaurant for the purchase of ostrich meat.
"The eggs are a real ice breaker," he said with a grin.
Ostrich meat is being accepted by more Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky restaurants all the time, he said. "As the chefs learn about the meat, they are usually eager to use it. I continue to sign new customers all the time."
Mr. Winstel also looks for markets for the ostrich feathers and the ostrich skin, which is already used for cowboy boots and belts.
"I really believe the ostrich business will become a major farm industry in this area," he said.
"Almost every part of the bird can be used."
Even the empty eggs.
