The egg is going so much better than expected!
Among my materials I have:
- egg shells (tanned and white)
- white cloth
- balloons
- paint brush
- Elmer’s Glue
Also, not pictured, I used a plastic cup to hold my egg in place, a lid to pour the glue, and a hair tie to secure the cloth around the balloon.
To begin, I inflated a balloon and tightly wrapped it with the cloth. I broke the egg shells into smaller pieces and got to gluing. I either applied glue directly onto the cloth or onto the shells depending on the size of the piece. Since shells are inherently curved, I couldn’t simply glue them and place them on the curved surface of the balloon. As a result I found it easiest to put glue on some medium sized pieces and pressed them onto the surface.
Everything went well up until three days of work later when the balloon popped… I feared that the whole thing would fall in on itself but I was happy to learn that the structure was pretty self sufficient! In order to keep going I simply blew another balloon up within the half-shell, secured the cloth, and kept going.
I don’t plan on closing up the entire shape. Instead, I will leave a small circle at the bottom through which I will put a small cup with fairy lights. Hopefully the lights will be strong enough to shine through. If not I’ll either find another set of lights or simply leaving as a standing shell.
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[…] Inspiration: https://www.aesdes.org/2020/01/29/upcycle-inspiration-egg-shell-egg/ Progress Report: https://www.aesdes.org/2020/02/05/upcycle-progress-egg-shell-egg/ […]
Nicole –
Very nice visuals and update on the current progress of your mega-egg. I’m happy that you can recover quite easily from your popped balloon incident, and that the structure held , Although your project seems very sound as is, do you think adding a light source within the balloon would be possible, with the cord coming from the bottom end of the balloon? I ask this because it would be quite amazing if shards of light could escape small openings within the mega-egg shell. In any case, I am looking forward to seeing the final product.
Hi Will,
Yes that’s part of my plan! I have some fairy lights in a plastic bottle that I would like to insert into the bottom of the balloon to make it into some kind of dim light / night light. I have a good feeling it will stand up well on it’s own to be stable with a light coming out the bottom.
Hey Nicole! This is looking awesome. I think it was very smart to glue the eggshells to a cloth, however, like Miles, I worry about the overall support of the structure when the balloon is removed. I know that you said the structure stayed somewhat sturdy when your first balloon popped, but do you have a backup plan, just in case the structure starts to fall when you finish it? Is there some way for the cup of fairy lights to also act as a support?
Hi Fiona! I do hope it will stand on it’s own but if it doesn’t I will either widen the base or stuff it so that the weight will be better balanced. So far I’m not too worried about that 🙂
This is awesome I can’t wait to see it when it’s done! do you think the egg shells will be strong enough to support themselves once the balloon is removed or will some sort of secondary support mechanism be required? Also would this project be turned into a lamp or anything or will it stand alone as a sculpture?
So far it has proven to be sturdy enough. For now fingers are crossed that it will hold it’s own weight though I’m not too concerned. I feel like I could either stuff it or use a wider base for the light source to stabilize it if it can’t on it’s own.