Category: Mixed media eggs

I purchased this large (maybe 4.5 inches high) paper mache egg from Joann Fabrics in the 70% off bin after easter this year.  I thought I could use it as a form on which to work some polymer clay to make a large polymer clay egg.

Not entirely successful, there were some surprises. I did poke a hole in it during baking (tiny at the bottom), and it was firm enough to easily put the clay upon. I did this in about 4 curings since didn’t want the shapes to get squeezed out when I added other slices.  This might have been a mistake… maybe doing it all at once would have prevented two problems.  1: it has taken a lot of sanding to try to get rid of the small deviations and divots in the surface, i mean a lot of sanding, perhaps an insane amount of sanding.  Not all were removed to my satisfaction so i filled some of the deeper depressions with new thin slices of polymer clay, which brought on problem 2: the different areas of polymer clay looked like they shrank away from each other with the last curing.

THis is another example of the choice to “cut my losses” or to try to figure out whether i can save this egg, and turn it into something nice.  I wish there were a forum to ask this advice, but enabling comments on wordpress is just asking for trouble.

This was a fun egg to make, not perfect, but I just covered a small chicken egg with an 1/8th inch covering of black polymer clay, smoothed it, then used a heart cutter to cut the clay down to the egg (carefully not breaking the egg). THen cured it and used a knife and push pin to finish severing the hearts from the body of the egg. After removing all hearts, and chipping away the egg from the inside, i sanded it and attached metal butterflies embedded in a black, brown and white cane (slitting the ends of the round cane where the top and bottom of the butterfly were, then separating it like wings (under the metal wings).  Cured again, and left without a finish.  I saved the black hearts for another project.

On this brown egg I made swirls with gold polymer clay and after curing it, I etched some dots in the spaces between the clay using wax, a kistka and then soaking in vinegar, and then repeated the process with other areas on the egg. The doodles are black sharpie, pink and white acrylic paint.  This was sort of a practice egg, to try out etching.

Squirrel, acorn cap, and fluorescent egg made with polymer clay and a real cockatiel egg under the yellow fluorescent polymer clay which covers it. Squirrel was made with left over polymer clay that has flower petals in it from previous objects and a little brown and black polymer clay. I cured this squirrel on his side so his tail would not fall off in the baking.  And fyi, the acorn cap (which was from a Bur Oak (Burr Oak) or Mossycup Oak is really quite big (close to 2 inches) ) shrank big-time as it dried out. This was just a fun egg for fall.