Collegg'tible - Collectible Instructables Eggs

What makes a perfect gift for the holidays year after year? A set of collectible Instructables Eggs depicting famous and infamous members of the Instructables member community. This year, only one set will be cast and when they are struck, the mold is destroyed, guaranteeing you that these are one of a kind.

But fear not, act now and you can read through this Instructable to make your own. You do not need to wait until Easter to decorate your eggz.

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to real persons living or dead, robots, droids, or cartoon characters is purely coincidental. Blah, blah, blah...

Below is not a set of Russian nesting dolls (matryoshka) but go make one if you like.

Step 1: For Good Luck, Break a L-egg, Bris'kly

For this instructable you need:

• eggs, raw, no need to do hardboil or softboil, can be any size -quail, duck, chicken, ostritch, dodo...
• plaster, paper cup, mixing stick like a wood skewer or popsicle stick
• imagination

There are many techniques to drain an egg, and a blister or boil too.

Just take a sharp knife and poke the end of an egg with the tip to make a small hole. Don't use too much force or you will cause the egg to make a mess. Sorry, a Knex Katana will not do. Don't get squeamish at this point.

Enlarge the hole by gently chipping away at the entry point or use a sawing motion to open up the hole. If you plan on using the egg for a meal later, try not to make too many shell fragments that you have to pick out. No need to make the hole any larger than the size of a small coin but larger is okay because that will form the flat base that your completed egg will stand on.

Now just pour or shake out the egg from the eggshell. No need to poke a pressure release vent on the other end. I don't think we need to go to the extreme of this:

Step 2: Get Plastered

Wash out the eggshells and let dry thoroughly.

The key to these eggs is to stabilize the shell to make it not as fragile to work with and remove any food content that may spoil. We will replace the innards with plaster of paris.

Lay out some newspaper to protect your work area. You can wear latex or nitrile gloves to protect your hands from the mess.

Set the eggshells up so that they can dry with a level surface. I propped my eggs up with a piece of aluminum foil formed around the eggs since I did not have the original egg carton.

Mix up your plaster in a paper cup so that it has the consistency of runny cake batter. No need to mix it full strength or trowel consistency. It has to be pourable. Use a paper cup and a bamboo skewer or popsicle stick to mix. You will want to dispose of the tools and excess plaster later so that you don't flush it down the drain and cause a permanent clog in it.

Plaster of paris has a relatively short working time of a few minutes before it starts to harden but don't panic; it is not like Gorill...,ahem, crazy glue. It does have a slight exothermic reaction as it cures but should not cause the eggshell to crack.

Pop the membrane that may have dried up in the eggshell.

Pour in your plaster up to the level of the hole. Try not to overflow the eggshell. Use your stirrer as a dipstick to make sure any air pockets are worked out of the plaster. If you get any lava on the side, just wipe off with a wet paper towel before it dries. You can also chip it off before it has completely cured when it hardens up a bit.

Give it about an hour to really harden up. Overnight is preferable but you can start working with it as soon as it firms up. I know you will be checking on it often. It will now feel like a billiard ball. It might be fun to make a dozen of these and then use it in a prank when you drop them all...

Trim the opening of any ragged shell with a scissor.

Step 3: Eggactly What Do We Do Next?

Decorate the egg...

Pencil in your design.

Go over the markings with a permanent marker.

Use a big eraser or rub with a damp paper towel to get rid of your pencil lines.

Color in the areas with:

• more marker
• highlighters
• crayons
• colored pencils
• water-color paint
• paint
• anything else laying around

So:
If I had the time I would have added 3-d feet/arms/details using Sculptey non-bake clay. Wheels for the robot, shooz for geezers, flipflops/sandals for the dude..., Bobblebot head, whirlygig head...etc.

Go out there and make your own eggcellent creations.