How to Make an Irretrievable Easter Egg

Step 6 Fix Any Mistakes

After the concrete had setup, I decided to remove the plastic to let it dry faster. (I needed to use the egg the next day.) Sadly, a sizable portion of the concrete stuck to the inside of the egg. It probably latched onto the hot glue I'd used to fill the drain holes. So, I decided to put the two broken pieces of plastic back on and secure them with hot glue.

Try as I might, I couldn't get the broken pieces anywhere near as tight-fitting as they were moments earlier. Nevertheless, I forced them into place and slapped a stick-and-a-half of hot glue into the seams. This made the seams very visible. So, I decided to use that to my advantage and make the seams part of the decoration. I added more glue to look like piping. In the end, I reached a point where I was satisfied with how I'd hidden the breaks.

Comments

[tgood]

Great trick. Concrete dries by chemical reaction not evaporation. It should actually dry faster by leaving the plastic on.

[mrcrumley]

Well, then, where does the water go?

[Vermin]

2 Ca3SiO5 + 7 H2O ---> 3 CaO.2SiO2.4H2O + 3 Ca(OH)2 is one of the (unbalanced) reactions.

[DELETED_madscientist167]

(removed by author or community request)

[mrcrumley]

Wow. This is what this instructable has come to - a discussion on the chemical reactions in concrete?

[chewingfoil]

LOL You blinded him with science...it's exactly ON topic, because you showed him where the water went. Chemistry. Gotta love it.

[mrcrumley]

Um... I think we're getting a bit off topic.

[dutchypoodle]

... the chemical process which cures cement causes it to heat up-- which vaporizes the water content, incidentally.

[OneEye]

Most of the water becomes part of the cement, it isn't evaporated by the heat of reaction.

[snowluck2345]

mrcumley.... you asked the question. interesting thing, in large concrete pouring they are water cooled to prevent them from breacking from the heat. look at the construction of the hoover dam.