Make a gorgeous Dragon's Egg by KaptinScarlet
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Learn the age old technique of egg blowing and then instead of just painting the blown egg, make it in to a fantastic looking dragon's egg in a few minutes with a bit of hot melt glue gun glue and some paint.

That's it, it couldn't really be simpler than that!

What you'll need:

  • One hen's egg (free range) (or larger egg if you have it, duck, goose or even ostrich)
  • Glue gun and a small amount of hot melt glue
  • Spray paint, any colour will do, but black, red, green, gold or silver are the best
  • a little bit of acrylic paint, for the distressing (black or dark brown)

When you've done, why not have a look at dadcando, where you'll find free downloadable printables for an Egg Stand and Antique Egg Mailing box.

It's a great project for Easter, or any other time of year when Dragon Eggs are in season.
 
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Step 1: Make a hole in either end of the egg

First of course you have to buy your egg (or raid the fridge). I used large hen's eggs for this project (keeping it easy), but you could use duck, goose or even ostrich if you are feeling really adventurous. The beauty of the hen's egg is that the glue gun hotmelt really works at this scale. If you go up in size, then you have to be prepared to do a lot more work to get the egg to look right.

Please use free range if you can... help chickens have a better life. Don't worry about the waste, There doesn't have to be any. Once you have blown the eggs, you can always make scramble or an omelet from the contents of the egg.

So, first off, wash the egg quickly in cold, slightly soapy water. In a minute you are going to be putting your lips to that egg surface and you know the last place that egg was !!

Now, to making the hole; strangely, this is not as easy as it sounds. For those of you with Dremmels, or miniature drills, (or dentists even) then this should present no problem, but for mere mortals, the egg is surprisingly hard, and being... well, an egg shell, is also quite brittle.

To make the hole you get a very sharp craft knife. Put the point of the tip of the blade against the tip of the egg at one end and turn back and forth about 180 degrees each turn. You'll find it seems to take ages to get started. Don't be tempted to push to hard or you will break the egg. If you feel that you are not getting started, then carefully scratch a cross at the end and put the tip of the blade at the centre of the cross and go back to turning it back and forth.

Once you break through the going gets easier, but you still have to take care as the blade can bite in and chip or crack the egg. If you are patient (only 5 minutes or so of turning) then within a few minutes you will have a hole about the size of a drinking straw. In fact you are aiming for a hole, the diameter of anything between a cocktail stick and drinking straw. Don't worry if you do chip a little bit away, you will be covering that up with hotmelt in due course.

Make a hole like this IN BOTH ENDS.
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casuallooker says: Mar 31, 2013. 9:29 PM
Dear Kaptin:
What a nice job!

more on that. Being an ignorant in this matter: Dragon Egss.
Finally, I think I comprehend why the female dragons are so bad tempered!!!... :-)

Please, keep the good work!
marccase says: Mar 31, 2013. 5:54 PM
Looks like fun, I assume normal white eggs wouldn't do it though huh?
epiclink8480 says: Mar 31, 2013. 1:17 PM
that is so cool.
adunster says: Mar 30, 2013. 9:50 PM
To make the egg less fragile and have some substance in the hand, I suggest filling with plaster of paris and allowing it to cure before proceeding with the painting. I did this to produce dummy eggs for my ducks' nests at one time and while the real egg chipped off the plaster over time (months, years) in a livestock pen environment an empty egg would have been broken in days if not sooner. Definitely adds some heft and interior structure.
SunnysideGourds says: Mar 30, 2013. 6:40 PM
I suggest using egg gourds if you can find them. Google egg gourds. Will last forever as they are just like wood and much easier to handle.
verybluesky says: Apr 29, 2011. 10:41 AM
Just wondering if this can be done with plastic easter eggs instead of real ones. Seems they would last longer.
tn. says: Mar 30, 2013. 10:33 AM
prepared like this and looked after properly, a dragon's egg would last long enough to qualify as an heirloom.
BlackFang171 says: Jun 9, 2011. 10:02 PM
I imagine you would have a much more narrow selection of paints that would adhere well to such a glossy plastic, most would peel off. In this respect a real egg would last longer
tn. says: Mar 30, 2013. 10:29 AM
lol - i was just gonna say that a dremel takes all the hassle out of step one.
overfiend2069 says: Mar 30, 2013. 9:19 AM
Mega Cool!!!
selftaughtgenius says: Feb 11, 2009. 2:25 PM
Hi Kaptin!
This was an awesome Instructable. The idea itself is fantastic, and the instructions are stellar. Love your illustrations; you really make everything easy to understand, and that is a rarity in an online how-to!

I made (I mean found) a handful of eggs for my boyfriend's birthday a few weeks ago. One for each of the chromatic dragons in Dungeons and Dragons.

I used spray paint for the base coats, acrylic for the distressing, and nail enamel for the highlights. Also, I glittered the black and white eggs with coarse black and iridescent white for a little texture and interest as they didn't have quite as much contrast as the coloured eggs.

I really enjoyed making them, and my boyfriend loved them, though he says he's a little nervous that they might hatch in our lifetime. ; ) We have them displayed on the mantle, and they are too nerdy and cool for me. Thank you!
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wolfwidow says: Mar 18, 2013. 12:19 PM
You did a fantastic job and I love how you chose to stand them. Thanx for sharing
slaveboy2000 says: Feb 16, 2013. 1:33 PM
these are wicked great job
albylovesscience says: Aug 14, 2009. 5:25 PM
nice work
sgsidekick says: Apr 12, 2009. 11:52 AM
Nice eggs! But how did you make the base? Just glue rocks together? Or glue the rocks to something else?
KaptinScarlet (author) says: Feb 11, 2009. 3:18 PM
They are absolutely brilliant. Thanks for the lovely message and the great images. If you like that sort of thing I have a website of my own filled with such stuff. dadcando. In it you'll find a is a neat section called the Dragonry (in the Making Section). But whatever, those eggs are just how I imagined they'd be. Love the nests by the way _
selftaughtgenius says: Feb 12, 2009. 6:17 AM
Thanks! Yes, I've been to DadCanDo. I think it's an awesome site, and I'm hoping to join soon. Your kids must be some of the happiest kids on the planet. Thanks again! I can't wait to see what you've got next!
KaptinScarlet (author) says: Feb 12, 2009. 9:08 AM
Thanks for your lovely comments, yes they are pretty happy... _ got loads of cool stuff coming up!
Jaquezy says: Jul 23, 2009. 4:44 AM
Ive just visited dadcando and it is awesome. I hope to join but i dont really have money to spare.. shame. great ideas though.
wolfwidow says: Mar 18, 2013. 12:18 PM
Thanx for these instructions I am definately going to try this.
mrhird says: Mar 18, 2013. 8:09 AM
I like these very much. Another fun thing to try would be to paint a color first, add the glue, and use gold or silver leaf on the glue. It WILL stick to hot glue.
holly9696 says: Sep 20, 2012. 10:34 PM
Thank you so much for some inspiration. I started to make the first one and decided it needed some incubation buddies....lol
I used paper covered plastic eggs I purchased from a craft store. Paints are acrylics and I used puffy metallic paints for the silver gold and copper. I coated these in brush on glaze. I liked that I had much more control over the color by hand mixing and painting.
Thank you!!
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Boppylop says: May 13, 2012. 8:06 AM
im going to make these, but I cant find any latex paint...
KaptinScarlet (author) says: May 13, 2012. 10:25 AM
Acrylic, spray or emulsion will do just as well
Boppylop says: May 14, 2012. 10:43 AM
its just that the first time the spray paint got all drippy, and i figured that you needed some clear latex paint to make it stick. and what is emulsion, anyway?
NatureGeek24 says: Apr 9, 2012. 2:18 PM
Wonderful project. My kids and I had a ball making these, and they are very proud of their results. Exotic egg holders will be a later project. ;-)
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KaptinScarlet (author) says: Apr 16, 2012. 3:14 AM
Fantastic, glad you enjoyed the project and the eggs look great
Dejaykomm says: Apr 6, 2012. 12:17 PM
I am sooooo making these 2moz, might not have the glue gun, but..... may use something similar, like a fast set sealant, if all goes well, will post a pic here. :-)
Zephyra Dragonborn says: Apr 3, 2012. 10:46 AM
Heres mine!
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clibanarius says: Oct 8, 2011. 1:07 PM
Here's kind of a different take on this: 6" styrofoam egg, coated with modeling paste whipped up into a spiky texture. All turned out well except I'm not too happy with the rub-on gold accent; it dried very quickly and I obviously had trouble spreading it thin enough to be an accent like KaptinScarlet's.
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shadow123456 says: Apr 30, 2011. 10:19 AM
the red one is cool

reinovator says: Apr 25, 2011. 1:24 PM
the Family and I had a blast making these turned out very nice
Thanks
bbehm says: Apr 23, 2011. 6:31 PM
Can't wait to try this out. I wanted to get a larger egg so I ordered one from this site... http://beverlysgoosehatchery.com/
SteampunkManiac says: Apr 7, 2011. 4:35 PM
also aucious
liesl78 says: Sep 18, 2010. 7:34 AM
These are so cool. My soon will be Harry Potter for Halloween and I'm definitely going to make these & the wands!
Ballabirdie says: Sep 4, 2010. 2:37 PM
i'm thinking of mixing this instructable with ChrysN's Spooky Halloween Eggs. I'm hoping to get a glowing dragon egg, it would make a great birthday present.
topaz08 says: Jan 6, 2009. 7:30 AM
Awesome Instructable. My first, btw. I think I found a new favorite place to hang out on the Internet. I love seeing pictures of what everyone has done. So, I'll try to take some pictures of the three eggs I decorated last night.
KaptinScarlet (author) says: Jan 6, 2009. 8:35 AM
glad you like it can't wait to see your pictures
topaz08 says: Jan 6, 2009. 6:10 PM
OK, I hope these aren't too big. The blue & silver is my favorite. The gold one is antiqued with dark copper, and the pearl white one - I think I'm going to speckle it with another color, I just don't know what yet. Sorry for the bottlecap egg stand.
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SoccerChic923 says: Jun 8, 2010. 11:28 AM
i love the blue ones nice idea for the silver on blue
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