Musical Unicorns

Another birthday, another ....egg!  If you look at my older posts, you'll see the carriage egg I did for my Fathers 70th birthday; this egg is the one I did for my Mother's 70th - I can't believe its ten years old!! 

This one is an Emu egg, it took quite a bit of cutting and NO, the holes are not big enough for the unicorn inside to fit through!  I cut a section off the bottom of the egg, filled the cut off section with plaster of paris then set the unicorn (duly painted and glittered) on it before gluing the egg back together - there, my secret is out!  I also drilled through the bottom of the egg so that I could put in the shaft from the musical box that it sits on, so the whole egg turns as it plays; you wind it up by turning the plaque.

I painted the whole egg with a base coat then used Duncan Liquid Pearls in jewel colours, blending them together so there is a seamless transition from one colour to the next.  

After painting (this one didn't need sealing as the pearl paints are self-sealing) I trimmed the edge of each hole (perhaps I should use the word "aperture" or something, "hole" doesn't sound very elegant, does it? lol) with gold cord.  

The last step for the egg was gluing on all those little Swarowski  crystals (these are the AB ones - AB stands for Aurora Borealis and means they "throw" multiple colour not just clear) in a surprisingly-hard-to-keep-to random pattern! I kept making rows, which is in my nature, I'm a list maker so randomness doesn't come that readily!

Finally I stained and sealed the plaque and the stand.  The stand, which holds the musical mechanism, is in fact an upside down box!  I fixed the mechanism to a sort of lid that fits inside the box, then just lowered the box over it.  I thought the chain gave the piece a carnival feel.

In real life it looks really beautiful (I know, everyone says that), especially when it  is spinning - all that glittery goodness!

Mum had a perspex cover made for it, she wasn't about to dust it all the time, and who can blame her?  I thought that's what daughters are for, to give mothers something to occupy them in their dotage!  Or perhaps it was revenge for all those noisy toys (known in our house as "Nanna toys") that were given to my sons when they were young - only joking!! 

 Hope your day is magical and full of music too, Dee