Lately, we've been in a bit of a quandry. We're making dragon eggs. The first one you might have seen floating around in pics here and there, but not up for sale. We've sold several just through the pictures, but we are unsure how to present them on the website. So maybe if I put the process of what goes into each egg, it might help our readers help us how to word things.
First, the eggs are cast with a hardened plaster (Ultracal that we usually buy from
Fun F/X) in a slush mold:
We've tried resins and plastics, but they 'feel' cheap. There is a certain sensation you get when holding one of these that gives a sense of being, like you're actually holding a dragon egg. It's got heft. Since the eggs are two sides, to be made into a container, each side is poured. Not only that, each side is built up over a series of pours with thin coats. Once the final coat is in the two halves are let dry for a day and then released from the mold. The mold is then cleaned and washed and prepared for the next cast. The eggs are then set to dry and allow the Ultracal to cure up for about a week. On the last few days, we warm the eggs for several hours to help get the last of the moisture out. During this time, the bases are also cast.
Once the eggs have thoroughly dried out, we sand off any little odd nubbins, and shape the inside rims to make sure the two egg halves fit together snug. After which, the inside of the egg is given a coat of paint. We let that sit for a day as well to let the paint set up well. The inside then is given a thin layer of clear resin coating to help protect things on the inside and let to cure for several days.
This picture is not accurate and from the early pours when we were testing things out a bit. It shows a resin on the inside, which although looks very cool and eggy, was from an old resin batch that turned all sorts of wild colors that we're not sure we could replicate. We've found better resin, and also like when the inside is painted as well. You'll see further down...
Next up, each egg is painted with a base color on the outside. two or three coats go into the painting to make sure we have all of the little knooks and crannies. We let that sit for a day.
Then we start to add color...lots of color:
Very subtle oranges, greens, reds, blues...and some shiny metallic tones as well. We like to paint batches of things at once, whether it be eggs or stone, or what we have on hand; allowing us to create whole batches we know are done with similar colors and technique. painting ten eggs can take a full day at this step.
The last step is to once more add another coat of clear resin; this time, to the outside. This takes another week to two weeks to make sure the resin fully cures.
We've also made little certificates, since these will be a limited run, as well as a warning sheet:
We're now wondering how to go about advertising these... perhaps the best way is to let people know they are an intermittent item because they take so long, and that as clutches of eggs become available,
we will open the sale doors.
Opinions?
