Every year I try to find new ways to cover eggs with clay.  These are the exact canes made in the blue tile tutorial.  However, you could use any square kaleidoscope cane.

Step 1:

Poke a very small hole in the top and bottom of an egg.  Blow the insides out.  If you break the egg up with the pin, it will come out more easily.

Step 2:

Wash or bleach the egg very well.  Make sure it is completely dry before you cover in with clay.  If you need to warm it in the oven to dry it, that works well.

Step 3:

Cover the egg.  Make sure you have plenty of firm cane.  You may need to let your canes sit out for a day or two.

Step 4:

Smooth the egg as well as possible.  Flattening the seems between the canes is very important.  Unfortunately, smoothing the egg also distorts the pattern.  I do most of the smoothing with sandpaper after the egg is baked.  I start with 60 grit, which is very large.

Step 5:

Before you bake the egg poke a tiny pinhole in the top to let the air out.  Otherwise the egg will have an “outie” belly button when it is baked!

I cut a triangle out of one of the squares to make a hexagonal kaleidoscope for the bottom and top of the egg.

I start with one end and work my way to the other end.  Finding the exact center at the top is quite difficult.  Do any of you have any tips?

I don’t measure my cane slices to fit the egg.  I just choose how many I want (in this case the patten will repeat 6 times) and squish them into a ribbon.  Once you have a smooth ribbon of clay, just stretch it or condense it to fit around the egg exactly. 

Here you see that the ribbon was a little too long and I had to condense in a little to fit.

By the end, all you have left is one last hexagonal kaleidoscope. I wait to make it until I can tell what size it needs to be.

Here is another example