Quilled Easter egg with a surprise

When I was making my first quilled egg, I wanted to build it so that it can be opened. Unfortunately, I faced some unexpected difficulties back then. So later I decided to make another Easter egg, and this time it came out just as I wanted. This is how my turquoise egg was created, and it can open! And now some details.

As usual, before setting to work I studied all available resources in search of inspiration, viewing thousands of images of decorative Easter eggs, Pysanky eggs and jeweled Easter eggs. I was especially impressed by Faberge eggs (I happen to own an issue of an old printed magazine, one of the articles of which is dedicated to Fabergé eggs). The "Renaissance" egg (1894) is one of my favorites, and it's not hard to see its influence on my work. Every year Fabergé created a new unique egg for Tsar's family, and each egg had to have a surprise inside. That's why I hid a surprise inside my egg, too.

The egg consists of three main parts — the bottom half, which rests on the pedestal, and the lid (the other half). The two halves are connected by a tiny hinge that actually allows opening the egg. There are also tiny ring handles on the sides.

This quilled Easter egg is made of paper strips 1/16" wide (1.5 mm) using shades of light-green and light-blue. I assembled it around the plastic shell of a Kinder egg. To make the pedestal I built a cone-shaped cardboard mold wrapped in food wrap. For this project I used hand-cut as well as pre-cut paper strips.

Inside the Easter egg I put a tiny oval mirror cut out of a larger plastic mirror. It is decorated with quilling using paper strips like those used for the egg. Length of the mirror including the handle is about 2 9/16" (6.5 cm). Height of the egg-case is about 2 3/16" (5.6 cm), its length is only 3 inches (7.5 cm).

I would like also to add a couple of personal notes. First, I'd like to apologize for not answering comments, emails, friend requests, etc. I've been very busy lately, and my children's and my own winter illnesses don't make life any easier. Second, I created a Facebook fan page some time ago to keep all the quilling-related stuff and my personal updates separately. Please "like" it instead of adding me as a friend if you don't know me personally. Thank you for understanding.