Aerianth and Nikoth's Clutch, March 2008

The theme for this clutch was "Decorations". The clutching log can be found here.

Hand-blown Glass Egg

Though this oval egg is rather small in size, it catches the eye with understated beauty. Reaching up and out from an almost glassy shell surface, gentle swirls of midnight blue, royal purple, and peacock green smoothly flow and ebb together in harmonious perfection towards its apex. The main body colors are smoothly accented by nebulous shimmers of gold and pearlescent white which ripple across the shell here and there when the light catches it just so.

Inspiration: Based off of one of my favorite decorations in my cabinet: a glass egg in just those hues.

Caitlyn

Blossom Extravaganza Egg

This egg is an explosion of color; amassed on its surface is a stunning bouquet of virtually every hue of the rainbow. Petal-shaped reds mingle with more rounded dabs of purple and streaks of blue. One side of the egg begins the daintily crafted pattern of orange-red-orange-red, moving on to red-yellow-red-yellow as it sweeps upwards over the shell. The red gives way to lavender at its top, and then into deeper, richer hues as it runs down the other side of the egg. Peeking between these darker tints are buds of blue which flower as the cerulean mingles with white where it meets the black sands.

Inspiration: Flower arrangements whether live flora or the silk kind are a very often seen decoration for many holidays, and even just as a home theme during various seasons. This egg's inspiration was the wall of silken flower that can be found inside almost every JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts store.

Eslyn

Imperial Luminary Egg

This egg is primarily a bright and cheery red, darkening in smooth, narrow bands of crimson before lightening to the previous tone. The pattern of these horizontal bands makes its surface appear ribbed, the brighter red blazing in between the darker folds as if lit from within. Twin caps of gold cover both the base and the apex, swirled and blended at the edges, before thin lines of the gleaming color are drawn vertically between the two at generous intervals to hold it all together.

Inspiration: A lantern for the Chinese New Year, just one out of the many that would be hung. Traditional colors are red and gold.

Lujayn

Autumn Confections Egg

This egg takes an interesting shape, looking almost triangular if peered at from a certain angle. Stranger still is its tri-tone coloring. The wider base is yellow, which continues about a third of the way up the egg before fading into yellow before fading into white at the very tip of the smaller end. From a distance it looks soft and smooth, but up close it is revealed to be rough in texture and just as hard as the rest of the eggs on the sands.

Inspiration: Candy corn was invented by George Renninger in the 1880's and is still around today. Since the candy is a symbol of Halloween, but seems to lose it's flavor and appeal after only a few days, many people have taken to using it in their decorations instead of in their grab bags for Trick-or-Treaters.

Carmen

Black, White, and Read All Over Egg

This small egg is a blur of white and black, both fighting for dominance of the shell. The majority of the background seems to be a grimy, impure white, being dirtied even further by the mess of black dotted about, seemingly at random. There seems to be a rough pattern to the shell, scribbles of black in perfectly straight lines, yet in most places the black seems to be smudged together, as if the shell is melting in the heat of the Istan sands. In other spots, there are hints of what might have once been red or other bright colours, but they've long since faded to a sickly yellow.

Inspiration: I've always loved the idea of using newspaper as wrapping paper!

Fayre

Grassy Defense Egg

Perhaps a little more rotund and commonly 'egg'-shaped than most, this egg sits straight up in its hollow of sand, at attention it seems in defense against any shenanigans. Its peak tapers up into a definite rounded point, a vaguely triangular apex coated in vibrant red. The base is similarly all one color, but a bright, deep blue; it's really very wide down there, too. Those two halves are split horizontally in the middle by a thick band of black. Above that, below its 'hat', it wears a smudgey patch of greyish white, like a cloud or a beard, and somewhere in the palest hint of flesh-tone are two creased slits that could be eyes squinted up with laughter.

Inspiration: Lawn gnome! Bwahahah.

Madge

More Than A Stick Egg

Squat and small, this egg is marked at the base by a thick X of brown, and a scraggly stick of similar hue sprouts up from, or is supported by it. Squiggles of chestnut branch off, a handful of uneven brushstrokes with narrow lines of darkest green sprouting in random clumps from their length. A single red orb dangles in the midst of this sparse coloring, and one of purple hangs on the opposite side. A splash of yellow at the apex is a crown lacking in glory. Amidst its siblings, this egg can only hope that one will shatter and sprinkle it with a little glitz and glamour.

Inspiration: The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, before the gang all got together and spruced it up. It is the spirit of the thing that counts you know, and even a slightly bedraggled, pitiable little stick of a tree is worthy of being called a decoration. You just have to see the potential!

Q'vek

Babies of the 80's Egg

This middle-sized egg is a riot of color, bright swirls of neon green, pink, and orange covering its slightly textured surface. At some places on the egg, where the swirls collide, the colors are deeper-- jewel tones, darker greens and purples. Thanks to the texture of the egg, in these places, it seems to catch the light, winking back at those who look at it.

Inspiration: The bright puffy paint and the BeDazzler jewels that decorated jeans and sweatshirts in the 80's.

Noemie

Adorned with Devotion Egg

Complex flourishes frame the brilliant white crown of this compact, round egg with vine-like swirls of pale silver and gray. Polished to a pure shine, the ornaments might seem to be still wet from clutching, where they resemble a shell at all; in places they seem more like the ornate setting of a jewel. The egg's white portion is the gem itself, layered with light-reflecting facets that shimmer with multi-colored light, dazzling the eye.

Inspiration: One of the things with which humans most often decorate themselves: jewelry. In this case the most symbolic of jewels - the engagement ring.

V'lano

Ghastly Ghoul's Egg

Small clumps of fog coalesces with a murky dark blue around this rather small roundish egg. It could almost go unnoticed tucked into a hollow among the black Istan sands, except for the whitish mist that forms in strange patterns over its surface. A dark shadow creeps along the edges: a malicious inky blackness darker than the sands themselves. To the unfamiliar eye that regards the egg from several direction, it appears that the evil smudge shifts to a new position every time amid the dense clouds.

Inspiration: Only from the best day in all 365 days of the year! Halloween! >D I described it off of a ghost in a foggy landscape, like at a haunted house. (I always wanted a fog machine)

Rupa

Shamrock Egg

This pint sized egg is a vivacious green, scattered all over with clover shapes accentuated by light wispy curves of white that create a pleasant and cool background. Most have three leaves, but here and there one can spot the occasional four leaf variety; they tumble and fall to the bottom of the egg creating a rich carpet of jade. Smack in the middle of that emerald base is a large smudge of twinkling gold within a circle of black. A rainbow streaks away from it and in an arc of vibrant color crosses over the smooth curve of the shell where it descends into a cloudy grey haze at the bottom.

Inspiration: Images of shamrocks, clover and pots of gold are often seen decorations of St. Patricks day!

A'son

Dance All Night Egg

This egg is saved from dullness by an unnatural, garish sheen. It's as if the off-white shell has been dipped in a tub of grease, though its bright, light-reflecting film can never be washed away. This strange metallic quality makes the egg absorb and contain all the colours of its clutchmates, turning its white coating into a bright rainbow of iridescence. Looking like premature cracks, thin black lines thread up and down the shell in a regular pattern, sectioning off the shiny colours into small, neat squares.

Inspiration: A disco ball! What cheesy party would be complete without this classic decoration?

Fayre

Sanguine Frillies Egg

Red, so very red. Vibrant red. Passionate red. Brutal red. Within this most eye-catching and absolute of shades, veins of sweetheart pink throb along the smooth shell, meeting and diverging again. Specks of something gleaming, like jewels or tears, dot the surface with star-like glints of shine, and around its fat, full middle is a swash of dainty white lace with a cut-out cordiform pattern and delicate doily edges.

Inspiration: A valentine, baby. A bursting display of undying love and affection, or perhaps a heart-wrench episode of despair. Either way, a little red, a little lace.

Griere

Glitter and Glitz Egg

Delightfully glittery and resplendent, this egg has all kinds of colours on its shimmering surface. Pink is splashed at the egg's apex, though this colour doesn't go far before it's interrupted by brilliant lime green, splotches of purple and flecks of bright blue. A streak of yellow is splashed across the egg's middle, while the bottom is a fairly even orangey-red. Here and there are spots of silver and gold, not so much breaking up the other patches of colour but rather adding to the miasma. The whole egg is one sparkling, shining mess of colours, and it isn't exactly easy on the eye.

Inspiration: Glitter! Bright colours! Honestly, everything looks better when it's covered in glitter of all different colours.

R'layn

One Little Candle Egg

Inky black stretches across frosty dunes of snow, cocooning the bulk of this mid-sized egg. Broken by a thin pillar of pure white that spirals from the sand-buried base halfway up towards the slimmer apex, a tiny hopeful flame holds steady and true, burning from blue to red and casting light into the darkness. In the shine of this beacon of faith, the soft shimmer of a night's sky is found in the speckles that twinkle like stars dusted over the shell's surface and in its predominant two-toned shades, there's serenity and peace.

Inspiration: For the candles lit in windows come the holiday season. For what hope one little light can hold. For the choir song, "One Little Candle" - "Keep your light shining bright, like a torch of hope held high. Let it glow, let it show, keep the flame of love alive." - song and lyrics

Satiet

Wild Night Egg

Yellow gold has pooled at the bottom of this egg, followed by a royal shade of purple that bands around the middle giving off the impression of a festive sash. Next comes Jungle green which crawls all the way to the peak of the ovum. Covering this tame surface are drops, like beads of various color, none bigger than a pebble. Some beads form chains that seem to converge on the golden base while others litter the bands above. There are even beads that have seemingly separated from the chains speckling the egg and giving it a chaotic but certainly festive feel.

Inspiration: My egg description is based off of Mardi Gras ^^ I focused on the beads that are thrown out during the parade and incorporated the the three main colors of the celebration. Hope you enjoy it!

Amaris

Floral Celebration Egg

This incredibly lumpy egg could not be more colourful if it tried. An intricate pattern of alternating cornflower blue and bright indigo rosettes begins at the top of this extraordinarily zaftig egg and trails down languidly. Rosettes tumble into a brash eruption of pink, burgundy and darker carmine hues that lie at the base of the ungainly ovoid. The contrast between the milky white colour of the egg and the vibrant colours of the floral design that mottles it only magnifies the beauty of the egg despite its lumpy appearance.

Inspiration: Billy Idol said it best: It's a nice day for a white wedding. Decoration has always been a key element in wedding ceremonies. I was inspired in part by mandapas (East Indian wedding altars) and the traditional Western wedding as well in this description of the egg.

Xielar

Honorable Mentions

Many thanks to everyone who submitted eggs for this clutch! Unfortunately, we weren't able to use every egg we were given, but they're so awesome we want to share 'em all anyway! Here are those that didn't make it to the hatching sands:

Confetti Egg

This opulently largish egg is a garish statment - or should that be more of an excalmation - in wildly varying colors. Sprinkled all over its smooth surface are uncountable 'dots' in every hue and shade of the rainbow - as well as those beyond and in-between. The dots overlap and scatter in cacophanous merriment, seemingly tossed around at random by winds - or mayhap by an overzealous hand.

Inspiration: Based off of that crazy fun paper confetti that comes in round shapes.

Caitlyn

Mazal Tov Egg

From a distance, this oblong egg seems to be made of that paper the Harpers use for notes and sketchings, somplete with a few stains and impurities here and there. But upon closer inspection the shell is made up of millions of tiny grains that look almost like the wild plains rice. Each one is a slightly different shade, giving rise to the overall texture and appearance of this pill-shaped egg.

Inspiration: Mazal Tov is an expression used in Yiddish to congratulate someone on good fortune--such as at a wedding, where rice is often used as a decorative feature as well as a token of fertility and good luck.

Carmen

Groovy Egg

A round and roly-poly looking thing, this egg definitely catches the eye. Bright bands of blue, green, yellow and pink spiral down the shell from top to bottom, the colors fading into each other with rough lines--almost like a child has designed and then dyed the shell for their amusement. Here and there the colors are brighter or paler, sharper or more blended--all of which creates a distinct and unmistakable pattern.

Inspiration: For hundreds of years forms of tie-dying have been used in Africa and Asia, but the type we are most familiar with comes from the 1960's and the 1970's where it was used to decorate shirts, ties, pants, cars...anything associated with the Hippie movement and 'Free Love'.

Carmen

Night of Glamour and Glitz Egg

Bright, sparkling, and glamorous: this egg has it all, at least when it comes to luxury. Rich, vibrant gold cascades across most of the shell, various shades of the deep colour twisting and twining together in an endless shimmering pattern. In some places, a few discernable shapes can be made out; a white-gold star here, a vague metallic male figure there. Plush red lines the bottom of the egg, appearing as soft and lavish as velvet. The most striking contrast to the glamorous gold shades are thick strips of black and white which encircle the very top of the egg.

Inspiration: My parents and I like to go all out on Oscar night with decorations. Fake Oscar trophies, napkins and plates shaped like director's clapboards, and even some cupcakes with white chocolate stars. And who can forget the red carpet?

Fayre

Untitled Egg

As tall as it is wide, this egg has a base color of decadent white. It seems that this egg was crafted in layers stacked one atop another. The patterns hint at a creamy texture that looks just good enough to eat, though holding an untouchable quality that might make one hesitate lest they mar the artistry displayed on the egg. Each of the three shadow-created layers on this tasty-looking egg are dotted with color - reds and greens that, upon closer inspection, appear very much like buds and blooms placed symmetrically around the outer edges of each perceived layer. The egg there's a smudge of black and a smudge of ivory side by side at its top. The dots are intermingling, two shades entwined forever atop this egg.

Inspiration: Wedding cakes are as much decoration as tradition as a tasty treat present at many Western weddings. This egg is based on, you guessed it, a wedding cake.

Sabi

Work in Progress Egg

Like an ecru canvas with an unfinished work of art upon it, this large egg appears as though it could very well be a masterpiece if it werent so incomplete. It is almost as if an artist began working on it and was distracted by something else entirely, leaving it a work in progress. That is not to say that the egg is not without colour. In fact, precise utilitarian geometric patterns of rich clay brown squares, deep sunflower yellow ovals and brilliant crimson rectangles can be found overlaid, mottled over the canvas-like ecru.

Inspiration: Having moved into my new suite last month, Ive been busy nesting, decorating the suite with all sorts of artwork that Ive accumulated over the years. Its a work in progress though, since I always keep getting distracted by other things!

Xielar

Unlikely Attire Egg

Were this egg a gather dress, the color alone would cause heads to turn and jaws to drop. If ruffles fix everything, this one is perfection. Shocking pink froth garbs it from apex to base, confections of tulle gathered and straining across a too-tight middle. There's an impression of tiny, beady eyes and the folding wrinkles of a snout peering over one shoulder, come-hither, a la porcine.

Inspiration: Some things just shouldn't be gussied up. When it happens, you get the unlikely vision of a pig in a prom dress.

T'mic and P'draig

Meltingly Sweet Egg

This egg is predominantly white - a white that, when viewed from a distance, looks like the soft, puffy white of clouds. It's about as perfect an ovoid as any of the others, but there seems to be something off about it, like the tip of it will, at any given moment, slide off the side to puddle on the ground. It might be a trick of the light, or it might be the effect of the swathes of gradient gray spiraling loosely around the sides, forming the impression of shadows and tiers. These gray bands are definitely lopsided, and they're probably why the egg looks like it's going to collapse in on itself if someone doesn't rescue it from the heat soon.

Inspiration: Whipped cream decorates lots of food, from strawberries to ice cream to cocoa to pretty much anything else you can think of. Unfortunately, it really doesn't last very long under the sun.

Anderon

Lantern Light Egg

A rich and robust hue of burnt orange, this nearly spherical egg possesses a soft, subtle shine, as though gently lit from within. Seven curved and slender ribs line it from crown to base in dark brown. Thin bands circle its circumference as though the shell itself were folded and refolded for a crimped effect, and here and there faint patterns in the hue of burnished brass add depth and complexity to the simple, soothing shape.

Inspiration: Chinese paper lanterns.

V'lano

Beckoning Fortune Egg

Creamy white coats this egg from top to bottom, making it a very pale sight indeed. It would be incredibly boring, really, if it weren't for the spots of color. Strategically placed round blotches of marigold with deep orange centers dot twice on either side, symetrical to each other; those same colors have made little triangle ear shapes higher up, near the tip, and a strip of red rings its 'neck' horizontally. An arrangement of lines and suggestions from stippled tan make up a paw that holds tight the burnished gold rectangle with rounded corners, with the strange design on it in black. Somewhere in there a line of black, haphazardly marked, implies a weird little smile.

Inspiration: Maneki Neko!

Madge

Garden Gnome Egg

One of the smallest eggs in the clutch, certainly, this egg is a swirl of earth tones. Dark browns and tans and greens blend together, creating a pleasing swath of forest. Near the center of the egg, at its widest point, is a large patch of grey, settling into the green around it like a cloud. Just above this is an unexpected streak of red, rather pointed in shape, the only anomaly on the subtly hued egg.

Inspiration: The garden gnome, the friendly creatures that decorate (and watch over) so many gardens.

Noemie