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Lieryth and Riuth's Clutch, July 2009
The theme for this clutch was "Things that can be found in a casino".
Lights in the Dark Egg
A dark, cloudless evening is the black that sets the backdrop for this egg. White twinkles are scattered across like so many stars in the sky, lighting up the looming rectangular shapes that sweep up the sides of the shell. Other shapes appear as well, round domes, and other tall figures that could be seen as towers to the creative eye. Highlighting them are streaks of green and blue, with tints of red.
Inspiration: Based on the Las Vegas Casino skyline at night.
Nenita
Plumes a' Plenty Egg
Plumes of soft scarlet and magenta burst up from one end of this egg, streaming up and around the elongated curves in wispy lines. Not that its girth is any less impressive for that length; the striking fan of color spreads over quite a broad base, too. Scattered across the tapered tip at the other end are thick whorls made out of tiny mica sparkles, doing their best to attract all of the attention.
Inspiration: It's one of the first images that comes to mind when I think of casinos, the extravagant, glittery headdresses that the performers in Vegas wear.
June
One Thing Not Another Egg
It is certainly an egg, this swirl of colors both bright and dull. Red and blue mix to form a vibrant purple along the center of the shell. There are no distinct shapes to make out in this flurry of shades, but there's the illusion that if one stares long enough then all the secrets under the glitz and glam will be revealed. Wrapped around one end of egg is a garish yellow loop that looks like it is made of tiny feathers.
Inspiration: Casino floor shows are known for their impersonators. People seeking fame as other people provide entertainment between bouts of gambling and trips to the buffet.
Javeri
Intently Staring Egg
This egg is watching you. Or at least it seems, with that shiny, mirrored blue-gray gleam, like an alert and all-seeing eye embedded in the dark sands of the cavern. Its color is disarmingly consistent, so smooth that its nearly spherical curves take on a slick sheen in the glowlight. Add that to the fact that it's a good deal larger than most of its comrades and it all contributes to the egg's vigilant, quietly malevolent aura.
Inspiration: No casino would be complete without those ominous black ceiling domes that house the many, many security cameras that keep the betting floor theft-free.
June
Nothing Special Here Egg
This medium-sized egg is perfectly average both in shape and in hue. It's glamorous in its way, with swirls of red and orange twining up its sides, but it's this very brilliance of color that makes it blend in with the crowd. A thin ribbon of gleaming, glittery silver winds up out of the dark sand, and a splash of gold drizzles across the rounded top, adding a touch of overstated dazzle that acts more as camouflage than attention-getter in this clutch of similarly colorful eggs.
Inspiration: This egg is based more on the idea than the appearance of the card dealers: people who might dress up, too, but are essentially just part of the background of any casino.
An'dren
Lucky Coin Egg
This egg looks to be oddly handled, the edges faded and worn, leaving no defining boundaries. What marks there are are soft, like something has rubbed over it more times than can ever be counted. Clearly, whoever could spend that much time on this, cherishes it, depends on it. This is one egg that's gonna end up bein' lucky.
Inspiration: The gambler's lucky coin, never to be put in a pot.
Suizen
Spin of Numbers Egg
Overall the shell is a healthy, solid green. But then on one side of this egg is a shiny bronze circle, shadows dancing across it to create the illusion of handles. Whirling around it is a dizzying loop of red and black, red and black like a series of checkers spun around with some speed. Here and there through the spin on the shell's matte surface are lines of white very similar to numbers.
Inspiration: Roulette Wheel!
Nenita
Lounge Lizard Egg
This egg lies at an angle in the sand, listing dangerously to one side and yet miraculously not falling down. Ruby red wraps it like a jacket, thin black gridwork stitched between the crimson so each inch glitters and pops like a jewel. Gathering up at the apex of the egg, those black lines thicken and come together into an inky curl with a smooth, seductive gleam.
Inspiration: Lounge lizards are a staple of every seedy gambling joint. They dress like Elvis, sing like Sinatra, and drink like Boris Yeltsin.
Skinner
Ridiculous Scrollwork Egg
Pink! Or at least, the egg appears pink from a distance as the delicate, interwoven patterns of red on white fade together from afar. But up close, this shell is a busy mess of lines and curls, veins criss-crossing back and forth. It almost seems like there should be something hidden in this mass of fine red scrollwork, as though a little bird should be nestled in a winding tendril loop or that a face might appear in the way large swathes mesh with slender ones. Perhaps if someone stares long enough and hard enough, some sense will come of it all.
Inspiration: The back of a playing card.
Loe
Eerie Gaze Egg
At first, this egg appears fairly standard; it's glitzy, sure, but so are many of its clutchmates. For the most part, the shell is covered in a shimmering orange-gold. Glimmers of green break up that solid hue, as if the surface has been tarnished. Sharp black lines further interrupt the egg's main colour, cutting through it at seemingly random locations. Most strange, though, is when the light hits the shell in a certain way, revealing what appear to be large bumps all over the egg's surface; two particularly big ones look just a tad like staring eyes.
Inspiration: Those funky lizard glasses that poker star Greg Raymer wears.
Fayre
Tasteless Geometric Egg
A melee of vivid colors crowds onto this perfectly oblong egg, walking a thin line between clashing and collaborating. A rich, royal purple is the most prevalent, providing a backdrop for the myriad of blocky diamonds, stylized flowers and swirling fractals. Splashes of eye-aching yellow, a lustrous red and a sickly teal bounce off of each other in such a way that, if one can look past the awful vibrancy, produces a predictable pattern that could almost be called attractive. If you didn't look too hard.
Inspiration: Walk into any casino in the world and look at your feet, and you will see a hideous carpet. It's guaranteed. This is a take on the gaudy geometric patterns that are so common, with the colors so bright they can easily compete with the flashing lights and clanging slots.
June
Almost Honest Egg
Garish green and gold layer the sides of this small, squat egg, vivid hues clashing both with each other and with the black Istan sands. There's a certain luminescence to the shell, a mirror-like sheen that seems to catch and reflect all the colors around it, lending it an artificial rainbow coat. These patches of borrowed blue here, purple there, are blinding from afar, but from a closer distance, beneath all that acquired shininess is something shinier still -- a starburst of orange rising up from the base, nearly invisible against the gold and somehow a little more sincere.
Inspiration: This here is the new kid in town, the one who's still shiny and who comes to the table with loads of beginner's luck.
An'dren
Perfect Green Egg
Round and squat, there is only one color on this egg, spreading from base to apex, wrapping around the wide equator without interruption or variation. More green than the most manicured of lawns, the shade is so solid it takes on a velvety effect as if made of some tight, dense pile that was cut with exacting precision. The solid kelly color leaves the ambient light of the cavern to stand out in vivid contrast, the only hints of decoration found in the cast of light and shadow.
Inspiration: The green felt of billiard and poker tables.
Loe
Lucky Shorts Egg/p>
Tucked away in a comfortable drift, this egg only shows a peek of its shell above the sands. It's certainly not an egg of lovely colors: dingy gray provides the backdrop for fat, round spots whose hue falls somewhere on the faded border between pink and red. It just looks old, an impression that's not helped along by a few scattered patches, dark and ragged enough to look disturbingly like holes.
Inspiration: Good luck's got to come from somewhere, right? Right? Don't pretend you don't have lucky underwear.
Skinner
High Rolling Egg
Smooth, silken sable drapes from this egg's peak most of the way down its sides, lines of even sharper onyx creating an illusion of folds in the shell. The base sits in stark contrast to the rest of the egg, a pure, crisp white, half hidden in the black Istan sands. Only partially visible from the galleries is the faintest outline of a darker rectangle on the bleached base, which appears to peek out from the ensheathing ebony above. Centered on this rectangle is a single black blob, with the unusual appearance of the head of a shovel.
Inspiration: That high-roller with an ace up his sleeve.
Ianna
Honorable Mentions
We received more eggs than we could use, but we still wanted to show them all off. Enjoy!
Intricate Fountain Egg
This egg has an uneven surface, riddled with shallow rises and dips that give its surface, colored with blues and greens just a bit too rich to be natural, the effect of agitated water. Here and there is a thin streak of foam-white, shot across those bulgy curves; as the egg hardens those become more evident, seemingly more numerous, and take on a sparkling, almost lighted quality.
Inspiration: This egg was based on the over-the-top fountains, much like the famous Belagio one that can be found at the Las Vegas casinos.
June
Tackey Totem Pole Egg
Three bands of brown encircle this egg, going light to dark to medium, top to bottom. Dashes of orange and yellow slice across one face of the egg, odd patterns resolving into crude facial features. There's a sharp wedge - that looks like an angry mouth - and a fat squiggle - like a big broad nose - and near the bottom a jumble of orange blocks comes together in a bouldery grin. They're rough-hewn faces, traced on by nature's indifferent hand, but once recognized they stand out clear as day.
Inspiration: Not every casino is an Indian casino, but every casino has totem poles anyway. Somebody's got to keep an eye on the tricksters.
Skinner
Hulking Brute Egg
This egg seems to loom imposingly over several others. Murky blacks and greys swirl along the shell somehow giving the impression in their dull darkness that you don't want to mess with this egg, but there's still something about it that pulls attention. On the left side there's a smudge of black that looks to be a bulge under the surface of the shell. A bit of red barely an inch in diameter gleams at the tapered end of this brutish feeling egg.
Inspiration: Where you have casinos you have gangsters. Always dressed in black with a suspicious bulge under one shoulder and a lit cigarette. No matter how bad these guys are popular culture still finds them fascinating.
Javeri
Flashing Signs Egg
Curvy, sensual and bold lines float around the shell like some entrancing sign. Begging you to draw closer, take a better look. If it weren't for the colors that fill in those seductive lines, maybe more would be inclined to do so. As it is, garish shades of pink and red practically flash off the surface in a near desperate attempt at attention.
Inspiration: I'm not sure this is /exactly/ casino related. But you know how near Casino's there are often signs for GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS! nearby? This egg is about that. :P
Nenita
Clunky Tourist's Camera Egg
This egg's shell has a dark charcoal cast, a dull color that, along with its cumbersome, squat curves, make it seem like a dud in among the brightness, shine and sparkle of its clutchmates. It has etchings and shadows, sure, but none of them are intriguing or haunting, none of them contain hidden glitz or glamour; they're quite mundane instead, a slightly lighter circle here, a button of a shadow there. Very boring, actually.
Inspiration: In all the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, there's another sort of flash, the kind the tourists send off. The audience, the watcher in the culture where nearly everything and everyone is a performance, an exhibition.
June
Goes on Forever Egg
Longer and seeming longer still this egg stretches the bounds of proper egg length. The underside of the egg is a rich brown that nestles into the sand like it's not going anywhere. Above the brown is white. On the white are shapes lined up in neat rows. It almost looks like big platters of foods just waiting for someone with a plate to step up and eat until they've had their fill and more. This egg is definitely inviting, encouraging eyes to look upon it and be amazed.
Inspiration: The endless buffet at casinos inspires this egg. All you can eat and then some for only $5.99.
Javeri
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