Safriath and Taineth's Clutch, May 2010

The theme for this clutch was Stunts and Special Effects.

Flaming Man Egg

It burns. Orange tongues of flame make spirals that leap and spark, from the yellow of citron to the depths of amber. The heat, imagined, melts the textures into a flowing, waxen vortex. Tangerine swirls against saffron, a tightening ring over the heart of the egg. The colors start lighter on the narrower ends and then darken until the central image is a stark contrast of inky black burned into the backdrop of a blaze. That blotch, a running human shape, seemingly caught in blazing fingers. Or, falling forever into oblivion.

Inspiration: Dangerous but oh-so-cool. People on fire. But only slightly safer, Stuntmen in fire suits.

Candlario

Running Man Egg

Hazy gray fog and dusty green sparkle together like light shining through storm tossed leaves. There is movement caught in still frame, here the blur of blue mixing with the zip of green, struck diagonally across the length of the egg. While this tilted horizon appears to be whirling though the air, the images pressed into the forefront are not. Crisp and precise, the person appears to be out of sync and climbing effortlessly up the fissure of sky and land. One foot in space, one arm grasping earth. A powerful mockery of that thing most call gravity.

Inspiration: From Wiki -- Casino Royale (2006) Sebastian Foucan as an African bombmaker eludes Daniel Craig's James Bond using free running style parkour. Foucan's (and the stunt's) notation in the opening credits were a first.

Candlario

Glass of Glitter Egg

Sparkly! A silvery shimmer swirls over the surface of this egg, eddies and whirls of glitter brightness over a backdrop of watery gray and sandy tan. There's a sort of vague translucence to it, or maybe that's just a reflective sheen; either way it seems to be in a perpetual state of half-vanishing against the hatching sands. Or half-appearing, perhaps. A shift in the light makes the surface seem to shift liquidly, the twinkling specks winking in and out around the curved shell.

Inspiration: The Glass of Glitter Egg is based on the famous and simple Star Trek transporter effect.

Halsten

Blue Blankness Egg

This is an egg. It could be covered with a field of stars. A gigantic explosion of light. A rampaging creature from the pit beneath the world. An underwater scene of gently drifting seaweed. A weather map. A huge cityscape of towering buildings lit up like holiday lights. A battlefield with a cast of thousands of tiny people all trying to hack each other to death with huge swords. A vast and magnificent jungle filled with strange and mysterious beasts. Or it could have been green. But it's not. It's just blue.

Inspiration: The Blank Blueness Egg is based on the chroma key compositing backdrop... commonly known as the blue screen.

Halsten

Compensating Egg

Grayish and generally bland, this egg doesn't have a whole lot to call special all of its own. It's a bit rounder, less oblong than many of the eggs that surround it, otherwise of a fairly average size-- perhaps even a little shorter than its brethren. The kind-hearted might be obliged to call it stout, while the blunt would just call it fat. A weave of salt-and-pepper colors crown its apex, threading their way down the length of it to beard the base as well, standing out from the peachish-beige color that comprises most of the shell. Nothing to write home about, this egg.

Inspiration: George Lucas, the man who takes the "special" out of "special effects." ;)

Evaly

Must Defy Physics Egg

Small, round and with the smoothness of its shell ruined by a number of rough patches, this egg cannot really be considered a thing of beauty. From a distance, it looks to be washed entirely in a light shade of grey-green, the blurred, black pinwheel shape at its mid-point its only marking. However, upon closer inspection, it has a certain sheen to it, rough areas mottled with tiny metallic tints that catch the light, their edges pitted and craggy as though the shell already tries to crumble away.

Inspiration: Trinity's wall-walking from the lobby sequence of the first Matrix movie.

Eirlys

A Star Falls Egg

Tall and rather slim, the dark surface of this egg is marred only by the colours of rich gems, as if having decided that no others will do. At its tip, amber fades to gold, faint rings drifting out to its widest point as though sending forth a shockwave, a harsh and perfectly angled stripe of sapphire blue shot through them to dive diagonally across its shell from top to bottom, strokes of warm garnet left in its wake. A dusting of silver gathers at its base, rushing up to meet blue as impact is made.

Inspiration: A star, Yvaine, falls from the sky in the movie 'Stardust'.

Eirlys

Ocean's Depths Egg

Shades of ocean blue wash over the gently curving shell of this rather large egg; not the bright turquoise of the warm waters of Ista, but the cooler hues of the waters of the north. Dark and light blend together in a mottled, variegated pattern reminiscent of the deep and shallow places in the sea, seen from above. The only breaks in the rich, vivid tones come in the form of several black shapes that seem to surface from the depths around the base of the egg, leaving long ribbons of foamy teal and white in their wake. On close inspection, one shape even seems to 'spout' a fan of white mist.

Inspiration: Inspired by the whales that 'swam' through the floor at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. They kind of blew me away: http://kuiperactive.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/opening-ceremonies-whales2.jpg

Saiyah

Time's Up Egg

This mid-sized egg is rather ominously shaded for the most part, darkened to a dull, deep green that very nearly borders on black. Faint strange and angular patterns tracing through the darkness aren't very obvious from further away, but can be spotted with some little observation. Along one side, the shell is bisected from the apex on down by a line of bluish-white so bright that it very nearly seems to be glowing. Midway, the 'light' disappears into the colours of an inferno; a fiery explosion blossoming across the bottom half of the shell in oranges and whites and yellows, complete with dark spots of debris flying across the shell.

Inspiration: Inspired by the most iconic scene in Independence Day - when they blow up the White House: http://cache.io9.com/assets/resources/2008/01/WHITEHOU.JPG

Saiyah

Daredevil's Leap Egg

Unremarkable in size, it's the flash of what could be mistaken for white stars streaking across a red edged band of deep blue that may draw one's attention. The blur of red, white and blue, beginning from the widest point launches from out of a dark patch of muddied brown and shoots upward toward a patch of sky blue at the egg's apex where it hovers and then falls back down the opposite side in a graceful arc.

Inspiration: Evel Knievel - the greatest motorcycle stunt master of all time.

Bailey

Halvsies Egg

Rich mahogany runs down the length of this egg, if an egg has a 'length,' and this one seems to. A strata like woodgrain in the colors of klah and cedar on its surface stretches it, creating imaginary corners and surfaces, as if to say 'this side up.' On that upward side a sliver of silver peeks through the wood, shining and pocked with speckles of red, like a blade coming through a board of wood - or only through an egg, dividing it neatly in two.

Inspiration: The woman-in-a-box magic trick that involves a saw. ;)

Vaughan

Beating Heart Egg

While it might be pretty on the first glance--a large, oblong egg with a shell of cream and pink and red--there's also something a little disturbing about the shape those colors take. Closer inspection reveals that the clean ivory shade swathing around the sides seems to have been sliced open, that the pink hue is a massive gash along its front, crimson gleaming as it appears to drip from this opening. And in the midst of that exposed pinkness, nestled between hints of bone-white stripes, one large glob of dark red sits, blurry around the edges as though it might just be moving in slow, even beats.

Inspiration: Blood and gore and human dissection!

Loe

Luminous Blade Egg

This smallish egg is doused in black ink, ebony flowing down over the shell that is so smooth it almost glints darkly when the light hits. Into the darkness comes bright, blinding light, shattering the sameness with a sharp line of red so bright it almost hurts the eyes. This malevolent brilliance crosses the egg in a hard diagonal slash, the middle meeting a similar shape in the most vibrant of neon blue shades. Where the red and blue clash there is a burst of electric brightness, a flash of near-white that nearly fills one side of the egg with a blur of energy that is almost palpable. Beyond the crash of razors made of light, the egg fades back into pitch.

Inspiration: This egg was inspired by lightsabers, that all too iconic image of one of the great action-packed epics!

Raveki

Cushy Egg

Blue, unbroken and shiny with the slick sheen of fresh paint wraps this broad, blocky egg. Its uniformity and apparent smooth texture invite touch, though the far side of the shell seems to have been punched in by the shape of a body fallen into a tarp. Folds shadowed with indigo crease the egg's surface, though passing a hand over the surface reveals that it's all just an optical illusion, a trick of the light.

Inspiration: Stuntmen's crash mats!

P'draig

Camera Action Egg

At first glance this egg seems pretty plain, almost sand-colored to match the charcoal hue of the hatching grounds. Walking around the near-round avoid reveals a chameleon-like quality: the egg's surface changing color as the angle of the light is cast upon it changes and reflecting vaguely, the fuzzy shapes of any nearby.

Inspiration: Various illusion techniques including camera perspective and make-up.

P'draig

Sunstruck Waves Egg

Shadows and highlights play across an egg of aquamarine, like perky little whitecaps whisked across the surface of a sunstruck lake. When both egg and viewer are still, the pale parts seem like raised bumps that one could feel by hand-- but changing perspective reveals that the varied hues of blue and green have a faint iridescence, and as they shimmer the 'waves' cascade into motion across the shell.

Inspiration: Special lights with rotating gobos can create a believable 'water' image, turning a stage into the surface of a wind-tickled lake. These days, digital projectors often create the same effect.

Vaughan

Luminescent Greenery Egg

Standing out against what, at first glance, is a black background, glowing white gives the illusion of floating over the shell so that you could reach out and grab it. Under is a blanket of thick, shaded greenery and flowered foliage covering the expanse of this egg almost completely. Somewhere beneath the leafy goodness, tucked away in what should be the shadows, there's something else. Subtly luminous iridescence pools in neon colors like it might just glow in the dark or pulse to life if given half a chance.

Inspiration: The bio-luminescence of pretty much everything on Pandora in James Cameron's Avatar with a shoutout to the 3D awesomeness.

Ch'son

Walking Dead Egg

This egg has a decidedly creepy tone; the creamy hue so common to other eggs is tinted with a wan and sickening shade of green. Something about it screams unnatural. There are marks all across the surface like barely-healed wounds: scabrous brown, oozing crimson, pustulent beige. The shell itself might be perfectly smooth, but the eye deceives, gives the impression of crusty, lumpy, rotting. It sits apart from the others on the sands, its compatriots seeming to lean away in revulsion at its very presence.

Inspiration: Zombies. Lovely, lovely zombies.

Nenita

Honorable Mentions

We received more eggs than we could use, but we still wanted to show them all off. Enjoy!

Fractured Egg

Although plain in color, this ivory egg has a peculiar roundness to its shape. Rather than the typical ovoid, it is almost a complete sphere. Singularly white, it has a rough finish, like sun bleached bone. On second look though-a crack! Right there! A spinnerweb of pale silver fractures splinter out from a central point, right where it must have fallen to the sands. Surely though-something has plugged the unseen hole.

Inspiration: From Wiki-- Armour of God (1986) -- During the filming of a scene which called for Jackie Chan to jump from a wall to a tree branch, unhappy with the first shoot, he performed a second shoot that went wrong as his grip on the branch slipped and Jackie fell 15 feet to the ground below. He landed hard on his head, causing part of his skull to crack and shoot up into his brain. He was flown to the hospital and was in surgery 8 hours later. He now has a plastic plug, and a permanent hole in his head. He is also slightly hard of hearing in one ear from that fall.

Candlario

Not Actual Size Egg

Peaks and valleys loom large on the gray surface of this egg, the play of light and dark against the dull-metal shell creating the illusion of vastness. It could be enormous. Gigantic. Not just a little bitty oblong object sitting off to the edge of the clutch against the black sands. Without those other eggs to compare to, it could be the size of a mountain. Or a moon. Unfortunately, those other eggs are there to give the lie to it, make it look like a rather small and unimpressive model of itself.

Inspiration: The Not Actual Size Egg is based on all the spaceships and moons used in science fiction staples, which are considerably less impressive when you realize that shot of a spaceship the size of a city was actually a twelve-inch model.

Halsten

Beyond Repair Egg

This egg looks as if it is some way through hatching already. The surface of its shell is ruined by jagged grey lines that draw cracks all the way through the vivid blue, red and yellow that coat two thirds of it, making it impossible to tell if they make up a particular pattern or image. It creates the illusion that some segments have already slipped away, encroaching on their neighbours as they tumble and leave only darkness in their wake. Angular shards in the same colours are dotted around its grey, smoky base, lost in a perpetual state of falling.

Inspiration: Bullseye falls through a stained-glass window in the movie 'Daredevil'.

Eirlys