Pierced Egg Ornament

I love the look and "feel" of this egg. It is whimsical yet beautiful.

Give us a little "tech" on the piercing and painting, please. From a turning standpoint, the pedestal is just right.

Paul, I use a carbide dental burr in a high speed turbine. The burr is running at about 400k rpm so the force required to cut the egg is reduced greatly. It can be done at slower speeds but greater care is required to keep from breaking things. I clean all of my own chicken eggs but get my duck and goose eggs already cleaned from a supplier. I do all of my piercing free hand with no patterns. Marking patterns is more bother than it is worth. For this egg, I cut the various hole patterns and then used alcohol markers with different colors. The colors bled through the porosity of the shell itself to create some interesting effects. The Blackwood base is turned to fit the bottom of the individual egg and follow the curve of the shell so it blends. Each and every shell is different so a good fit requires a bit of custom fitting. Once done, the base is glued to the egg with epoxy. Hope this covers what you were curious about. If not, let me know and I'll try to answer specific questions. Best, Kurt