Jan 2011
Ian Woodford “Rotten Egg”

I was given a branch of hazel – split down the middle – which was 7” long and 3” in diameter, together with a
plastic ‘bug’.

Several boring things came to mind but I settled on the theme of a beetle eating a rotten egg.

Basically, I cut a piece from the log and turned two halves of an egg. I kept the frayed edge (where the log was split) to replicate where the egg had been broken. They were hollowed to a wall thickness of 1/16”.

The remaining piece of hazel was
mounted on a screw chuck and partially dished. The hazel shavings were then
glued to the dished section. The two
egg halves were glued into place and the interior filled with polyurethane glue which was allowed to foam in whichever way it wanted. This was to imitate the
white and yolk of the rotten egg. The ‘bug’ was glued into place to show it
feeding on the contents.

The egg was coloured by blowing
across felt tip pens with
a straw.

Only basic turning involved but I
enjoyed the eggercise.

IW