Steampunk Eggs

 Just look at this dashing fellow! Light bulb top hat, sophisticated mustache, his watchband belt.

His body is a medium sized Easter egg, metallic gold. This cute guy, and the others I made, though a little on the pain in the butt side, are neat additions to my attempt to make every holiday steampunk.

In order to make these, you have to have these basic tools: precision screwdrivers (the really small ones), glue - I used tacky glue because sometimes superglue will eat plastic, and wire.

The rest is up to you. On the guy above I used some copper tooling sheets, a burnt out car headlight light bulb, wire, and old watch with a stretch band, wire, alligator clips, jewelry findings, and hollow wall anchor screws for the legs.

I did the legs first. I decided how I wanted him to stand and marked the spots with a marker. I then used a Philips head precision screw driver to make the holes. This is the tedious part, drilling the holes for the arms and legs. I tried using the dremel, but the eggs cracked. :D

Once I had the holes drilled, I screwed the legs in, checking that he was able to keep standing on his own. I glued the screws in place inside the egg, using a couple of coats to make sure the legs would not slip out.

I then set to work on the arms. I used pieces of wire covered with wire coils. I attached the alligator clips to one end. On the other end I attached small hooks and screwed them into the holes I made for the arms. Once I attached both arms, I looped wire inside the egg, securing both arms in place. This allowed me to position the arms how I wanted. (Careful not to wind the wire too much. You could bend the egg inwards, distorting the shape or cracking it.)

After you do the arms and legs, let your imagination run wild. On the first egg, I wrapped tooling copper around the light bulb to form a top hat.

<--- On this guy, I drilled a hole in the top on his head and threaded a small screw inside to hold the group of washers I glued together. I attached the light bulb. I then Screwed two small screws off the wither side of his head and attached the wire coil you see.

(note the small hot air balloon made out of a small Christmas ornament, clay, and wire.)

^^^ The guy above was a little more difficult to use. He was made out of thicker plastic that was hard to drill holes in. If you have the patience, then go for it. If not, find thinner eggs to work with. There are all kinds of Easter eggs out there these days. I painted this one silver - he was originally blue. The gears are held on by small brads.

Here are a few more I did. Just have fun and use your imagination. There is not wrong way to make these little guys. They do take a little time, especially when you glue the mustaches and other little bits and baubles on. In the end you will have a unique Easter decoration, or, if you're like me, a year round conversation starter.