HRWClutch:31/Eggs

HRW Clutch 31/Eggs

Gold Iskiveth x Brown Szadath
Clutching Date:	June 6, 2012
Clutch Count:	13 eggs
Theme:	'Treasures'

Apple Pie From Scratch Egg

As if it has been carefully painted over with a coating of some kind of shiny glaze, the surface of this egg gleams from within the sandy nest it has been placed in. Beneath the gloss it is decorated with an even lattice of golden brown, striations criss-crossing from squat bottom to pointed tip like the weave of a basket, or the pastry crust of a pie. In some places, it even looks as though flecks are already shaking free: semi-transulent flakes appearing adrift from the greater surface.

Inspiration: In my opinion, Carl Sagan - astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist and more - is one of the greatest treasures of humanity, recognising the amount of work he put into educating and inspiring the population, not to mention his own scientific discovery. Specifically, this egg refers to a statement made by Sagan in the series 'Cosmos': "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

Credit: K'del

Another Man's Trash Egg

Muted colors sprawl in broad patches across this smallish egg, as if to camoflauge it as it sits amidst its siblings. Pale bottle-green blends into a faded tan, which in turn smudges into a bland grey. Though none of the patches are greater than a hand or two in size, their bland hues seem to overlap and meld, making the entire egg something of a sickly hue when observed from afar. A bit closer inspection, though, reveals the shine of little bits of brilliant color: reds and blues and greens, and even a gleam of something vaguely metallic. They slash up the muted background, breaking up the overall outline of the egg and giving instead the impression of piles and piles of smaller, more oddly-shaped objects.

Inspiration: A pile of recyclables (bottles and cans and old newspaper). One man's trash is another man's treasure, after all.

Credit: Taikrin

Memories Upon Paper Egg

An average and rather unassuming egg, the predominant shade of the shell is an aged ivory. Shadows and highlights pick out areas of dusty gray and a pale, buttery yellow, forming a pattern reminiscent of layered rectangles. Closer inspection reveals other shades scattered here and there: charcoal tracks odd, scribbly lines almost like writing; smaller squares of varying pattern and hue rest within the corners of some rectangles; faded strips of red curve like ribbons binding small stacks together.

Inspiration: Specifically, old love letters, kept as a fond remembrance of a blossoming romance and old-fashioned courtship.

Credit: Kaida

Patterns Upon Patterns Egg

Round and among neither the biggest nor smallest of the clutch, this egg does little to draw attention to itself, its dull sheen only visible when the light hits it at the right angle. It's only when its pale, aged-bronze-coloured shell is examined more closely that the tiny, intricate and seemingly perfectly-spaced geometric patterns marching around it from tip to base become noticeable, swirls shimmering and angles glinting with a faint, sunshine-hued shine. Rough to the touch, it's impossible to tell whether there might be smooth shell to be found between one elegant line and the next.

Inspiration: Gold earrings from 8th century BC Athens. ()

Credit: Ebeny

X Marks The Egg

Like old, weathered leather, the surface of this egg is a mottled brown, an in-between kind of shade with distinct variations from one end to the other, though without any discernable pattern. Atop the brown surface are darker marks, incomprehensible symbols, perhaps, marking out something unknown to the uninitiated; of these, there is, in particular, a distinct cross-mark at the larger end of the mid-sized egg, marking out something - but what?

Inspiration: Treasure maps!

Credit: Uillean

Gleaming and Glittering Egg

Rich, dark browns mottled with ashy grey dominate the egg's round surface. It's otherwise unassuming, an average size and bland to boot. There are cracks, though, or long slashes of colors that give the appearance of such. They're few, and mostly concentrated on one side and are thus quite easy to miss when viewed from a certain angle. When visible, though, the vibrance of the colors pops. Gleaming ruby reds and shimmering gold vie with emerald greens and sapphire blues, all crowded and intermingled together to give the appearance that the egg has been stuffed to bursting withe glorious color.

Inspiration: A treasure chest! With gold and jewels!

Credit: Taikrin

Formerly Glorious Egg

A great, huge, gaudy thing, this egg. No little tasteful modest adornment on the sand, but a hulking brute of an egg. A complicated pattern in too-bright colors covers a shell that does not look as smooth as it ought to be. Red, teal, mustard-when was the last time anybody thought teal and mustard went together, anyway? Those arabesques of color might be attractive in a more updated color scheme, but instead it's a reminder of the sort of thing your great-grandmother would have found very attractive.

Inspiration: The costume jewelry owned by your great-aunt-well, she thought it was worth enough to leave it to you, didn't she? She must have found it attractive, right? Or maybe this is her idea of a posthumous practical joke, seeing if you'll ever actually wear it.

Credit: W'chek

Delicate Snare Egg

From the sharp tip of this tall and slim egg spills a wave of purest sapphire that darkens only as it swirls past its widest point and pools at its base. Caught-up in jagged ripples of progress, flecks of bright white sparkle like distant stars, scattered in precise lines across the surface of its shell. All might be smooth, glossy and perfect were it not for the sharp lines traced in deep aquamarine that form thorns that stretch out from its top and tail, almost meeting in the middle as though with intent to create some kind of trap.

Inspiration: 'Thistles' corsage ornament from the V&A jewellery collection, dated to 1905. ()

Credit: Ebeny

Tale in the Flames Egg

Startlingly, shockingly bright, the colors of this egg are so intense that one could almost expect it to burst afire at any moment. Garish orange and sullen red lick hungrily over a base of dark charcoal that can only be seen in bits and pieces. Near the apex of the large ovoid, the colors burst into something even more spectacular: a ring of color, of burnished bronze and gold and copper. It is there, also, that darkling colors scrawl aimlessly. It seems like there should be a pattern, some order, some meaning to the lines and dashes of black-brown-mustard, but none can be readily discerned.

Inspiration: The One Ring (of Bilbo and Frodo fame) in the hearth fire which first reveals its nefarious message. Also- Iskiveth should have fire AND treasure.

Credit: Taikrin

Antique Treasures Egg

Somehow appearing more delicate than most of the rest of the clutch, this egg is defined by fine lines: narrow, graceful, petite. The pattern upon its shell is somewhat faded, as though age has coated it in dust and taken away the sheen of newness, but beneath lie antique gold and rich, jewel-like tones - curlicues of ivory nestling against rich red. The ultimate effect is one of luxurious texture, but the egg itself is no more or less uneven than any other.

Inspiration: This egg was inspired by the 17th Century Italian writing box I received from my grandparents on my 21st birthday. Not only does it always remind me of their house full of treasures, from my childhood, but it's also a beautiful piece of art. I always wonder what kinds of things were written on it, now long since forgotten.

Credit: K'del

Crack The Code Egg

Seeming to be perpetually settled at an odd angle on the Sands, this dull, granite-coloured egg looks almost as if it could be a fake constructed from rock and added later to the clutch. At its tip, small, individual shapes outlined in cloudy shades start to spill over its smooth shell, some perhaps identifiable as a tunnel-snake here and a herder's crook there. A third of the way towards its base, the shapes slowly transform and blur into squiggles, to shrink smaller again a little further along their journey and eventually vanish completely.

Inspiration: The Rosetta stone, one of the most important treasures of the Ancient world.

Credit: Ebeny

DaVinci's Dinner Napkin Egg

The white, smooth surface of this small egg does not bring to mind anything particularly important. From one side, it could be ignored entirely, dismissed as being as visually interesting as an oversized chicken egg. The other side, however, is covered with tiny scrawls of black and brown, unreadable but somehow so much like handwriting, and one huge sketchy outline of some complex project. Sienna circles and charcoal lines intersect, create the general impression of some mechanical wonder that will only be understood generations from now.

Inspiration: The major works by the great artists are all well known, but there's always big excitement in the art world when somebody uncovers these little things-sketches, letters, works that aren't even that good but that show how the brilliant minds of our history have worked.

Credit: W'chek

Hallowed Illuminations Egg

At first glance, there is nothing terribly remarkable about this smallish egg. Its surface is pale, coffee-cream mottled with charcoal. Though there is no discernable pattern from dark spot to spot, they all seem to march with startling regularity from the apex on down to the base of the oblong shell. There are only a few swatches of cream left undisturbed by the dark variegations, and of those strips fewer still are untouched altogether: luminous hues reside there, gorgeous flourishes of primary colors chasing each other into fantastical shapes.

Inspiration: Illuminated manuscripts.

Credit: Taikrin