How to Make a Giant Egg, Part 1

Design Problem:  How do you make a giant egg....maybe 12 feet in diameter,

that giant bird puppets can be hidden in -- and "hatch" out of... during an outdoor performance, that will celebrate the opening of the Artyard Project in Frenchtown, NJ on Sept. 4.

Oh, and after the performance is over,  that egg would then become a permanent fixture or piece of sculpture on the property of the Artyard.

 

Architect Eliot Bassett Cann, a recent graduate of RISD was tasked with figuring out how it could be done.

Ultimately, it was decided that the egg would be fabricated in steel wire.  The frame was designed to be made up in 8 similar sections welded together.  After that, the "doors" would be cut out of 2 sections in the back and 2 sections in the front-- the front doors being made to look like a cracked open egg shell.

Chris Alforman

Chris Langhart, Technical Director, of the Solebury School Theater Department from PA, was asked to help develop the egg.  He enlisted metal artist Chris Alforman to fabricate the frame of the egg out of cold rolled steel.  

Finishing and preparing for painting

Volunteers painting the egg on Saturday morning.

 

Eliot working just above the back "doors" of the egg.

The next phase of this project is to make the skin or "shell" out of a fabric to cover the frame and make it look like a real egg....

stay tuned for part 2.