"Lilies of the City" Faberge Egg

The Lilies of the Valley Egg was my favorite of the Nine Imperial Eggs and I loved how Tsarina Alexandra's love of this flower was taken to a whole new level. I am favoring this flower but only after seeing the work of Michael Perchin, who mastered this egg in 1896. I was unable to make the craziness happen on top, with the portraits and the crown...

So I bought a dowel cap at the store because it resembled a vase. I decided this to be the "finial" of my egg and from that, I thought of the name "Lilies of the City". I say "City" because my lilies are in a "vase" instead of growing wild around the original egg, as they would in a "Valley". :) Another way that the name fits is because I am hoping that "The City" of New York, along with Forbes will be able to hold my "Lilies of the City".

*WOW it sparkles in the sun!* (sorry, bad video. my digital camera is really old)

*egg, mine was wooden
*leaves
*head pins
*spacers (i think thats what they are called)
*old jewelry
*varnish
*clear spray paint
*glitter
*spray adhesive
*plastic baggie
*pearls
*glue gun
*E6000 glue
*dowel cap
*fancy stand

Okay, you can imagine how hard it would be to paint glue all over an egg and then try to roll it in glitter and expect it would come out right...right? Not good. I tried. hahah. I was thinking...what if I shake-n-bake this baby? Yeah, worked out a lot better. Only downfall was that I held the egg while I sprayed it with adhesive and a few of my fingers were stuck together for a couple days. BUT HEY...my egg looked good. lol. That was all that mattered. SO, try and shake it well, without getting the egg stuck to the baggie. Pull it out, spray with clear spray paint a few coats and let dry in between. Then you can start the varnish. Let each coat dry for a lonnng time, because you don't want to push this stage. ANOTHER TIP: don't touch the egg with the spray-adhesive fingers or you will pull glitter off lol.

Anyways...about 3 or 4 coats of varnish and you will notice how awesome it is to pick up now, because you aren't left with glitter all over your hands. :) Awesome technique!

*bend your wire or head pins or pins with circles at the end
*put hot glue on the pearl and hold in place on the wire until dry
*put glue on the bottom of the pearl and then place the spacer bead and hold until dry

- this does take a LONG time...but you will be proud of the product :)

*then keep making them. i used all my spacer beads, approx. 20.

- also be very gentle with them because the glue will pop them right off the wire

*get one of the dowel caps, paint it
*i suggest thinking about the color 1st, because i ended up re-painting mine lol
*get some clay or glue or hot glue and put it in the bottom of the cap
*quickly arrange your leaves and lilies inside the *medium* of your choice
*i had this clear glitter...glue...writer..pen stuff, so i sealed it with that
*then i put varnish over the paint job and the area of insertion in the vase, to seal again

(in the purple vase pic, you can see the egg i started out with. i ended up dropping it twice and the 3rd time, it broke. LOL. so..i had to start over and elected glitter over paint for that reason.)

*add rhinestones to make your vase pretty (before you glue it to the egg)
*then glue with E6000 glue, apply to egg top and vase bottom
*press firmly and make sure it's positioned correctly
*i thiiiiiiiiink i let that set over night. wait.. maybe not. lol.

*find the perfect jewels to place around the base of the vase
*i chose a pretty necklace and had it end in the back in the shape of a shirt collar
*unsure of what to do to the back, found an earring and it fit AMAZINGLY, holy wow. that was cool.
*with the rest of the necklace, i lined the front, just like the Lilies of the Valley Egg :)

*ok, i am pretty sure i LET THIS set over night. then i did the next step the next day. (don't want the rhinestones to move, or annnnything

*i used hot glue for this step because E6000 DID not go so smoothly.. lol
*arrange your leaves and where your lilies will go before you use any glue
*use only enough glue to hold however many lilies down and then work quickly
*if you are prepared, you can put your other leaf on top to cover your glued area
*sandwich the wires between layers of leaves and make it look beautiful
*since the glue will make the arrangements stick up pretty high...
*use more leaves to hot glue to the sides and it will make the egg uniform and conceal
*do this however many times, i did 3 spots of arrangements and i am very satisfied!
*if need be, you can cut the leaves to trim to your liking

*NOTE* before you glue them down, you may want to CAREFULLY bend them to the curvature of the egg. i mean CAREFULLY lol.

WOW. I am proud of myself for doing this project slowly and completely. Every step was taken with caution and if I needed to, I re-did what had to be done. I made sure that I had it finished to my liking and now that it IS finished...it's quite to my liking. So, my advice to you...if you want something to come out better than you plan, just make sure to take your time and perform tests along the way. :)

Now, good luck to you, and good luck to me. :) Love your lilies and love your work. :)