Egg Art: How To Find The Center for Drilling
I always admire egg artists that can just pick up an egg, and eyeball the divisions perfectly.
I – on the other hand – need tools.
There are a couple of ways to mark the center hole of an egg for blowing. Since I have been decorating eggs for a while now, I mark the center first thing, when I am mapping out the egg with a pencil. Then I dab it with a blob of wax from the kistka (wax pen) so that I will be able to locate the center after the egg is all colored.
Draw the first divisions with a pencil.
To find the center using a pencil, draw two connecting lines as close as you can come to the center (top and bottom) pole of the egg. It should divide the egg into 4 equal wedge sections.
Next, take a section of measuring tape, and, holding the tape at the apex of your egg with your index finger, run the tape down alongside one of the pencil lines to the bottom and note the measurement. It’s usually something like 3-1/4 inches.
Measure the length of the line from top to bottom.
Do this with all four lines. If you’re lucky (and I never am), they will all be the same length, and your egg is perfectly centered. I am normally about 2/16ths off. Move the point of the line, re-mark and re-measure until you get it centered.
Hint – You can usually see where the center point is at the small end (top) of the egg. That’s because it is a small point. It’s the bottom end that goes off-center. So you want to use the top end for control, and the bottom end for adjustment.
If you have already decorated your egg, and the design is so random that you can’t find the bottom center for drilling, you can get a good approximation by using rubber bands.
Wrap the bands around the egg, just like the pencil divisions, and roll them until all 4 sections look even. Turn the egg to see it from all angles, top, and bottom, side to side, to be sure the bands are centered. Then take a Sharpie pen and mark the butt for drilling.
Rubber band marking method.
It isn’t perfect, but it’ll do in a pinch.