From: Sherri

What I do is use hinges that have those little holes in them. I used to cut a hinge slot, epoxy the hinge on, then finish cutting the egg. I found that left too much of a gap to try to cover with cord, so now I cut the egg, then hinge afterwards. The hinge is on the outside of the egg. I always make a vertical mark on the egg in pencil so you can line it up properly afterwards. This is in addition to your division lines. Drill holes in the egg to correspond to the holes in the hinge. If it is an ostrich egg, I drill four holes and use four pins. If it is a rhea egg, I usually drill four holes, but only put in two pins - one on the top and the opposite one on the bottom of the hinge. Epoxy the hinge on and using the little brass nails or headpins, dip the pointed end in epoxy and push it through one of the holes. Off center it just a bit so the head of it will rest on the hinge or else it will fall though. You can drip a tiny bit of epoxy into the two remaining holes for added strength. You can do this all as one operation or you can epoxy the hinge on, drill the holes with an air drill, then epoxy the pins, whichever way works better for you.

As for covering the hinges, I used to cover the hinges with hinge covers first, then bead around that. Thanks to my friend Penny's advice, I now bead up to the hinge, then cover it with a hinge cover. In my opinion, it is much neater looking that way. Also, if your beads line up just right, you can cover the hinge with a couple strips of rhinestone chain if you like. Hinge covers can cover an area where the beads may not meet up with the hinge perfectly.

One other thing I have found that is really helpful is to tape your egg closed while you are working on the beading, if possible. This can prevent your egg from falling open and either ruining your hinge or cracking it off.