Hi & good day. I am attempting a design of an easter egg but have run out of ideas on how to get two symemetrical halves of the egg. My first attempt re: easter egg 1 as attached was done with the ellipse tool & after much fiddling on how to attach the cracked effect, I was able to attach the cracked effect via the object to pattern tool. However my many attempts to seperate the egg has been futile. My second attempt re: easter egg 2 was done with the Bezier tool but this one is a no, no because it looks like an egg from a horror movies. I searched the net for a turorial on how to do an easter egg but the could not find one. Can someone direct me to a tutorial maybe or tell me how to do this. Thanks.

I would stick with #1. Instead of converting the crack to a pattern, just leave it as a path.

-- Duplicate the crack path
-- Select the egg, then do Path menu > Object to Path
-- Using the Node tool select the 2 nodes on the sides of the egg path, then click 'Break path at selected nodes' button on the control bar
-- Without deselecting, do Path menu > Break apart
-- Select one crack path and one half of the egg, then do Path menu > Combine
-- Move that half slightly away from the rest
-- Combine the egg path and crack path of the other half of the egg
-- Select one half with Node tool, then drag a selection box around the bottom left or bottom right area where the egg path meets the crack path (this selects the 2 end nodes, which may or may not be one on top of the other)
-- Click 'Join selected end nodes' button on control bar
-- Do the same for the other side
-- Do the same for the other half of the egg

Note that there may be other ways to do what you want, and I won't be surprised if you get other suggestions. I tend to use node editing a lot in my workflow, so I almost always resort to node editing techniques. Let me know if you have any problems

Thank you very much, your instructions were very clear indeed hence I acheived the task at hand. I did not get it done on the first few attempts but with minor adjustments here & there I've done it. My profound gratitude goes out to you.

You're welcome. I'm glad you were successful

I'm not sure what's going on here. If I'm slow today, or Mr. Brynn (who has reached 4000 posts, BTW ) was the slow one.

If I understand correctly (probably not), what you want to achieve is "split" the egg in half with a zig-zag kind of "border". Am I right? If so, let me offer an easier solution.

1 - Draw you egg.
2 - Use to draw a zig-zag kind of line.
3 - Put the line over the egg where you want your egg split.
4 - Select both and do Path > Division.
5 - Just move one part up (hold Ctrl to restrict the lateral movement).

Aaaahh....oh, I'm definitely the slow one, lol! I thought there should be an easier way! I'm just surprised no one replied sooner.

I get awfully frustrated with those path operations. For the most part, they don't work with an open path....at least that's my understanding....and experience as well I guess. For example, if you perform Union, Difference, Intersection or Exclusion with an open path, like in your example, the operation is performed as if the line had a fill, and the filled area was a closed path. I don't understand why Division doesn't act the same way.

But coincidentally, I just thought of another, easier way to do it, as well. Using the Eraser tool in Cut Out mode, you could just drag the eraser in a zig zag line, and automatically be done. Although I guess you can't achieve the sharp corners with the Eraser. I wonder if there's a wishlist new feature request for different eraser "tips". For example, if there were one where the end is flat, so that you could erase a sharp corner, that would be nice! Yep, just checked Launchpad, already been requested

Thank you very much Uktrunie, Mr Brynn was right you sure did provide an easier way to do this. However I did learn some new techniques in his approach. BTW 4000 post congratulation on you wealth of knowledge & contributions.