Golden Apple

Kallisti

January 1998

Explanation

The golden apple of Eris is a sacred symbol of the Discordian movement. Those of you somewhat familiar with Greek mythology may remember that the Trojan wars started over a golden apple somebody tossed into a party. The apple was engraved with the word "Kallisti", which means "to the prettiest", and the apple tosser was Eris, the goddess of chaos and discord.

I'm not much of a Discordian (all my books are alphabetized), but I saw this gilded wooden apple on sale, and knew what I had to do.

Materials

• One golden apple. I bought mine on sale at "Pier One Imports".
• A black magic marker. I used a Sharpie, because Sharpies are cool.

You will also need a carving tool of some kind. I used a Dremel tool with 1/8" and 1/16" cutters, the kind that are shaped like wavy spheres.

The Process

I started by making a pattern for the engraving. I did this in my favorite way, by printing onto a sticker. I printed several different sizes of the word onto 3"x5" stickers, and found the one that fit best. Then, I peeled off the backing, and stuck this onto the apple.

With the pattern in place, I used the cutters to engrave the thick and thin lines of the Greek letters. This was made easier by mounting the dremel in the drill press attachment, so I could just move the apple.

Once the letters were all carved, I peeled off the sticker, and colored in the engraving with a Sharpie.