Eggs, Eggs, Everywhere...It's an Eggstravaganza!

Easter is almost here! My kids love to decorate eggs. This year, I was tired of standing in front of the boxes of Easter Egg kits. Each child wanted something different, so I decided to do something different this year. I experimented with a few different variations of dyes and decorations. Hope you find something you like!

Food Coloring: I find the pellets don't really produce a great, vibrant color. This year I tried food coloring and it worked great! For each color, you will need 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tsp vinegar, and 10-15 drops food coloring. Mix together the water, vinegar, and food coloring. Add an egg and let soak for about 4 minutes. Set aside to dry once the color you want is reached.

Impressions: For a really unique egg, you will need flowers/leaves/petals, panty hose (or the footies they have at shoe stores), rubber bands, and dye.

My eggs

What I was hoping
they would look like.
(from a magazine)

1) Press the flower/leaf/petal against a hard-boiled egg.
2) Place egg inside the hose and pull tightly. Secure with a rubber band. You want the hose to be super tight so the flower/leaf/petal doesn't move. Trim off excess hose.
3) Dip in dye until you achieve the color you want.

For these eggs, I used natural dyes. The more orange colored eggs were dipped in dye made from yellow onion peel (the crispy part), vinegar, and water. The tan/brown eggs were dyed in cold coffee. For the impressions, I used a rose petal (which ended up only showing the basic shape), rose leaves (which did ok), and a silk flower (which actually showed some veins). I think thinner materials would work better at leaving an impression. You could also simply use a square of cheesecloth, lace, netting, or other fabric with small holes in it. Wrap tightly around the egg and twist close with a rubber band. Use the excess fabric as a handle to pull the egg back out.

Eggs wrapped in pantyhose

Egg first dyed in boiling coffee, then
dipped in blue food coloring. I used
celery leaves for the impressions.

Ladybug Eggs: 
1) Dye an egg red and let dry.
2) Attach Glue Dots around the egg and roll in black glitter, sand, or edible sprinkles/sand.

Ok, so I forgot to buy the black glitter. I did have gold though, so Diva Eggs were born! They're just like Ladybug eggs, only using a different color dye and glitter.

Diva Egg

Bubble Wrap: If you have any left over bubble wrap (or the dollar store and office supply stores carry it), this is a fun one to try.
1) Lightly paint the bubble side of the wrap with craft paint/acrylic paint.

2) Next, hold the egg at either end with fingertips and roll over the painted bubble wrap.

3) Let the paint dry. If you want, roll in another color!

Natural Dyes: I used yellow onion peels and coffee with the impressions eggs. For the onion peels, I collected a sandwich size bag of the crispy peels. I added the peels and 2 tbsp vinegar to about 4 cups water and brought to a boil. I added the eggs, took off the heat, and let sit for 30 minutes. For the coffee, I simply boiled a pot of coffee, let it cool, then added the eggs and let sit for 30 minutes. If you boil the eggs in the coffee, you will get a dark brown color to the eggs.

As a side note, I asked my husband if there was a difference of taste or smell to the onion dyed egg. He said there was a slight difference in smell. As for taste, he said there was a very faint difference, but if he hadn't known about it being dyed in onion skins, he would not have noticed.

If you are interested in more organic or natural dyes, this or this website have a lot of good info.

Tissue Paper: You will need cooled hard-boiled eggs, water, and bright colored tissue paper. 

Tissue paper egg

1) Wet the egg. 

2) Wrap pieces of tissue paper around the egg. If the paper isn't wet, spray with water. 

3)Set in a bowl or a cooling rack to dry. When the egg is dry, the paper should fall off and leave colors behind. (I tried this method, but the only color that showed up was a very, very faint purple. You may need to use super cheap tissue paper.)

OLDIES, BUT GOODIES

These aren't exactly new, since I was making these as a kid, but maybe you forgot about them! 

Stickers: Attach stickers (stars, bunny shapes, etc.) to the egg (make sure all edges are pressed firmly down) before dying. Once the egg has dried, remove the stickers. If there is any stickiness left behind, rub a small amount of vegetable oil to remove, and wipe clean.

Rubber Bands & Tie Dye: Die an egg your base color (or leave white). Let dry. Wrap rubber bands around the egg and dip into another dye color.

Combo Egg: Stickers, 
Rubber Band

Crayon: Use crayons or wax to create patterns or words on the egg before dying. The dye won't go where the wax/crayon is!

Crayon