Easter Egg Dyeing And Decorating Tips

Easter is on it’s way a little earlier this year. If you are planning on dying Easter eggs, we have some great ideas for you. Whether this is your first time dyeing eggs, or you have been doing it for years, we have some great tips to get you started!

What type of eggs will you dye and decorate?

When decorating eggs, you can use hard-boiled eggs or empty egg-shells. Using empty egg-shells takes much more work, but the eggs can be kept indefinitely. If you use hard boiled eggs, you will need to keep them refrigerated if you want to be able to eat them. They are no longer safe to be eaten after they have been out of the refrigerator for two hours. However, if you are not planning on eating them, they can be kept at room temperature for decor purposes for a few days and then they must be discarded. If you choose this option, be sure everyone around knows that they are not safe for eating!

Using Empty Eggs Shells:

• If you want to decorate empty eggs shells, read this great article that explains how to easily empty the egg out of the shell.
• Empty egg shells by themselves are light-weight and fragile. You can strengthen them further by putting on layers of newspaper covered with layers of paper towels . Use white glue, homemade flour-and-water paste or wallpaper paste to apply the paper to the egg-shell, just like when you’re making papier mache.
• Before decorating the egg shells, you can cover the holes in the ends with melted wax or with tissue paper and glue.
• If the decorated egg turns out to be a masterpiece and you want to preserve it for a long time, evenly coat the egg with thinned white glue, clear nail polish, or spray shellac.
• For hanging the egg shells for displaying, you can run a loop of ribbon, yarn, string or wire through the holes. Tie the end to make a hanger for your decorated egg.
• Make a stand for your decorated eggs out of a small bottle cap, an empty film canister or a section of a cardboard tube.

Tip: If you have any broken eggs , don’t throw them away – you could glue a fuzzy chick figurine inside and make a cute display piece by itself or clubbed with other Easter ornaments.

Using Hard-Boiled Eggs:

• Refrigerate the eggs whenever you’re not working with them.
• Make sure the eggs you color aren’t cracked. If any crack during cooking, dyeing or decorating, throw them away. Also throw away any eggs that have been out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours (they are not longer safe to eat).
• For dyeing the eggs you can use artificial egg dyes or natural ingredients like turmeric, coffee and other day to day items from the kitchen. If you want to try dying your eggs the natural way, click here for more details. If you use artificial coloring, go for specially-made, food-grade egg dyes.
• For dyeing you can hard-boil the eggs in the water with the dye, which gives you a less consistent color. It’s great if you like the variegated look.
• For a more consistent color cook the eggs separately and let them sit in the dye solution. The longer the eggs sit in the dye, the darker the color.
• Place shaped stickers, like flowers, hearts, bugs or other shapes, on eggs before dyeing. You also use celery leaves. After the dye is dry, remove the sticker for a perfect silhouette. For details click here .
• Draw on eggs with a clear wax “magic crayon” found in many decorating kits or use an ordinary white crayon. The wax protects the egg from the dye. After the dye has dried, wash the egg with hot water to remove the wax and try dipping into another color for a cool tie-dyed effect. If you plan to eat the Easter eggs, be sure the label says nontoxic on any crayons, pens, paints or other art materials you use. Or, use edible decorations like herbs.
• Wrap a few rubber bands around an egg before dipping it into the dye. After the egg dries, remove the bands, revealing white stripes. Try placing the rubber bands in different places and using another color for a striped rainbow effect!
• Add sequins or sparkles to eggs while the dye is still wet to make an egg fancy enough for the diva in every family.

Happy eggs-ploring and eggs-perimenting!