Crayons and Paas tablets? Ist that all you've got?

April 23, 2011 9:27 AM

I'm getting ready to dye Easter eggs with my kids, ages 7, 9, 11 and 14. Do you have any tips for decorating easter eggs? Our repertoire consists of using two colors, crayons, and putting on stickers. My google-fu is failing me.

Difficulty level: We probably don't have the patience for the Ukrainian method. And, we've already hard-boiled the eggs.

posted by craniac to media & arts (18 answers total)

How about making natural egg dyes out of vegetables, flowers, fruit, and other plant materials?
posted by illenion at 9:39 AM on April 23, 2011

Rubber bands in various configurations will get you white stripes, or colored ones. Just make sure you get them on tight enough. The big fat ones that come with broccoli and other produce work really well, if you can get ahold of a few.

Come to think of it, masking tape might do something similar, and can probably be cut into different shapes.
posted by Knicke at 9:40 AM on April 23, 2011

If you have rubber cement, this is fun. Or use wax.
posted by selfmedicating at 9:42 AM on April 23, 2011

I remember putting clear nail polish on to make a marbleized effect. I think you use water-soluble markers to cover the eggs (neatness not required), and then paint on the nail polish. It might work with the Paas as well.
posted by jgirl at 9:42 AM on April 23, 2011

Or crayon shavings. That's nice because you can do it when the eggs are still hot.
posted by selfmedicating at 9:45 AM on April 23, 2011

Yes to masking tape - that's what we did when I was a kid. Cover the eggs with masking tape (or blue painters tape) in various patterns. Put the egg in one color, then take it out and let it dry, then change the tape pattern and put it in a different color. It's very easy for all ages and you can get some really nice effects.
posted by true at 9:47 AM on April 23, 2011

Tie-dye!
posted by phunniemee at 9:54 AM on April 23, 2011

Coloured magic markers. You can do whatever you want with magic markers. Also tempura-type paints.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:00 AM on April 23, 2011

Martha has some interesting ideas using painted-on egg white that I had overlooked earlier.
posted by craniac at 10:02 AM on April 23, 2011

If I could have gotten silk ties in time, I would have done these silk tie easter eggs - the pattern transfers to the shell in really cool ways.
posted by lemniskate at 10:09 AM on April 23, 2011

You can make striped eggs by holding about a quarter of the egg in the dye, let it dry off, dip it again about halfway in, dry it, dip it a third time about three-quarters of the way, dry once more, then dip the whole egg. (Quarter of the way each time for four stripes, fifths for five stripes, however many you want.) Tilt the eggs slightly different ways each time for tilted stripes.

I've also done rainbow eggs like this: dip the whole thing in yellow, then a third in red to make orange, then that tip gets a deeper red dye for a darker shade; do the other end in blue to make green, then another dip 'o' the tip in the blue for a darker shade on that end.

Cheap dyes like Paas are okay; you can also use regular food coloring. Have fun!
posted by easily confused at 10:15 AM on April 23, 2011

You can marble eggs like one would marble paper or cloth. Start with water, then add oil and food coloring. You can run a skewer or other implements through the oil to create fine gradations in the pattern. Then swipe a preferably pre-dyed egg over the water to pick up the pattern. See here: http://www.quickandsimple.com/how-to/make-decorate/marbled-easter-eggs
posted by artifarce at 10:29 AM on April 23, 2011

Marbled Easter Eggs
posted by craniac at 11:26 AM on April 23, 2011

this year martha's craft dept. came up with using rubber stamps and embossing powder on eggs, it's cute. you stamp the egg, sprinkle on powder (which is tiny plastic pieces) and then apply heat to melt the plastic particles until they form a nice smooth embossed design. check you local craft/rubber stamp store for the stamps, correct type of ink pads and powder. they also sell small heat guns for this exact purpose but i always just used a hair dryer or toaster over (hold the egg over the opening while it's toasting. careful not to burn little fingers.
posted by dahliachewswell at 2:12 PM on April 23, 2011

You can use leaves or flowers held on with a stocking to make some really incredible dyed eggs.
posted by quiet coyote at 2:24 PM on April 23, 2011

If you wrap the eggs in onion skins before dipping it can produce an interesting dye effect. I am ashamed to say that I learned this from Martha Stewart.
posted by sacrifix at 4:16 PM on April 23, 2011

These are some really great ideas. We had a lot of fun with variations of tape and rubber cement. I'll post a link to the pictures soon. Thank you!
posted by craniac at 7:12 PM on April 23, 2011

Here are pictures of our completed eggs. We mostly did variations on tape (scotch and painter's) and rubber-cement drizzling. The kids had a great time! I also noticed that Paas tablets don't take nearly as long to dye the eggs as they used to.

[pictures].
posted by craniac at 7:01 AM on April 25, 2011