Easter Egg Tips

Here at Easter Stuff there are some of us that have been decorating Easter Eggs for a good amount of time. Over the years we have picked up some fun ways to decorate our eggs. We have also found ways to make nicely decorated eggs inexpensively. A person doesn't have to be Michelangelo to make beautiful eggs. Just experimentation to what you like doing the best and you will come out with Easter Eggs you are proud to display.

Preparing The Eggs

Before decorating eggs you need to prepare them. Make sure they are clean and free from any oils. We have found that boiling the eggs to quickly can make them crack. Put your eggs in the pan, make sure it isn't an aluminum pan as this can make your yolks turn green. Make sure the eggs are completely immersed in water with about 2 inches above them. Bring to boil slowly, and with a slow boil for about 10 to 15 minutes. Let the eggs set in the hot water for another 5 to 10 minutes. You should have no worries about them being done. There is a tip we found that pricking a small hole in the egg will keep it from cracking also. We feel that may be a too long of a process though, especially for those who make more than a dozen Easter Eggs.

Coloring or Dyeing Easter Eggs

There are several different ways to color or dye your eggs. There are natural dyes, egg coloring kits, and food coloring. You can also use acrylic paints to paint them. Permanent markers can work also, but can be little messy and might smear. Gloves are recommended for this way. As markers take longer to wear off than food coloring does.

Here is a list of natural items to dye eggs with. For natural dyeing boil eggs with these items with vinegar about a tablespoon, even more wouldn't hurt.  After boiling for 20 to 30 minutes letting them set longer will deepen the color.

• Tea or Coffee - Gives a brown or yellowish tan hue.
• Onion Skin - Yellow or purple hue, or reddish pick with red onions.
• Beets - Dark purple color.
• Red Cabbage -Purple hue or bluish.
• Turmeric or Saffron - Yellow color.
• Grape Juice or Dark Concord Grapes - Lavender color.
• Blueberries - Blue color.
• Spinach - Green color.
• Dandelions - Yellowish color.
• Orange peels - Lemon Peels - Yellow hues.
• Shredded Carrots - Yellow Orangish hues.
• Black Walnuts - Tannish stain hues.
• Chili Powder - Brownish Orange hues.

Try to come up with newer things, like boiling your eggs in  rose petals to see if it adds color.

An easier way to color or dye your eggs is to buy egg decorating kits. These seem to appeal to the kids but really aren't necessary for the price. They are easy to use and several of them come with stickers, rubber bands, and other items for decorating your eggs. Also some kits can come with containers so it is easier to clean up and dispose the egg coloring mess. Of course if they don't come with disposable cups you can always use plastic drinking cups if you have them available. We feel that Easter egg dyeing kits are only convenient and not economical.

***Easter Stuff's Best Way to Dye or Color Eggs***

Most people have food coloring and vinegar in their pantry, also they have crayons lying around if they have children. These are your basic items needed to color Easter Eggs. There is no need to purchase anything else. Use what you already have available. In cups or glass (needs to be able to withstand boiling water) use 1 cup of boiling water, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and a few drops food coloring. The more drops of food coloring will darken the color shade. You will also need separate spoons for each color to place the eggs in the cups. To make less of a mess make sure the children wear old shirts and disable rubber gloves. Although the dye will wear off anyway, and it will not hurt them either.

You only need 3 colors of food coloring. These are your primary colors red, blue, and yellow. With these colors you can make a huge spectrum of different shades of colors. Equal drops of red and yellow make orange, blue and yellow make green, and red and blue make purple. Changing the quantity of drops can make different colors like teal, turquoise, magenta, violet, brick red, etc.

We have found that using warm eggs make it easier to color or write on with the crayons. As this slightly melts the wax crayon and to make smoother drawings. Use different colors of crayons as the colors will show through with the dyeing process.

You can use rubber bands around the eggs to make different banding colors. This process starts out with a plain white egg with rubber bands. Dip the egg in a primary color like yellow, then after the egg dries remove the rubber bands and place egg in red. This will give you an orange egg with red bands. Try it with different color combinations. You can also start with a colored egg like yellow, let it dry and place the rubber bands on the egg and then dip in red. This will give an orange colored egg with yellow bandings. Use different sized rubber bands to make various sized bandings.

Using Melted Bees Wax or Paraffin

Once the wax is melted you can dip the egg in the wax, let dry peel off what you don't want, or scratch an image and remove the wax. After removing the desired amount of wax dip the egg in the color of your choice. Remove egg let dry and remove wax. You can dip again if desired.

Some countries use melted bees wax by painting the wax on the eggs. This is done very intricately with beautiful designs. Then colored and varnished.

Marbled Easter Eggs

To make marbled colored Easter eggs you need to add about a tablespoon of oil in your dye mixture. Make sure your dye mixture has plenty of food coloring. The darker makes better marbling. use and bowl and make sure to have at least several inches of coloring mixture and oil to marble your eggs. Use a fork to swirl the oil and coloring. You can use a plain white egg or a previously colored one, place it in the mixture and roll around. Remove and let dry. These eggs take a little longer than normal to dry.

Drying Your Easter Eggs

The best way to dry your eggs are in the carton they came from, before using it while you are preparing the eggs poke small holes in each compartment. This will help drain the dipping from the drying egg. Don't forget to place something under the egg carton so you won't get the egg dye everywhere. The egg carton can leave the unwanted marks on the sides of the eggs sometimes. Try this tip. Cut toilet paper or paper towel rolls down to make little egg holders. These can also be decorated and used to set your eggs around the house for decoration. Similar apparatuses come with the egg decorating kits.