Egg decoration is a craft project that can be enjoyed by children as well as adults, using materials that are readily available such as food coloring, embroidery thread, acrylic hobby paints, and of course eggs.
Button Egg
I glued pastel buttons onto the egg form using white tacky glue. I then filled in the spaces with pastel beads and microbeads.
I used a wooden egg that I had on hand, however these could be made with any egg form (styrofoam, plastic, or a hollowed out real egg).
thread wrapped eggs
Using hollowed eggs (or styrofoam, wooden or plastic egg forms),
spread white glue on egg with a toothpick, working in sections.
Wrap egg with embroidery floss or craft thread. Variegated thread creates a unique appearance.
painted eggs
This egg was painted with acrylic paints.
Be sure to use hollowed eggs.
You can use the ends of paint brushes to make dots.
For a nice finish, coat with clear varnish.
quilled paper eggs
These quilled paper eggs took a long time to finish, but were very simple to make.
I used strips of paper cut to 1/8" x 4.25" to make the quills. I attached the quilled paper to hollowed eggshells with white tacky glue.
Quilled paper may be attached to a styrofoam egg, plastic egg, or wooden egg - if you prefer.
supplies needed:
egg forms (plastic, styrofoam, wooden, or hollowed eggshell)
paper strips
white glue or tacky glue
quilling tool
*If you do not have a quilling tool, you can twirl your paper strips around a toothpick or small screwdriver, but this will take more time and more patience.
A quilling tool and pre-cut paper strips make things easier:
wax resist eggs
Using the same supplies & techniques as used with Pysanky, you can
use designs inspired by quilts or fabrics to create stunning eggs.
For information about Pysanky, follow this link: Learn Pysanky
Not Just for Easter:
This is one of the eggs I have hanging on my Xmas tree.
I made this ornament with a snowflake pattern on each side and a dip into blue dye. I then glued a ribbon loop on the top for attaching a hanger.
These Pysanky snowflake egg ornaments worked up quickly due to the simple designs and single dye color. I made several of these and sent them to family members for Christmas.
Books:
Kits:
Ukrainian Egg Decorating Kit
Kit contains eight packets of vivid, watersoluble dyes, two "kistky" tools for drawing the linework in wax, a beeswax patty, full instructions with design diagrams, and color photos of finished eggs, all attractively boxed.
dyeing with food-colors:
To 1/2 cup boiling water,
add 1 teaspoon vinegar
and approximately 1/2 bottle of food coloring (.3 oz sized bottle).
Let mixture cool.
Dip the eggs into the dye mixture...leave them in longer periods of time to create a darker color.
This is safe for hard-boiled eggs, but also can be used on eggs that you plan to "blow out".
variations:
Draw on the eggs with a white crayon before dyeing.
Any areas covered by crayon will remain white.
You can experiment with the dyes,
Try dyeing one half of the egg red and the other half blue.
Where the colors overlap, you will have a purple band of color.
links to other egg decorating pages:
FamilyFun.com - featuring tons of great egg decorating projects! This site also features many great Easter ideas for games, recipes, decorating and parties.
