Dyeing Eggstravaganza

My sister and I (and our combined six kids - oh yeah, our kids were totally involved and fully engaged the entire time.  I promise this was not OUR project.  Yeah right.) dyed Easter eggs for more than eight hours yesterday.

EIGHT.  HOURS.

We were eager to try our hand at tie-dyeing our eggs like last year, but threw in a few "eggstra" methods as well.  We had a great time and no one wet their pants.  (Except the babies, but that's acceptable.)

Look, doesn't it look calm and serene?  It was not.  It was massively chaotic, both of the babies cried a majority of the time, but we'd do it all over again.  (And don't you always dress to the nines when dyeing Easter eggs?)

And here is the part where I show off what we did:


1.  Tie-Dyed Eggs... with silk ties
I won't take you through step-by-step.  There are great directions for tie-dyed eggs here.  But you have to see our results!
First, I bought a bunch of ties for 25¢ at a local thrift store.  Score!

Here they are again:

Peek-a-boo!

I know, hard to believe it took us 8 hours.
Anyway, here are the results:

A tip:  BE GENEROUS with the vinegar.  I think the instructions say 3 tablespoons.  We used just a tad (okay a ton) more than that.  It makes the colors more vivid!

I love that even the inevitable streaking from the folds make beautiful designs!  The bottom of this one looked like a flower!

I placed one of the medallions on the end of the egg and it turned out perfectly!

This one is my FAVORITE:

2.  Tie-Dyed Eggs... with food coloring

These were SO FUN (and we even let the kids join in on this one).  We didn't take step-by-step pictures, but it was easy.

1. First, hardboil your eggs.  
2. Then immerse an egg in vinegar.  Make sure it's well coated.  
3. Then you place the egg in a colander and put one drop of food coloring on it.  We used liquid neon food coloring that Amy found at Walmart.  
4. Roll the egg around for a few seconds to get a cool design.  Let it set for 30 seconds (that's important!).  
5. Add another color and roll it around in the colander.  Let it set for 30 seconds.  
6. You can add another color too, just remember that it can start looking muddy if you add too many colors.  
7. Once your'e finished, lightly rinse with cold water and let it dry.  
8. Awesome results!

3.  Dinosaur Eggs

This was a fun one, but we only did one.  Brody loved this one because it was destructive.  Just crunch up a hard-boiled egg.  Soak in dye for a few minutes to let it really penetrate the shell.  The dye seeps into the cracks.  Once you peel it, the egg looks veiny and creepy! So awesome!


4.  Rubber-band Eggs

This was another fun one that the kids loved, and super easy.  Wrap eggs in rubber bands.  Then you can dip them dye, take off rubber bands one at a time making the stripes different colors.  Pretty!


5.  Rubber Cement Eggs 

 This is our FAVORITE method and super duper easy.  You just drizzle rubber cement on the hard-boiled eggs and dye!  Gorgeous! 

The dye we used for these was from the regular PAAS egg dyeing kit, but we used the method to make them "vibrant" colors - using vinegar with the water (read the back of the box). 

 Aren't they gorgeous?

Despite dying 36 eggs yesterday (!), we're not done.  My kids and I are going to dye more before Sunday.  And Amy?  Well, she took all of the silk tie scraps home so that she can iron them, sew them together and make more.  Because clearly she has a lot of time one her hands with a newborn and a 4 year old.

As soon as she posts her creations, I'll link back to it here, so check back!  I'd love to know if you try these.  Happy egg dyeing!