so, I look forward to Easter every year for 2 reasons: 1. Cadbury Creme Eggs (need I say more?) and 2. dying Easter Eggs. about a week ago I came upon a Tweet from justforfunhmn linking a blog post about tie-dying eggs. TIE-DYE, not what you're thinking, good ol' multi-colored t-shirts from the 80's, oh NO! these eggs were dyed using TIES. as in, those things my step-dad wore religiously to work for the last 10 years and bought a new one of every year for his office Christmas party. this lady's blog post was amazing, and really inspiring, so I knew I just had to do it!
today I went to my local Goodwill to hunt down some ties for my project. lucky me, they had everything there I needed to begin my crafting, well, except for eggs- but I already had those...
the following ingredients are what you need:
ties, 100% Silk
plain t-shirt (white)
string or twist-ties
scissors
stock pot
eggs
water
total cost for me: $28 (including the eggs). I know, I know, it seems rather expensive, but I couldn't decide between 10 ties, so I bought them all. you can easily dye 2 eggs with one tie so you don't have to go as nuts as I did! I also found my cute little basket and Easter grass there, so that added about $2.50 to the cost- who knew there was such great stuff there?!
to start: cut the ties. now, there are many parts to a tie that I didn't realize before. there is an inner sheath and also a lot of hidden stitches. be careful while cutting as you may put holes in the delicate silk.
I was able to use the lining of this tie, too!
eggs waiting to be boiled
next step is boiling*! the blog called for the eggs to be wrapped in a t-shirt prior to this step, I have no idea why, but I followed directions like a good little girl.
boil for 25 minutes**
at this point I was lucky my cousin called to invite me to dinner. I'm pretty sure I would've been too impatient to wait for the eggs to cool before removing them from their little cocoons. the reveal:
for the most part I was really excited and happy with my results. lesson learned: reflective ties definitely don't translate as well on the eggs. dark colors like reds, blues and purples seem to have the best return, pastel pinks and greens don't. distinct/intricate patterns work really well, compared to basic ones (like circles, those don't come across as well as a paisley or a stripe.) you also need a lot of eggs. I only had 7 in my fridge, and I was pretty bummed because I had more ties to use. first thing tomorrow: egg shopping! if you aren't used to working with ties, check the skinny end to find out if they're 100% silk. you can also use old silk blouses or boxers, any silk fabric that you may have! most of the silks can also be used up to 5 times, it takes trial and error to figure out which ones will work multiple times. I've seen some posts that call for VINEGAR, if you choose to use vinegar- use 1/4 c. and make sure you have a glass or enamel pot to boil the eggs (metal will react to the vinegar). from my understanding, using vinegar makes the eggs edible.
my favorite
*do not eat the eggs once they've been boiled, due to toxins in the silk
**do not boil the eggs ahead of time.
I still plan on dying eggs the traditional way because I crave egg salad sandwiches and deviled eggs this time of year as well.
