Silk dyed Easter eggs

I think it was last year when I saw someone post about silk dyed Easter eggs and I really thought that they were neat and wanted to give them a try but Easter came really early and I just never got my act together.  Shoot I was lucky to get Easter cookies made and buy already stuffed plastic Easter eggs for Maisie’s school party and egg hunt.  This year though I planned a bit better and had it in my mind to make the eggs with Maisie over spring break so that we would have them to display for a few weeks before Easter. 

I started the process by visiting the Goodwill store to find silk ties.  You must use 100% silk ties and the more vibrant the color the better as the soft pastel colors just don’t transfer as well.  For example, in this picture the light blue and beige tie, third tie down from the top, didn’t transfer color at all, absolutely nothing.  Also the light blue polka dot tie second from the bottom barely transferred the blue back ground but the darker blue and grey polka dots did transfer.  

I spent about an hour with a seam ripper breaking down all the ties.  I opened up all the seams, removed the interfacing and the lining and cut the ties into pieces large enough to wrap around medium sized eggs.  I was able to get about four workable pieces from each tie. 

We then placed our piece of silk, right side up on the counter and placed our raw egg, centered at the edge closest to us.

We then rolled the egg up in the silk sort of like how you’d roll up a carpet. 

We then twisted each end and secured the twists with small rubber bands.  I think that next year I may use plastic twist ties as it would be easier for Maisie to secure and open at the end.

I placed the eggs in a very large stainless steel pot and covered them with cold water.  I added 6 Tablespoons of white vinegar to the pot and brought the water to a boil.  I then reduced the heat and simmered the eggs for 30 minutes. 

After the 30 minute simmer I put the entire pot in the sink and ran cold water, cooling the eggs a bit.  We then unwrapped the eggs to see our creations.  It was quite exciting to reveal our beautiful eggs and see what transferred.

This is Maisie’s favorite egg.  She said that she loves it because it’s pink and swirly.

I absolutely love this egg, to me it’s very modern and I find it striking.

I knew that this would be one of Eammon’s favorites as it looks like outer space.

The green and paisley are so vibrant on this egg and the detail of what transferred is pretty amazing.

It may be the way that we wrapped the eggs but the patterns really seemed to stay in tact.

I think that the ties which had black in them really made for good transfers as it gave good definition and lines on the finished egg.

I just adore the polka dots and to have the blue and yellow behind them is just adorable.

I can’t get over how well the flowers transferred, just so pretty.

This was a light blue tie with darker polka dots and the back ground light blue barely transferred but still, a pretty egg.

I love the stripes and the texture in this egg.

I wish that this one was a bit darker as the colors are so pretty.

This one almost looks like it has denim on the print.

This was another soft colored tie but the pattern is still pretty and nicely detailed.

This was a cream colored tie with these squares of color and it almost looks like these squares were stamped onto the white egg.   

This pattern didn’t transfer as sharply as others but still makes for an interesting egg.

The thicker silk didn’t always stay tight against the egg but even the eggs where there were big gaps in the fabric leaving white spots were still great colorful eggs.

This was a fun, easy and pretty mess-free project and we’re all happy with our beautiful eggs.

It’s my understanding that the silk can be used over again but I’m not saving the silk as it all looks a little grey and dingy from the colors running together while the eggs were cooking.  I’m thinking that next year I’ll get Eammon to weed through all the ties he no longer wears and I’ll hit up Goodwill again if needed.  We will NOT be eating these eggs as the dyes that are used for fabric are not food safe and I’m not taking any chances with those chemicals transferring through the shell.

If anyone makes these wonderful eggs please send me a picture as I’d love to see your creations.

Post number nine and still going strong in my quest to blog each and every day this month as I’m participating in M3’s Spring Fling! 30 posts in 30 days.  Thank you to everyone who is commenting, it’s nice to know that people are reading and enjoying Moments with Maisie.  Again, a big thank you to those who have commented or emailed blog post suggestions.  I will be posting some recipes, cooking tips and bentos after the fun and busy days of spring break end.  Please keep the ideas coming, I love all the suggestions.