Eggs are symbolic of the new life that comes with spring. We may all be familiar with the exchange of chocolate eggs at Easter but traditionally real eggs were given as gifts. These would be blown or boiled, dyed or carefully painted and used as decorations during Eastertide.
Making Tie-dyed Eggs is just one activity of many in Making the Children’s Year, a book of seasonal craft projects for all ages.
Tip: If you use onion skins to dye your eggs why not drop some bits of wool or cotton into the saucepan too and use these to hang your eggs. Both red and white onion skins will give a lovely colour to natural fibres.
Tie-dyed eggs
This is not suitable for small children to attempt, but teenagers can have a go.
YOU WILL NEED
- The palest eggs available
- Food dyes or egg dyes (or you can use lots of onion skins, for a rich golden brown colour)
- Tiny flowers and leaves
- An old nylon stocking
- Strong cotton thread
- Glue
- Furniture wax and a cloth
1. Follow the instructions on the egg dyes. Or boil your eggs till hard if you are using food dyes. But, if you use onion skins, do not boil your eggs yet. Cut a rectangular piece of stocking big enough to easily wrap the egg and firmly tie up one end. Carefully arrange the flowers and leaves around the egg with tiny dabs of glue. Put the egg inside the stocking, pull the nylon tightly over it and secure firmly. Your parcel is ready for dyeing.
2. Use either the egg dye or the food dye but take care not to dye it too strongly otherwise the delicate patterns will be lost. If you use onion skins, first boil them in water in a saucepan for 10 minutes then put your wrapped eggs, raw or blown, in with the skins and boil them all together for at least another ten minutes. Onions take longer to dye. When done, unwrap the eggs and let them dry in an egg box with the big hole at the bottom. When fully dry, rub the egg with furniture wax to give it a deep sheen. The delicate patterns show up beautifully on the coloured eggs. These eggs look beautiful on the Easter table.
Here are some Easter egg motifs to get you started.
For more creative seasonal activities for the family look at our craft titles.
Making the Children’s Year: Seasonal Waldorf Crafts with Children
Marije Rowling
Here’s a family resource for seasonal crafts with children. Drawing on the creative ethos of Steiner Waldorf education, this is a full-colour second edition of The Children’s Year, which has been a much-loved favourite for thirty years and which has never been out of print.
