Try a new method of Easter Egg dyeing! There are many different ways to prepare eggs for hiding and seeking, but none produce the same results as SpectraArt Tissue. Easy, fun and unique, give this method a try this year!
Shopping list:
- Eggs- blown out or raw. For kids, hard boil them, but these will not be for eating
- Spectra Bleeding Art Tissue- we used the Brights Collection
- Hot water
- A brush
- Scissors
- Rubber bands (optional)
Let's get started!
First, grab a sheet of each tissue color you want to work with, we used one of each color in the pack for lots of variety. The sheets are quite large so we then cut our sheets in half once, and then again, down to 1/4 of a sheet.
For some simple quick and easy eggs, grab one or two colors of tissues and roughly pleat them. Then sandwich or wrap an egg between the tissue(s) and tie the ends off with rubber bands.
Add a slug (1-2 tablespoons) of white vinegar to your cup of hot water.
Grab the brush and apply the water to the tissue covered egg, you want to make sure it is really saturated and that the tissue is sticking on to the shell. Set it aside to dry.
Pro-tip: use a mist sprayer(#MS3) to saturate the tissue covered egg!
On to the Confetti!
Grab the sheets of tissue and layer them up, it is easy to cut through a bunch of layers at once. Cut strips about 1/2 - 3/4" wide. Then layer up your strips and cut pieces off the end, randomly change the angle of your scissors to get lots of different shapes.
Admire your pile of confetti and try to resist tossing it around (we know it is hard but we promise you can play with the leftovers later!)
Grab an egg (gently!) and your brush. Apply the vinegar water to your egg (or just dunk it) to moisten the whole surface.
Place pieces of tissue on the egg, work as quickly as you can and cover the whole egg, if the shell starts to dry out just use your brush to dab a little more vinegar water onto the shell. Once you are happy with the coverage, set the egg aside to dry in the carton and start on your next one. Have fun playing around with the colors and their placement!
We got lazy toward the end and just started rolling wet eggs in the confetti pile, this works too and is fun and random.
Pro-tip: It can help to go back and dampen the tissue if it looks a little dry with the brush, or mist sprayer, especially if you roll the egg in the confetti vs applying it a piece at a time.
Let your eggs dry. We left ours overnight, but yours may dry faster. Once the tissue is totally dry it may start to flake off on its own and you know it is time to brush it off the egg. Remove all the bits of tissue. It may help to have a small soft brush as some bits of tissue stick really well and if you don't have nails it can be hard to get the edge up. We liked the used bits of tissue so we saved them for another project.
Admire your unique one of a kind eggs! If you have blown them out you can run a ribbon through the eggs and hang them. Raw eggs must be handled very carefully but eventually the insides will dry out and they can be displayed as whole eggs for years to come. If you hard boiled the eggs for the kids, once you have enjoyed them for a while you can crack and peel them. The insides should not be eaten but you can use the colorful shell pieces in other crafts.
Ok, NOW you can throw around your leftover confetti or maybe you might want to save them for a fun silk scarf.