One of our most popular holiday posts is our tutorial on dying Easter eggs with pieces of silk. It’s a unique process that creates amazingly beautiful eggs and it’s always a shame when it’s time to toss them! Many readers have asked if it was possible to use the same process on a blown-out egg so they could be kept indefinitely. The problem that arises is that hollow eggs float, so they’re difficult to boil. But thanks to one resourceful reader, we’ve solved that problem. So today I thought I’d do a little tutorial about how to blow out an egg, and then create charming little ornaments from them- including silk-dyed ones!
First you’ll need to gather some household supplies. Some people will tell you that you have to have special egg-blowing tools with special egg-blowing names. This is a sham. You really just need a baby snot sucker (seriously, isn’t that the real name?), a pin, and a paper clip.
You can also try a plastic medicine syringe (instead of the snot-sucker), the type you’d use to give medicine to an infant. The one in my picture is much too narrow but I thought I’d include it anyway to show you the type. You’d just want a much wider one (but really I think the blue squishy blower thingy works better) You also need a paper clip, and in a minute I’ll show you how some drill bits come in handy as well.
If you’re going to save the inside of the egg for cooking, then make sure to wash the outside of your egg and make sure that all of the tools you are using are clean and sanitized.
Place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes before starting. This will make the entire process much easier. Hold an egg firmly (you know, as firmly as you can hold an egg) and use your pin to gently pierce a hole in one end. It helps to gently twist the pin back and forth first to sort of screw it in before you actually push it through. (These are my husbands man-hands by the way. Nice job honey, you’re a natural.) Repeat on the other end of the egg.
Once you have a teeny tiny pin hole, it helps to have a teeny tiny drill bit (seriously, the smallest one in the set). Gently “drill” through your pin hole to enlarge it.
Now grab that paper clip and unfold it. Stick the paper clip inside the egg and swirl it all over the place. The object here is to scramble that yolk up which will help it all come out easily.
Now grab the infant bulb syringe (I had to google that. True story.) If you don’t have an infant or former infant in your home and therefore don’t have 17 of these laying around your house, you can get one at the drug store for a very inexpensive price. Like, cheaper than 9 months of pregnancy and then child-birth in order to get 5 free from the hospital.
Place it directly over one of the holes and squeeze over a bowl. The egg will come right out of the other end. If you meet any resistance, don’t keep blowing air or your egg might explode. Give it a shake, or stick the paper clip in again, or increase the size of your hole.
Once everything is blown out, you might want to fill your syringe with warm water and blow it into the egg. Shake it up and then blow it out to get the inside clean.
Once you’ve got your hollowed out egg you can do all sorts of crafty things with it. To make an ornament, thread ribbon, string, or twine through the holes. Using a extra long crafting needle really helps. If you need to enlarge your holes to fit the ribbon, use your pin to gently pick away at it.
Just tie a knot at the bottom end and a loop at the top end.
To make Silk Dyed eggs,follow the instructions in this tutorial. When it comes to the step where you boil the eggs in the pot, use a strainer turned upside-down to keep the eggs under the water. OR, if you can fill your eggs with water it will weigh them down as well.
After they come out they will be filled with boiling water. Make sure to let them cool first, and then blow out the water. After they’re dry, thread ribbons through so you can display them!
If you want to dye your eggs with normal colored dye, then dye uncooked eggs before you blow them out. Try adding beads to your string. It not only looks pretty, but it covers up messy holes!
I love plain, solid color eggs- and they look really pretty with colored beads. These would be really cute with monograms drawn on- or cut out of vinyl.
I’ve always wanted to learn Ukrainian egg painting, aka: Pysanka, but apparently I have too many hobbies already. So I settled for a Sharpie.
Turns out all of those years of mindless doodling in school was actually useful. Way more useful than algebra at least.
I should mention I totally snagged this idea from my little sis who sent me pics of egg ornaments she made last year. She painted designs on them with black paint and threaded them with red ribbon which was so pretty.
Lastly, you know how much we love seeing your projects- so post them on our Facebook page so we can all oooh and ahhhh!
Questions & Reviews
Tonight we did the tie dyed eggs. What fun!! They turned out great and we had so much fun.
woohoo! blowing out the eggs was much easier than I thought it would be. I had an old ear syringe which worked just fine. My granddaughters (14 & 11) and I are going to do the tie dyed eggs this weekend. I am so happy to know we can now save them. I’m wondering about the membrane inside the egg ~ will it just dry out or get smelly. Guess we’ll know later when they are stored and we can’t figure out where that smell is coming from ~ lol. Thanks for your tutorial on the blown eggs.
I have had some of my blown eggs for over 20 yrs…
wow…using a snot sucker is suck a good idea. We made them as kids every year but just had to put our mouth on the egg and blow!!
WOW! Those are way more intricate than I could ever imagine creating but they sure are beautiful! Love this site, just found it and will definitely be back often.
What a fun idea! Also, I love that you used the nose sucky thing and don’t have to blow the egg out. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say (or type) but really, it’s genius! Blowing blows!
This is just what I was looking for. Thanks so much. I hope you don’t mind that I put a link to your blog from mine.
Thanks!
Rileigh
Okay, these are totally gorgeous. My mom used to make these when I was a kid (her’s didn’t look near as pretty–shhhh) and I had completely forgotten about them!!
Those look so fun! What kind of oil did you rub on them at the end?
I just used veggie oil. Really whatever you have in the cupboard is fine!
I tried Pysanka eggs last week. It’s rather easy but I knew it wasn’t something for me. You have to have some mad skills for design and I lack that. Not only that, I don’t want to spend an hour on one egg – no patience. Have you ever tried Washi eggs? They are from Japan and you use Washi paper and rice glue. I need to figure out how to do it without the rice glue. I think it could be done with elmers watered down. Just a thought but they are pretty and I still have the ones I made for my grandmother in my hutch. They were sent to me after she passed away. I especially treasure them now.
They make “tissue tape” for scrapbooking, some places call it Washi tape, some tissue tape, but it’s super cute, and comes in all kinds of patterns & colors. Bet you could use this to do it, no other glue required… 🙂
I tried this but the tape didn’t stick well. Still needed glue. A spray finish or mid Podge looks good too
Years ago I saw a “Martha” show where she was applying a thin glue to the brown ceramic plant pots and then putting beautiful thin napkins on the pot and applying another layer of glue – or whatever it was. Anyway, it should be something you could find at a craft store if you get a smart clerk who can figure out what the heck you mean! Sorry, I don’t recall the name of the stuff. It WAS a long time ago. Hope this helps.
Oh my goodness, never thought to use the boogie sucker to blow out eggs. Worked like a charm. I nearly passed out last year trying to blow out the eggs. Thanks for the tip.
Question: (and it has nothing to do with egg ornaments 🙂
Can you use a store bought grahamn cracker crust when making the Chocolate chip cookie pie!? Please say it would work!
Love your eggs, you are very talented.
If you want to see truly insane devotion to egg decorating, check out the folks at Evil Mad Science LLC.They developed the Egg-bot, a specialized plotter that prints on eggs.
They’re here: egg-bot.com
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You did that with a Sharpie?!?!?
Gee whiz. you go, girl. *turning green*
I just raved about your eggs on my blog! http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com/2011/04/egg-inspiration.html
It’s not just about the cool cool eggs, but the way you have things set up. Thank you!
These could not be any more beautiful or fun, but I am the world’s worst crafter (SERIOUSLY… I even failed a knitting class!), so I will just partake of their beauty vicariously through you! Thanks for the beautiful post!
Made these with my grandmother while growing up. We used wax to cover the parts we didnt want colored/ dyed , and then a candle(fire) to melt the wax off the parts we died. SOme of my favorite easter Memories.
Your eggs are beautiful!
Snot-Sucker is definitely the technical term for any mom…at least at our house it is! These all turned out great!
My husband and kids have been blowing eggs for the last month so we can dye them with all his old ties. But they have been blowing them with their mouth and a bulb syringe seems a lot less gross, as long as it’s clean. We’ll have to give it a try. Also, I love the idea of putting beads on the ribbon to cover the holes. Thanks for all the tips!
Pysanky are not difficult at all. You should give them a try.
Wow! These look so neat! And I love how you did the designs with the Sharpie. They look amazing! 🙂
I love it…anyone who has had multiple kids knows that you can find one of those blue (ours are turquoise) snot suckers in just about every room in your house from the hospital!!! Glad we’re not the only ones!! This looks really neat!!
Oh I can not WAIT to try this! Great Easter gift giving idea.
My Grandma used to make blown eggs with all the grandkids every Easter. She used to take old cards, wrapping paper, anything with pretty pictures and she would shellac (not sure of the spelling there, LOL) them to the eggs. Thank you for the wonderful trip down memory lane. I am going to make this updated version with my own kids in memory of my Grandma Jones. =)
Another Ah-dorable craft! Can’t wait to try and make my own egg ornaments!
I served my mission in the Czech Republic and hand painted “Pysanka” or Kraslice as they call them in czech were a big deal. No joke they have easter trees that they hang them on. They also make them at Christmas to hang on their trees. It’s nice to know I can make them on my own. And for the record, I got one from the big Easter Market in Old Town Prague that looks like it was painted with sharpee markers.
I actually thought of this while I was out thrifting the other day and picked up an obscene number of silk ties, so I’m super excited to try it with blown eggs!
Oh, and about the pysanki eggs – I’m Russian and go to an Orthodox Christian church, and that’s one of our favorite Easter traditions. Every year without fail, something accidentally gets set on fire… lol. Anyway, you should totally try it – you can get kits online for super cheap, and with drawing skills like that, I’m sure you’d be a natural!!
ooh, pretty! When I was in 8th grade, I made a Ukranian egg in arts an crafts class. We used bees wax, and special little holder/melter/dispenser things for them. We also had open flame to melt the wax. I leaned over the table and totally caught my hair on fire!
Looks amazing!!
They turned out great! I love the bead embellishments:@)
It’s too bad my baby isn’t coming until July then I’d have one of those snot things already. Guess I’ll make this after I get my free one. 🙂
I can not believe those eggs were decorated with a Sharpie. If you had not written that I would never believe it. They are GORGEOUS!! I’m green with jealousy right now. I can’t even draw a heart with out it looking like the wrong end of you know what. Sorry TMI. You’re very talented. I love this post; can’t wait to try it out.