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!
I do Pysanky with blown eggs- single-hole blown using a little bellows thing I picked up in Germany called a “Blas fix” (It appears there are better ones on Amazon that I may have to buy!) After blowing the eggs, then rinsing and draining them,, I put a small square of paper towel in the cups of the egg carton and put the eggs, hole-side-down onto the towel squares to finish draining overnight. You could also place the egg carton near a heat vent or radiator to hasten the drying. I then use the wax in a large-bore Kistka to seal the hole. To submerge the egg for dying, I use a glue bottle and wedge it into the Mason jar my color baths are in to keep the eggs under. It’s a good idea to let the eggs drain over a paper towel square in the egg carton in case the wax didnt fully seal the hole!. Otherwise, you may have dye on your hands when you draw more lines with the melted wax heating the egg up ever so slightly! Learn from my experience! Lol!!
I’m waiting for my silk dyed eggs to finish simmering and just read your instructions on blowing eggs. Wow!!! That’s slicker than snot, really. I’ve only done it the old fashioned way, just pucker up and blow, once was enough. Now I will try all the nifty little egg projects that want blown out eggs.
Great article, well written & funny. Thanks
i have always loved crafting and manners of art, but was a little disappointed in the imperfections of wrapping tightly for best transfer. i tried a variety of methods with similar results. Also wanted the transfer to be as bright and beautiful, so open to suggestions. I tried wrapping silk dry and wet. one whole piece tightly folded and others cut and folded. Also twist tied silk on both ends using floss, small braid rubber bands (liked these the best). Also twist tied on side of egg. as well as wrapped tightly w floss over egg in addition. (made no difference) in terms if vinegar to water i tried several different recipes and then increased time hoping for more intense color. All about the same. Maybe I’m a perfectionist but didn’t turn out as well as i had hoped. i wanted to use my late husbands silk ties and make these for family members in memory of him. I used thrift store ties first and will keep trying until i get better results. the wax applicator tool i believe is also available at art suppliers batik supplies. thanks for ll suggestions !!!! love this site 🙂
Just as a suggestion, when you’re done making your eggs, instead of using vegetable oil, you can use Mod Podge (or other similar waterbased sealer/glue) to seal in the color or pattern, and you get an incredible shine! Then they will last year to year, and will be much sturdier than just the egg by itself! Even doing silk dyeing on brown eggs will look great, just a more faded look than if you were using white!
I know in past years, your readers have asked about using ceramic or wood eggs for silk dyeing… Unfortunately it won’t work. You need protein-based materials in order for an acid dye to work on it (which is why it works on silk, it works on eggs, but it won’t dye the cotton you wrap the silk dyed egg with! It only stains it a bit, but the pattern won’t transfer to the cotton).
For an edible twist on dyeing eggs or any other protein based fiber (this works on wool yarn, too!), you can use powdered drink mix or food coloring and vinegar! The drink mix doesn’t need vinegar to set, it already has the citric acid in it that will help the color set.
After having dyed yarn and eggs with food coloring, I don’t want to ever feed that stuff to my kid, though! 😉