Silk Tie Easter Eggs

There was a suggestion from one of the (many) Waldorf Homeschool groups to to this method for dyeing easter eggs. It is so simple and the eggs come out so elegant!

I'm crazy tired so I'm not going to waste a lot of time being witty and fabulous. I'll just cut to the chase and tell you what you need to know!

You will need:

Some silk ties (I scored some at Goodwill 1/2 off for $2)I bought 5 and had leftovers. NOTE ON TIES: AVOID YELLOW AND LIGHT PASTEL COLORS. They suck. Go for deep blues, blacks, purples, dark greens- those will give up the most pleasing colors. Red worked nicely, too!

White eggs (if you are using farm fresh wipe eggs down with vinegar before doing anything else) I used 18.

White cotton fabric (I used some flannel scraps and a ratty cut up tshirt).

Something to tie or secure your bundles with

1/4 Cup plain white vinegar

The yellow tie came out awful. It was just a white egg with faint dots on it.

If you've got all that stuff, you're ready to go!

First, cut out the felt strip from the tie. you only want to have the thin piece of silk.

Cut the tie in squares big enough to wrap your egg.

Cut the white cotton in squares to cover the silk wrapped egg.

I recommend cutting everything a day ahead of time. Give yourself a break so you don't feel too overwhelmed by such an easy fun project!

Wrap the egg up with the right side of the silk against the eggshell. This is important.

Wrap the silk-wrapped egg with the white cotton.

Secure with a tie.

Make sure that the egg is firmly wrapped and that it is securely tied.

Repeat the process until all the eggs are bundled.

Fill a pot with water about 2" high and 1/4 Cup white vinegar.

Place the eggs in the pot. Add more water if necessary to make sure the eggs are covered by about an inch.

Set the heat to medium.

When you hear it boiling, set your timer for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, use tongs to remove the eggs and place them on a safe surface to drain and cool COMPLETELY.

Wait about 30 minutes or more for the eggs to be cool to the touch.

Unwrap slowly. The boys LOVED this part! It was magical.

If you want some lovely shine, dip a cotton ball in some vegetable oil and rub the eggs.

You could blow out the eggs and dye the shells to keep year after year. But for us, it was so easy I'm not going to do the extra 12 steps of blowing out the eggs. We'll make more next year!

Enjoy!

Some notes in case you're wondering:


*We have no plans of eating these eggs.  I'm sure the dye is toxic.  Also, the eggs were not from a farm where we know the chickens.


*You can't reuse the ties. Once they have been boiled in vinegar, they are spent.  You could possibly wash them and dry them and reuse as something else though.


*I am not sure if you could keep the eggs year after year. I've seen conflicting info about how a boiled egg dries out or rots over time.  I don't plan on keeping these.