Up-cycled Eggs for Easter

 

By Jennifer Moonsong

Jobe Publishing Regional Features

 

These days Easter Eggs are mostly plastic and filled with name-brand candy. In fact, it’s estimated that over 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies and 16 billion jelly beans are consumed around the globe each year, making up only a small fraction of the 120 million pounds of candy sold annually for the holiday.

Also, according to the same report done by ABC News back in 2014, $2.1 billion dollars is spent on all that sugary goodness, making it second only to Halloween in candy sales.

Of course, it isn’t all just about eggs and candy, and for those interested in a more old fashioned tradition to adorn the Easter celebration, hand-dyed eggs never go out of fashion.

There are many ways to dye eggs, synthetic dyes as well as natural dyes made from onion skins, beets, and spinach.

For the most colorful and unique eggs, a favored approach is up-cycling old silk neckties and scarves (and who doesn’t have a stash of old neckties around?) to leave colorful patterns on the shells.

After having tried several different tutorials, the following seem to be the most effective:

Be certain the ties and scarves are 100% silk. Cut a piece large enough to cover an egg. Wrap the egg with the colorful, printed side of the fabric making contact with the egg.

You want to try to wrap the fabric as tight as you can without breaking the egg. The more direct contact the silk has with the egg shell the clearer the imprint of the pattern. Where there are folds in the fabric, you’ll get kind of a swirly watercolor effect. Once wrapped, tie with a piece of string or twist tie.

After the eggs are wrapped in silk, you’re going to wrap them again with a light colored light weight piece of fabric. An old pillowcase, sheet, or thin dish cloth is perfect.

Put the wrapped eggs in a pot and cover them with water. Add 1/4 cup of vinegar and bring it to a boil. After about 20 minutes you can remove the eggs and set them in a colander or on a towel to dry and cool. Once they’re cool enough to handle you can remove the fabric to reveal what you’ve created. These one of kind beauties look lovely perched in the green grass of spring.

A word from the writer: I believe every person and place has at least one story in them, and I love helping them share their stories in their own words, with the people of South Central Kentucky.  If you have or know someone who has a story to share in Metcalfe or Monroe counties, please email me at jupitermoonsong@yahoo.com