Adventures in Easter Eggs

Alternate (but Considerably More Cumbersome) Title: How I’m Completely Terrible At Most Crafty Things and Will Likely Never Be Crowned Queen of Pinterest

The demands of my professional life are typically straightforward.  While my job can be mentally exhausting, it doesn’t require much creativity.

At home, though, I enjoy being more creative.  Rather, I like to THINK about being more creative.  Unfortunately, I lack the self-awareness and reasoning ability to capably follow through.

FOR EXAMPLE.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a video on Facebook of a cool way to “tie dye” Easter eggs using coffee filters, rubber bands, and medicine droppers.  I didn’t repost/share/like/high five the video, because the technique looked simple enough to remember.

My thought process:  That’s a cool idea.  We’ve already got rubber bands and coffee filters.  I’ll need to pick up some food coloring, plastic cups for the dye and 3 medicine droppers.  Simple enough. I’m sure Any Store will carry these items. 

What I should have thought:  My memory is terrible.  I should save this video in some way so that I can access it easily when needed.  Also, double-check our coffee filter and rubber band stock.  Where do you buy medicine droppers? Make a note to call some pharmacies to be sure they have them.  And do this BEFORE the weekend of Easter.

Fast forward to the current weekend.

After Trip to the Store #1, during which I bought eggs and food coloring, I checked our coffee filter stock.  We had 16.  I was planning to dye 30 eggs, more filters were needed.  Also, I started thinking about the amount of rubber bands the project might take.  If each egg required 3-5 rubber bands, I was going to need approximately more rubber bands.

Trip to the Store #2 was when I procured the coffee filters and rubber bands. Oh!  And I needed medicine droppers.

My thought process: Target has everything.  It’s on my way, they carry coffee filters and rubber bands, and I’m sure the pharmacy area will stock medicine droppers.  I’m positive they will!

What I should have thought:  (Days before) It’s probably a good idea to make sure Target carries the droppers.  Those might be a difficult to find.

Just so you know, Target doesn’t carry medicine droppers.  My choices were 1) follow the pharmacist’s advice and “check the medical supply store” or 2) try another way of gently coloring the eggs.   Since it was already Saturday afternoon, I decided I didn’t want medicine droppers badly enough to find a medical supply store, I chose Option 2.

Once I had procured All The Items (except the droppers), I started searching for the video again, just to make sure I was clear on the technique.

My thought process: Are the coffee filters supposed to be dry or wet at the start?  How long do you wait after dying the eggs to remove the coffee filter? Dang, I can’t find that video.  Let me google it.  No, I don’t want to make coffee filter Easter eggs.  No, I don’t want to tie dye eggs with Sharpies.  No, I don’t want to use silk ties on my Easter eggs.  Forget it.  We’ll wing it.

What I should have thought:  Wow, I was so smart to bookmark that video so that I can access it simply and easily right now.  My life is a breeze due to my diligent forethought and planning.   

I got the kids going on wrapping the eggs with the filters and criss-crossing the rubber bands while I poured the boiling water into the plastic cups, per the directions on the food coloring box.  Except the water was boiling and I was using PLASTIC cups.

My thought process:  These little clear cups will be perfect!  We’ll easily see the available colors, plus clean-up will be a breeze!

What I should have thought:  These cups will melt if you pour boiling water in them.

I held my breath for a minute to see if the quickly melting cups were going to hold up.  Thankfully, they did.

The children prepared 3 eggs each for the tie-dye method.  I was afraid to have them do too many in case the entire fiasco was a major flop.  And based strictly on how unsure I was of the actual process, I was confident that we were about to experience major floppage.

But you know what?

They didn’t turn out so bad.

The process was convoluted and didn’t go at all like I imagined in my head, but I think we’ll dye the eggs like this again next year.  Now that I have all the supplies….

The Sturgfam Tie-Dye Egg Method:

Supplies-

eggs

dye (we used food coloring, but I think I’ll go back to the PAAS tabs next year)

cups

coffee filters

rubber bands

small medicine cups (or you could even use spoons)

Directions-

Cover the egg with a coffee filter.  You’ll have some “overhanging filter, so secure that part with a rubber band to hold the coffee filter over the egg.  Criss-cross rubber bands on the coffee-filter-covered egg in any pattern you like.  Using a medicine dropper/small medicine cup/spoon, drop several colors of dye onto the egg.  The dye will soak in and swirl around.  Let the egg sit for 10 minutes or so.  We removed the coffee filters while they were still wet.  I’m not sure how long they would take to dry or how it would change the depth of the color on the egg shell, but it might be an interesting experiment if your children are more patient than mine.  Enjoy your designs!

What are some interesting ways you’ve found to dye Easter eggs (besides the old-fashioned dunking method)?  Or have you ever experienced an egg dye flop?  Those waxy white crayons in the PAAS kits are pretty worthless.