Old Fashioned Easter Egg Decorating ... Do You Know How to Do This?

[Toba]

When I was a kid, my grandmother, my sisters and I always colored Easter eggs together. She took a large bowl, put boiling water in (the boiling part was important, it couldn't just be hot tap water) and then we shaved different colored crayons in the bowl (with a potato peeler). They came out GORGEOUS and we always got complements on them because they were so unique.

My sister, BIL, nephew, DH, DS and I are getting together one night this week to color Easter eggs and we want to do it how our grandmother used to (she passed several years ago). My sister tried it last year with just the ingredients I mentioned above, and they didn't come out right. I think we are missing a key ingredient and for some reason the only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I believe she added white vinegar to the boiling water (I don't know what the purpose of the vinegar (or for that matter, if I'm even remembering the correct missing ingredient) in the water is.).

Has anyone colored eggs like this? And how do you do it?

[tmahanes]

I haven't done them like that but the purpose of the vinegar is to etch the surface of the egg so the color will stick better! (according to last nights Easter egg special on "Unwrapped" on the Food Network)

[Toba]

THANK YOU!! Then I guess it should work. You settled a family debate too, because no one else remembered the vinegar but me (I HATE the smell, which is why I remembered it)!! Thank you! :)

[sunshine873]

I agree. You definitely need vinegar for the color to stick to the eggs. All egg coloring recipes include vinegar. :) Good luck! I love tradition...make sure to come back and let us know how it worked out! maybe with pics?

[crl]

I'm really curious too--let us know how it turns out if you do it!

Catherine

[larig]

this sounds sooooo cool. I want to try it myself, so I started working the google. I found this post, where they call them tye-dye eggs. Could this be similar?
http://www.homeenvy.com/db/3/623.html

[AJP]

Oohhh, I am so trying this! We always added vinegar to the dye for our easter eggs. It really got the color to stay on there. Thanks for the idea!

[JTsMom]

The pic in that link is so pretty! I'd never be able to pull it off here though b/c egg dying is always a mad frenzy. DS likes to throw eggs in a lightning speed, tries to add more than one at a time, dye splashes everywhere, eggs are all multi-colored, and not in a good way.

[lmh2402]

When I was a kid, my grandmother, my sisters and I always colored Easter eggs together. She took a large bowl, put boiling water in (the boiling part was important, it couldn't just be hot tap water) and then we shaved different colored crayons in the bowl (with a potato peeler). They came out GORGEOUS and we always got complements on them because they were so unique.

My sister, BIL, nephew, DH, DS and I are getting together one night this week to color Easter eggs and we want to do it how our grandmother used to (she passed several years ago). My sister tried it last year with just the ingredients I mentioned above, and they didn't come out right. I think we are missing a key ingredient and for some reason the only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I believe she added white vinegar to the boiling water (I don't know what the purpose of the vinegar (or for that matter, if I'm even remembering the correct missing ingredient) in the water is.).

Has anyone colored eggs like this? And how do you do it?

so interesting! did you shave all the different crayons into just one bowl? or different colors into different bowls?

[tmahanes]

THANK YOU!! Then I guess it should work. You settled a family debate too, because no one else remembered the vinegar but me (I HATE the smell, which is why I remembered it)!! Thank you! :)

Welcome!!! Glad my TV watching could help! ;)

[Toba]

this sounds sooooo cool. I want to try it myself, so I started working the google. I found this post, where they call them tye-dye eggs. Could this be similar?
http://www.homeenvy.com/db/3/623.html

No, those don't look anything like it. I tried googling it too, but the only stuff that came up for the first few pages were directions on how to color directly on the egg with the crayon and then use dye. *Maybe* the purple one on the right end but it's hard to tell because the picture is so small. I do remember that when we shaved them with the peeler, the shavings were rather long (we always used new crayons) and they stayed together but "melted" onto the egg. That site says to use a crayon sharpener, so I would imagine the color is much smaller than the shaved (from one end to the other) ones we used to do.

For some reason, they remind me of a way less crazy Jackson Pollack painting, if that makes any sense.

I do remember that we would shave the crayons sparingly because we did one egg at a time with the colors that we wanted ... it was very time consuming but we had a blast doing it. You might want to have a few pots of boiling water and a few bowls going at once to make it go quicker. We have six dozen eggs ... my sister and I got our signals crossed and both bought eggs. It should be okay though because we're having an Easter egg hunt on Easter. We actually have two Easter egg hunts to go to on Easter ... my sister's and then my great aunt's (who is DS's godmother). My great aunt uses plastic eggs with change in them (a select few have silver dollars or dollar bills). Somehow I think my 6-year-old isn't going to appreciate the special, decorative, and traditional eggs as much as getting money. LOL

I will post pictures after we do it. I hope they come out right this year and it's just the vinegar we're missing (thanks to tmahanes for watching so much TV :))!

ETA: I think I'm going to shave the crayons ahead of time and keep the colors separated so the kids can just pick the colors they want on their eggs ... I think it will go quicker that way, plus they're both a little too young to use a potato peeler.

[KrisM]

I found this: http://www.bayweekly.com/year02/issueX13/kidsX13.html. Scroll down and it says: Or marvel over marbled eggs. Add some crayon shavings to very hot (nearly boiling) water, then dip a boiled egg as soon as the shavings melt. Twirl the egg to make a marbleized design with the wax and remove the egg to dry.

If you google for marbleized easter eggs, you get some results that are very similar to the above: http://www.ehow.com/how_2163882_make-marbleized-easter-eggs.html

[Jo..]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.infopls.com/images/Marble1_H.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fun.familyeducation.com/childrens-art-activities/crafts/36778.html&usg=__2vrHHUAtmNVMrkUhC7NYGa-QTaw=&h=261&w=365&sz=26&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=2eN8Tp4I5ovcLM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarble%2Beggs%2Bcrayons%26um%3D1%26hl %3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1

[Toba]

I could only see a picture from Jo's link ... still not what ours looked like. But they are still some really creative people out there ... some of those eggs are beautiful! :) Still sticking with my description of a less crazy Jackson Pollack painting (the ones with more bright colors than the dreary ones).

ETA: Did you notice that they didn't say to use vinegar for the marbleized eggs, Kris? They won't come out right, judging from the mess that my sister made last year!! ;)

[KrisM]

I could only see a picture from Jo's link ... still not what ours looked like. But they are still some really creative people out there ... some of those eggs are beautiful! :) Still sticking with my description of a less crazy Jackson Pollack painting (the ones with more bright colors than the dreary ones).

ETA: Did you notice that they didn't say to use vinegar for the marbleized eggs, Kris? They won't come out right, judging from the mess that my sister made last year!! ;)

Yes, and all the directions I found with crayons didn't say vinegar. Odd.

ETA: maybe they make the hard boiled eggs with vinegar in the water so you don't need it later?

[Toba]

Maybe, but I *know* there was an ingredient missing from my sister's batch last year and I am 95% positive it was white vinegar. And whatever it was, I distinctly remember her pouring it right into the boiling water in the bowl before we put our crayon peels in there. I did notice that one of them said they used vegetable oil ... I'm not sure how that would work though. My sister said her batch last year had the crayon peeling off in most places and in the others, it was "gummy." I think I might try one tomorrow during the day (DS is off for Spring Break) before we get the whole family over there with four pots of boiling water, four bowls, several piles of crayon peels, AND white vinegar and then not have it turn out right. Because that would really stink.

[larig]

Wolfsong, I'll be awaiting your results, I'm very eager to try this, it sound beautiful and it would be really fun to try something new. I'm so glad you posted your question. I have so many old crayons to use (I swear I have every stubby ends from every year of elementary school art supply crayons.)

The picture that Jo posted looked like they essentially were doing another version of crayon resist with the pink and yellow one, because it seemed like they dipped in color after.

Okay here's an odd question, do you think this would work on blown eggs (you know, when you don't hard boil the eggs, but you blow the egg out through two holds you poke in the top and bottom, so you can keep them!), or do you think that the extra heat from the boiled egg would be needed to make the effect take?

[larig]

just wondering if anyone tried this yet. If so, I'd love to hear what happened. If not I'm going to try it myself while DS naps.

[Toba]

My sister and BIL and mother did it this way today (6 dozen eggs). She said it definitely worked better than they did last year, but they're still not as smooth and bright as when my grandmother did them with us. My mother is going to ask my grandmother's niece (who was not that much younger than my grandmother) because she used to do them too. There's definitely a missing step or ingredient. I will post a picture on Sunday after we have our Easter Egg Hunt. :) I didn't get to go because I had personal problem at the last minute ... my mother drove DS there which was the first time I trusted her to drive him around. He had an awesome time and could care less that the eggs didn't come out perfect.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!! :)