hand blown and painted easter eggs
This is an easter activity which leaves you with something beautiful to hang up, hold onto and admire for years to come. If each member of the family paints one egg each year you can date stamp them and build up a beautiful collection as time wiles on. They are simple to make and nice to look back on.
Pictured: Bitty Bunny Bennet from ‘Merrilee Liddiard’.
You will need
A selection of eggs. I find often the most beautiful are the speckled ones you can find at the farmers market. If they are store bought they will have a date stamp on the exterior of the egg, but you can often find them without at the market (and better yet find someone who keeps chickens!)
Small gauge drill.
Acrylic paint.
Small paintbrush.
Pencil (and rubber). Alternatively if you aren’t feeling artistic you can use a selection of leaves and treasures from the garden.
Paper straw (cut into short quarters).
A bowl.
Twine or ribbon to hang.
The longest needle you have.
What to do
I start by gently washing the exterior of my eggs with washing up liquid.
Using a small gauge drill make a small hole in both the bottom and top of your egg.
Over the sink agitate the contents of the egg with a needle (stabbing within gently using the holes you just made). This will loosen the contents of the egg for the next step.
I am happy enough to blow out the contents of the egg by blowing directly into the egg but others may prefer to use a straw. Place your straw over the hole at the top of the egg and blow gently into the hole to force the contents of the egg through the hole at the bottom.
You may need to repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times to ensure you completely empty the egg. You can also run tapwater over the top hole to help expel the contents.
Once you are happy you have cleaned out the contents of your egg and you have rinsed it with water, thread your twine through the holes (using the longest needle you have). Knot your twine beneath the bottom hole and make a loop at the top to hang with before knotting it there too.
You are now ready to decorate your egg.
If you are feeling particularly artistic you can pencil a design onto your egg first and then paint over with your acrylic paints.
Alternatively if you want a simpler way to decorate your egg, paint a selection of leaves, stems or pressed flowers from your garden and gently press them against the egg to transfer the paint across.
Top tip: If you have smaller children you can simply hard boil your egg first and allow them to paint onto the exterior shell without worrying about breakages. Then as they get older you can demonstrate for them the importance of being gentle when holding the blown eggs.
I have step by step videos under my ‘easter’ highlight on Instagram. Please feel free to check it out, and come back to share photos of your EGG-CELLENT creations below.