What You Need:
+ a dozen white eggs, blown or hard boiled ( I recommend blown, once you make
these beautiful eggs you wont want to throw them away )
+ food coloring of your choice ( I used McCormick's food color )
+ white vinegar
+ heat proof jars ( I used old mason jars )
+ metal spoon
+ metallic gold leafing kit ( I used a Mona Lisa Gold Leaf kit )
+ a foam craft brush
+ 2 old paint brushes
How To:
- Begin by making your dyes. I used McCormick's neon food color. I doubled the directions on the box for each color dye.
- Gently place the egg on the spoon and slowly lower the egg into the jar of dye. Be careful how long you keep your egg submerged in the dye...the longer you keep the egg in the dye the darker and more saturated the color will be. I like the color to be more pale so I kept each egg in the dye for less than a minute. Prepare a dozen eggs so you can play around with the color until you find your favorites!
- While the eggs are drying begin to set up your leafing supplies. I used a leaf kit from Michael's craft store. This kit includes 6 sheets of gold leaf, adhesive and sealer.
- Carefully tear a sheet of gold leaf into quarters (it is very thin, be extremely gentle).
- Hold the egg and using a small paint brush apply a thin layer of adhesive to one half. Apply randomly leaving some parts of the egg free of adhesive. Using a dabbing and dotting method is best.
- When applying adhesive be very careful not to get it on your fingers as it is very sticky. Once you have allowed the adhesive to dry for a few seconds pick up a quartered sheet of golden leaf and lay it on the part of the egg you applied the adhesive. A toothpick can help with placing the gold leaf. Use the foam brush to rub down the sheet. The metal leaf that doesn't stick will just fall off.
- Continue to gently rub the leaf to create a smooth and natural marbled look. Repeat this process for the other half of the egg. The excess metal leaf will be difficult to clean up....I used a piece of masking tape to pick up the fallen pieces.
- Once the gold leaf and adhesive is completely dry use a brush to apply a sealant to prevent the gold leaf from rubbing off or oxidizing.
- Using a small brush apply the adhesive to the entire area of the egg you wish to be gold. I wanted it to look as if I dipped the egg into gold, half the egg either up/down or side to side.
- Gently tear a sheet in half. Applying one half first, then putting the second sheet over the parts you missed.
- Carefully use a razor to remove any excess leaf off the part of the egg you want bare.
- Once the gold is dry use the sealant to finalize your eggs.
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More Egg Decorating Ideas
Masking with Rubber Bands:
- Start with a hard boiled or blown white or brown egg, or start by dying the egg one pale shade.
- Twist a few rubber bands around the egg. Carefully make sure the rubber bands are wrapped snugly around the egg. Submerge the egg into dye until desired color is achieved.
- Wait at least 10 minutes for dye to dry before removing rubber bands.
- You can repeat this process with more rubber bands and colors till you reach a desired look.
Speckled and Marbled:
- Dye an egg a pale shade of your chosen color.
- In a small shallow bowl add 3 cups of warm water, a tsp. of white vinegar, 15-20 drops of food coloring
- Add a tsp. of oil.
- Use a folk to combine mixture
- Put egg into mixture, turn and swirl egg until you have achieved desired look.
You can experiment with all kinds of color combinations: by varying the base color and the swirls in the oil dye bath to achieve different kinds of contrasts and shading and different multi tint patterns.
ALL PHOTOS CREDIT KELLEY FRANCES HIGGINS
© COLOUR MY LIFE BLOG
© COLOUR MY LIFE BLOG
