lidbeckbrent

lidbeckbrent

Monday, March 29, 2010

Speckled Easter Eggs with Food Coloring



This is one of my favorite Easter egg projects I designed for Good Housekeeping using food coloring from the pantry. A few drops in a cup of water with 3 tablespoons white vinegar make the dye. This is an economical and quick way to dye an egg. You probably have everything you need with out having to go shopping!.... Hardboil white eggs. To get soft pastel colors the eggs only need to bathe for a few minutes, then dry. To get the speckles: mix 10 drops of red and 5 drops of green food coloring in a small glass, a few drops of water and you have brown dye. To get the speckles use a old toothbrush, dip it in the brown, shake off excess. Point the toothbrush 6 - 10 inches from the egg. Run your finger across the bristles from front to back to get the splatter effect. ( you might want to wear rubber gloves)!!




Once I made the eggs I needed to create a special place to display them. While they look great in any basket here is a quick way to do something a bit different.
The base: Use a 4" terra cotta pot and paint it yellow with acrylic craft paint (or leave it natural). Turn it upside down and place a 9" or a 12" terra cotta plate on top.
Use wheat grass, ( it comes in square blocks) from the health food store. Cut it into 1/2 " thick slices. Lay the wedges down around the plate to get a nice green grass border. Fill with your pretty speckled eggs.